Woodbury Pool Deck

Just some photos of a pool deck we finished in Woodbury. It looks amazing.

Nan McKay: Stimulace Plan for Patio

When Obama passed his economic stiumulace plan, Public Housing units were able to make public housing more energy efficient and help development projects. Nan McKay in South St. Paul is one example.

Nan McKay chose to redo its patio for its residence in a sustainable product called Sandscape. Sandscape is a preworn, exposed aggregate concrete finish that only needs to be resealed every 10+ years.

The 2,500 square foot patio was integrally colored Mesa Beige and stained 3 different colors within the decorative saw cut pattern, Ebony, Mahogany and Jade. See photos below.

Polished Concrete Article

Floor Show
By Seth Warren Rose

In a grocery store halfway between Fort Wayne, Ind., and Toledo, Ohio, a new trend may be taking shape. Chief Super Markets, a 13-store grocer based in Defiance, Ohio, has just installed a flooring system that some believe is a green alternative to the daily costs of maintaining tile floors.

“The green factor was just part of our decision,” says Chief’s facility manager, Mark Diller, about his new sustainable floor. “We don’t have to replace floor tile anymore. We don’t have to wax the floor. There are just less maintenance items, other than mopping.”

Chief was remodelling an 8,000-square-foot section of its existing store in Napoleon, Ohio, and wanted to experiment with polished concrete flooring. For solutions, Diller contacted QuestMark Flooring, based in nearby Canonsburg, Pa. The ease of maintenance of the polished concrete floor was the primary benefit for Chief Super Markets.

DiamondQuest, QuestMark’s polished concrete flooring system, is a multistep progressively finer grinding process that transforms an existing concrete floor surface into an entirely new floor with a stunning sheen. While DiamondQuest has been specified mostly by larger companies — more than 10 million square feet of flooring in 2009, nationwide — QuestMark says that of late, more and more midsize and smaller grocers are asking for polished concrete flooring.
The savings in maintenance is one reason for the technology’s popularity. For facility managers who need to squeeze every penny they can out of repairs and maintenance budgets, VCT, or tile, has become a costly burden. Typically, the wax coat on top of VCT is burnished, buffed and burnished again to maintain its shine. But periodically, the coat builds up and needs to be stripped off.

Polished concrete, on the other hand, is inherently easy to clean. That’s because the polishing process reduces the surface area, or pores, that dirt can get trapped in. The floor has a flat, smooth surface texture, so the dirt stays on top. It even requires less soap. And it’s more sanitary than tile because polished concrete has no seams or joint lines to hold dirt.
Acidic foods dropped on the floor, however, such as jarred pickles, may stain a polished concrete floor if not neutralized or cleaned within a reasonable amount of time.

The good news is that the areas where stains may occur are limited to only a couple of spots, typically less than a few percentage points of a store’s sales floor. According to John Kasik, who was in charge of the Chief’s project for QuestMark, a simple quarterly maintenance system that reconditions the floor solves stain issues.

And while some grocers may be waiting for the flooring industry to sort out issues, several leading grocers have been employing polished concrete for years, and therefore obviously believe the savings on maintenance and the superior shine transcend the current minor annoyances.

In fact, the trend toward lower maintenance and sustainability is what Diller says inspired him. “Doing what the big boys are doing” is how he characterizes the move to polished concrete.
Initially, QuestMark created a sample patch before Chief completely committed itself to the new flooring system. A few aisles were polished each night so that store operations weren’t affected. QuestMark striped off the tile, performed a full concrete polish and applied a collared penetrating brown-tone dye.

The entire process “caused very little inconvenience to our customers,” according to Diller.
Both the installation and maintenance of polished concrete floors have positive sustainable benefits. According to The Eneref Institute (http://www.eneref.org/), based in Doylestown, Pa., polished concrete floors contribute to LEED points in at least three categories. In the Energy and Atmosphere category, polished concrete doesn’t employ VOC materials, and the sheen actually increases the room’s ambient light. In the Materials and Resources category, the technology increases the lifespan of the already existing concrete floors. And Innovation in Design may offer a third potential LEED credit.

For most retailers, the low maintenance cost and consistent shine are the greatest advantages to polished concrete. Dull spots on tile give a dirty appearance to the floor. Additionally, it’s no secret to any retailer that a dirty-looking floor hinders sales. No other reasonably priced flooring system is as consistently shiny as polished concrete. And if a consistent shine increases sales, that’s the bottom line.

Seth Warren Rose is the founder of the Eneref Institute (www.eneref.org), a research foundation whose mission is to report on ecologically sensible ideas for commercial and industrial facility decision-makers.
© 2010 Stagnito Media. All rights reserved.

Microtop Flooring!

We teamed up with Charles Cudd DeNova again. This time for a Microtop floor on a home that is featured in the Parade of Homes. The floor was a beach sand color added to a gray based concrete. We then stained the floor with a Mission brown and highlighted it with a Walnut to create a contrasting look. The floor was sealed with a super clear coat and wax.

Take a pictures below! What a great option other than tile and hardwood.

http://www.concretears.com/

Decorative Project of the Year

Three of Concrete Art's projects were choosen to be in the running for the Concrete Construction Decorative Project of the Year. (1) Dreamhome, (2) Karvekrete and (3) Target Field.

The CC DOY of 2010 is voted on my a committee and by Readers Choice voting. To view the projects up for the award and to vote visit http://ascribehq.com/concrete-construction-decorative-poy/awards/2010.

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See the entry the entries below.

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CaringFor Your Interior Concrete

How to care for you Interior Concrete Applications:

• Think of your interior concrete application as a hardwood floor in terms of maintenance and care.
• Use a neutral floor cleaner when cleaning. Make sure to follow the manufacturers dilution guidelines when mixing. By using more cleaning solution, you could leave a milky film on top of the concrete.
• Most interior applications we provide have a solvent-based acrylic sealer on for a base and then a water-based acrylic floor wax on top of that. The reason for the use of the wax is to provide a maintenance coat, which can periodically be top-coated to freshen up the appearance.
• Any sort of floor wax can be used to do this. We use a product from Zep companies that can be found at Home Depot, called High Traffic Floor Finish. If you choose to do this yourself, you need to make sure the floor is clean by mopping with the neutral floor cleaner and make sure it is dry. The wax can be applied with applicators, which can be found at Home Depot as well. It has a light ammonia odor so you do not need to leave the dwelling after the application.
• Typically we recommend applying two coats during the process to provide added protection. The wax typically dries within 30 minutes and the second coat can be applied as soon as you can walk on the surface. Let the floor cure for 12 hours prior to moving furniture back in the space. Avoid sliding furniture as it could scuff and scratch.
  

The Do's and Don'ts for Exterior Concrete

Exterior Architectural Concrete Maintenance and Do’s and Don’t’s

Do’s:
1. Wash your concrete regularly when dirty with a pressure washer
2. Use just water to clean (don’t use any detergents or chemicals)
3. Have your concrete resealed every 2-3 years depending on traffic patterns
4. Use non-corrosive snow and ice melting agents
5. Hire an experienced snow removal company
6. Use a sealer recommended by Concrete Arts (typically a solvent-based acrylic)
7. Sometimes sprinkler systems will leave white spots on your concrete (a chalky appearance will be evident). This is hard water stains. A good way to remove this would be to use a product called Xylene. This can be purchased at any hardware or home improvement store. Spray this on the affected areas with a garden sprayer and the spots should disappear.

Dont’s
1. Use salt or any chloride product to melt snow.
2. Use an ice pick to remove ice
3. Spray fertilizer or other lawn maintenance items on concrete
4. Let your sealer wear completely off
5. Use any cleaning solutions to clean unless compatible with sealer
6. Reseal it with a non-recommended product (typically home improvement centers do not carry the appropriate products). Contractor supply business such as Brock White, CMI, or Cemstone Contractor Supply can provide you with the right stuff.