One such case involved Bill Guthro, owner of Distinctive Concrete in Rowley, Mass., who was specified by the architect working on a new Planet Fitness Gym in nearby Boston.
"The final reason I steered the project away from acid stain was the fact that the client wanted a very specific color palette-purple and yellow, to match the existing company logo and colors," he adds. "The shade of purple he wanted would have been impossible to achieve with acid stain."
After assessing the site and the various issues at hand, Guthro created some samples, using microtopping to create an acid-stained look, which both the architect and client appreciated and preferred.
Both colors were mixed in five-gallon pails (the product is sold in 50-pound pails), and colored integrally at the time of mixing. Product was then rolled onto the floor and troweled flat to remove the lines created by the turbo roller.
As for the project constraints, Guthro says he's able to find solutions that make everyone happy due to his constantly educating himself and going to seminars to learn about existing and new products.
Submit your project photos and videos!
Although the odds are, mathematically-speaking, 50-50 that a client will have some idea of what type of decorative concrete work they are looking for, there are also those instances where the client wants decorative concrete work that cannot be achieved in the manner in which they are requesting.
Luckily, decorative concrete applications allow for most contractors to work around any project constraints, while still being able to achieve the desired end result.
One such case involved Bill Guthro, owner of Distinctive Concrete in Rowley, Mass., who was specified by the architect working on a new Planet Fitness Gym in nearby Boston.
The client really liked the look of acid stain, but Guthro says there were a few issues that made acid stain a poor choice for the job, the first of which was that the existing concrete floors were over 60 years old and had been covered with various carpets and other flooring materials at one time or another, which left the concrete in very bad shape.
"I explained to the client that the only way a decorative concrete floor could be installed was to remove the existing coatings and install a microtopping," explains Guthro. "Most microtoppings are installed one day and are acid stained the next day. I use ColorMaker Floor's Pentimento microtopping, which is unique when compared to other floor toppings, because you can color the floor integrally and finish by trowel to achieve the characteristics of an acid stained floor – all in one day. This method is more cost effective because you save a day by not having to come back to apply the acid stain."
"The final reason I steered the project away from acid stain was the fact that the client wanted a very specific color palette—purple and yellow, to match the existing company logo and colors," he adds. "The shade of purple he wanted would have been impossible to achieve with acid stain."
After assessing the site and the various issues at hand, Guthro created some samples, using microtopping to create an acid-stained look, which both the architect and client appreciated and preferred.
The product Guthro relied on, ColorMaker Pentimento microtopping, is integrally colored and can be finished to the same end appearance as acid stain, but "without all the guess work and grunt work required."
Although Guthro eliminated one issue, the use of acid stain, there were others he discovered along the way. For example, the prep work took twice as long as expected, because the floor, some 3,000 square feet, had carpet glue on it. Guthro used an HTC 500 grinder, which he owns, to get through the glue. Underneath that, he found black mastic, and under that was a thin-set mortar, all of which also had to be removed.
After the grinding was complete, which took almost a week, Guthro had the majority of the contaminants off the floor. He then placed Butterfield's T1000™ Fine Repair Overlay, designed for resurfacing, repairing and restoring stable, non-moving concrete floors, walls and hardscapes, which created a clean grey palette to work with. The product was applied with a metal squeegee, so he was able to do 90 percent of the work standing up.
A mere 24 hours later, once the skim coat was dry, Guthro and his crew primed the floor with Colormaker's CP1000 primer. "I use a heavy coat, which seals the floor and stops air bubbles from coming through," adds Guthro. "Some contractors may think I use too much of this, but I put a heavy coat of this on as cheap insurance—I mop it on."
The next day, Guthro added extra insurance by misting another (thin) coat of CP1000 on with a pump-up sprayer, before letting it dry for about an hour.
Guthro, who has been working with decorative concrete applications for over a decade, says he and his crew have a system down, so although the area was quite large, it only required four guys--one mixing; one as the material runner; one spreading the material using a turbo roller to keep the material at 1/8-inch, which is extremely important for microtoppping; and one troweling in the color.
To create the yellow the client requested, Guthro used a white base of Pentimento and ColorMaker's Colorfast integral coloring system in the color Interno. The purple was the result of a white base mix and Chintz Colorfast, which Guthro says was really a Pepto Bismol-pink when mixed.
Both colors were mixed in five-gallon pails (the product is sold in 50-pound pails), and colored integrally at the time of mixing. Product was then rolled onto the floor and troweled flat to remove the lines created by the turbo roller.
In order to achieve the look of acid stain, the last step involved the crew member on knee boards randomly casting extra color on top of the floor. To reduce the Pepto pink appearance and get the right shade of purple, Guthro also used Mica Colorfast to broadcast over the pink area and quickly troweled in. The yellow, however, was cast with more Interno.
"The color is worked in various directions, because you don't want uniformity," advises Guthro, adding that really helps achieve the look of acid stain.
Once the color was cast on top, the floor was ready to be sealed. Guthro used a water-based sealer, Colormaker Deco Seal Supreme, a film-forming water-based acrylic sealer with exceptional wetting capabilities that allows for excellent adhesion to most types of substrate and produces a low to medium sheen when cured.
"We wanted something that had a low toxicity, because there was zero fume tolerance in the building," explains Guthro of the choice. "Unlike solvent-based sealers, with water based, you put a coat down and let it dry thoroughly – four to six hours - and let the water evaporate." Guthro applied the sealer twice, once in the morning and then again in the late afternoon.
To finish the floor and protect it from years of wear, the next day Guthro applied three coats of Colormaker Uro Finish, which is a combination of tough glossy urethane with a water emulsion floor finish that produces exceptional gloss and durability for lasting performance in difficult to maintain "high spot" floor areas, and also has all the advantages of having a fast dry and re-coat time with an exceptional high gloss re-coating finish. This product was applied with a sprayer and dry within one hour.
After a little over a week, most of which was due to extra grinding, the floor was complete. However, because the owner was still doing a lot of other work in the space, Guthro advised him to protect the floors with paper and ensure that no tape was put on the floor.
"He did a great job of protecting the floor per my instructions, and the floor stayed covered for at least a month," recalls Guthro. "Right before he opened, I came back and did one final mop and buffed it to shine. He was thrilled with the floor."
As for the project constraints, Guthro says he's able to find solutions that make everyone happy due to his constantly educating himself and going to seminars to learn about existing and new products.
Distinctive Concrete, which provides work for both residential and commercial customers, also provides exterior work such as stamped concrete, overlays and concrete repair. Guthro also provides consulting expertise to his colleagues, particularly regarding the use of ColorMaker Pentimento.
"I work with a few acid stain contractors in the region," notes Guthro. "They'll get a job where the floor is in terrible condition. These contractors do great acid stain work, but they don't have the floor prep equipment or they're not experienced using microtoppings. I own the HTC grinder, so I don't have to hire a shotblaster. My crew is also quite adept at installing microtoppings. So we all work together to get a piece of the pie – they'll hire me to prep the floor and provide them with a microtopping that is basically a new 'canvas' for them to acid stain."
"The fact the I own a grinder also helps open me up to more jobs, because I don't have to sub that aspect out, which would certainly add more cost to the job," he concludes. "Plus, a lot of guys are not getting into toppings, but they are limiting themselves."
Bill Guthro
Distinctive Concrete
PO Box 325
Rowley, MA 01969
978-948-2970 phone
978-948-5124 fax
bguthro@distinctiveconcrete.com
www.distinctiveconcrete.com
Read More About Concrete Overlays
Return to Concrete Overlay Projects