This project was one of our most memorable to date for many reasons. First off we are a concrete contractor and have been in business for 15 years. We were awarded the concrete slabs on this project and built a great relationship with the GC. After we had installed the concrete floors on this project, the owner contacted the GC and was interested in doing something with the floors that would not only cut down on Maintenance but also look great after it was done. The GC met with us and expressed his desire to create a floor that would make the owner happy and achieve his desire. This is where we came in and this project became very unique. We started doing endless research online and in various concrete magazines. We were very familiar with high gloss concrete sealers but also knew that they would not last or achieve what was wanted on this job. Finally we came across polished concrete floors, something we had never done before, and really had no knowledge of it. We started making calls and teamed up with HTC and Niagara Inc. Both parties explained the whole process to us. We soon met with the GC and explained the process to him and also noted this is something we had never done before. The GC, who at this point had a great deal of confidence in us, expressed how this was exactly what they wanted and would trust us to do this for him and the owner. This was our first concrete polishing job and this is where it became unique.
We teamed up with HTC and Niagara Inc. We also reached out to Euclid Chemicals and used their Diamond hard densifier. The slab also contained the use of Dramix metal fibers with a 4000 psi concrete. When we finally did start this project, both HTC and Niagara were amazed, they said they had never really seen a company start off running before they began to walk, due to the size of this project and the fact that we had never polished before. They trained us on side and we staffed the job on a 24 hour work schedule with crews running around the clock due to the time constraint of the job.
We had a very large learning curve from learning how to work with the equipment to something as simple as being able to but the equipment in place with the hiring of cranes and rigors to move the equipment from floor to floor. We learned how to use the HTC walk behind grinders and the 905RX remote which was also very unique. Our company went from only having seen polished concrete to becoming installers, almost overnight.
The project was not only completed on time but also came out truly beautiful. The owner and GC were tremendously happy after it was done. This project was truly unique in so many ways, from it being our first to learning different techniques in polishing concrete floors. We are now in the process of setting up our company and being able to offer concrete installations to our customers and concrete polishing. This was not one of the easiest things our company has ever done, but it was the most memorable.
Contractor: Cavado Concrete, Corp.