Surface preparation is considered to be the most important step of any resinous flooring application. Improper surface preparation could turn what seems to be a simple process into a lengthy, difficult repair.
Whether the project is line removal from a commercial airway, or concrete polishing for retail finishing, Grindstaff Prep is committed to providing the highest quality in concrete preparation contracting services.
Preparing concrete surfaces for coatings, overlays, stains or repair materials is a time-consuming task that many contractors perform begrudgingly or are tempted to overlook altogether. But if you’ve ever skipped this essential first step in the process, you undoubtedly learned the hard way how critical it is to the success of the job.
Concrete surfaces are prepared prior to resurfacing concrete to look like plain concrete again or to be upgraded to a decorative finish. Today polymers can be applied as thin as 1/8 ” or up to 3/4″ thick and stamped, producing a surface that looks just like a normal stamped concrete surface.
Surfaces are also prepared prior to various floor-coating installations in industrial, commercial, and institutional applications.
The most important characteristic for resurfacing materials or floor coatings is the texture of the concrete.
This section offers an overview of the steps required for surface preparation as well as an introduction to the machinery that is used.
Concrete Sealing
Concrete sealers will make your concrete more resistant to weather exposure, water, grease and oil stains, abrasion and deicing salts. What’s more, they will help to bring out the natural beauty of your concrete and make it easier to clean. But in order for a sealer to work its magic, it must be applied properly. Each step, from surface preparation to choosing the right application tool, will ...
Concrete sealers will make your concrete more resistant to weather exposure, water, grease and oil stains, abrasion and deicing salts. What’s more, they will help to bring out the natural beauty of your concrete and make it easier to clean. But in order for a sealer to work its magic, it must be applied properly. Each step, from surface preparation to choosing the right application tool, will have a big impact on the final outcome.
F.A.Q.
Question 1
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Question 2
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Question 3
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F.A.Q.
Question 1
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Question 2
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Question 3
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Polishing w/ Retroplate
The RetroPlate Concrete Polishing System® is the innovative combination of diamond grinding, polishing, and the RetroPlate® densifier. Grindstaff Prep has stayed at the forefront in the concrete polishing industry to combine the effects of diamond grinding and polishing with a one-application densifying sealer.
Historically, concrete floor owners had few low cost options to protect and ...
The RetroPlate Concrete Polishing System® is the innovative combination of diamond grinding, polishing, and the RetroPlate® densifier. Grindstaff Prep has stayed at the forefront in the concrete polishing industry to combine the effects of diamond grinding and polishing with a one-application densifying sealer.
Historically, concrete floor owners had few low cost options to protect and beautify their floors. The RetroPlate System emerged to give owners the benefits of coating without ever having to reapply.
The results? A patented means to permanently strengthen concrete floors that delivers a highly abrasion resistant, dust-proofed surface with increased impact resistance and reflectivity. With the RetroPlate System, problem floors are a thing of the past!
Whether your floors are old or new, industrial, commercial or architectural, the RetroPlate System is designed to meet your unique specifications.
Whatever your needs, the RetroPlate System have you covered!
Up to 400% increase in abrasion resistance
Up to 21% increase in impact resistance
Up to 30% increase in light reflectivity
Meets OSHA & ADA SCOF standards to 800 grit finish
LEED Qualified in Multiple Areas
Spec: Section 03360 – Special Concrete Floor Finish
Polishing and Staining
Where, when and why to install one or the other.
The choice of polished or stained concrete floors goes beyond a desire for a mirror finish or rustic patina. It also depends largely on the customer’s budget, planned usage and maintenance expectations
Help customers make the right flooring decisions for long-term satisfaction
Being a successful decorative concrete professional ...
Where, when and why to install one or the other.
The choice of polished or stained concrete floors goes beyond a desire for a mirror finish or rustic patina. It also depends largely on the customer’s budget, planned usage and maintenance expectations
Help customers make the right flooring decisions for long-term satisfaction
Being a successful decorative concrete professional requires more than technical expertise. Contractors also need to go the extra mile by:
Starting with thorough on-site inspections. This means carefully assessing the existing substrate condition, looking for cracking, spalling or other issues that may adversely affect project objectives.
Asking good questions. This often begins with determining what aesthetic look or feel the customer wants from the flooring project. In addition, it’s imperative to ask how the surface will be used. For example, will the floor need to handle just small groups — or thousands of people and the pounding of heavy equipment? Finally, clarify the budget requirements. “If a client only has $2 per square foot to spend, you’re sure not going to be talking with them about polished concrete,” Eiswerth says.
Managing customer expectations. As work gets underway, it’s always smart to provide mockup samples of the finished color and texture for customer approval. That way, the customer has a visual representation of each upcoming step, ensuring that there are no surprises.
F.A.Q.
What are the key differences between stained and polished concrete floors?
Typically, polished concrete jobs are about $5 to $8 higher per square foot than a stained contract project. That upfront cost is higher because it requires more equipment and has a more involved installation process. However, when larger companies do the math, they often find that the return on investment for polished concrete durability is quite good. On the other hand, a stained concrete floor is essentially a coating system designed to achieve a desired look. For that reason, customers need to be more diligent about protecting and maintaining those coatings.
What are the best applications for each type of flooring?
For polished concrete, you’re talking about high-wear areas, such as large retail stores, warehouses, stadium concourses or even restaurants that choose to invest the upfront expense in exchange for lower maintenance. With stained concrete, examples might be salons, smaller retail shops, restaurants or residential patios — anywhere people really want that variegated look from an acid-etch stain, or the faux finish you can get from acetone dye or semi-transparent stain products.
Can you provide a quick installation overview for polished and stained concrete?
For polished concrete, you typically prepare the surface with a planetary grinder to open up the concrete pores.
On stained concrete projects, there are some differences. With an acid stain, the color is literally etched or ‘burned’ into the concrete, so etching is not needed in the surface preparation steps. With other stain product options the contractor needs to use either mechanical grinding or an acid wash for surface preparation. Generally we recommend the acid wash, because if grinding isn’t done properly, it can leave visible imperfections in the finished product. To protect a semi-transparent stain, acetone dye stain or infusion acid stain, be sure to use a High Performance Industrial Clear Coat.
Are there substantial maintenance differences between these surfaces?
While there’s no such thing as a ‘no maintenance’ surface, polished concrete is probably the lowest overall maintenance system. When you polish concrete it closes the pores. That helps it resist staining and moisture, so routine maintenance is basically a powered floor scrubber, a wet mop or a neutral cleaner. While daily maintenance on a stained concrete floor is essentially the same, there is more long-term expense in reapplying clear coats or protective waxes. The life of the coating system is largely dependent on wear. If one area sustains a lot of scratches or heavy traffic, those activities can sometimes get through the coating and remove color in that particular spot.
Diamond Grinding
Diamond grinding is a concrete pavement restoration technique that corrects irregularities such as minor pits and divots, faulting and roughness on concrete pavements. This is achieved by using diamond bits to grind the surface. This also leaves a very smooth profile-ideal for thin-mil coating or sealer applications. Diamond grinding also profiles the concrete and removes contaminants from the surface.
Diamond ...
Diamond grinding is a concrete pavement restoration technique that corrects irregularities such as minor pits and divots, faulting and roughness on concrete pavements. This is achieved by using diamond bits to grind the surface. This also leaves a very smooth profile-ideal for thin-mil coating or sealer applications. Diamond grinding also profiles the concrete and removes contaminants from the surface.
Diamond grinding is typically used to level uneven pavement and to roughen surfaces for skid resistance. It has low dust levels, removes epoxies and urethanes but is slower than other methods. Some diamond grinders can also leave swirl marks in the slab if you’re overly aggressive.
Some of the advantages of a diamond ground pavements include:
- Provides a smooth surface that is often as good or better than a new pavement
- Enhances surface texture and friction and there is no evidence of deleterious effects
- These improvements reduce the potential for small-vehicle hydroplaning
- Does not significantly affect fatigue life of a pavement
- Does not affect material durability unless the coarse aggregate is a soft stone subject to polishing
- May be applied only where is needed, however, spot grinding is generally not usually recommended
- Restoring smoothness to faulted or curled concrete highways Improve skid resistance
- Level doorway entrances
- Smooth driveway approaches
Shot Blasting
Shot blasting concrete remains the #1 choice for surface preparation of any flooring manufacture and contractor concerned about bonding a coating to a concrete floor surface. In fact, the term “surface preparation” came to be known with the introduction of early shot blasting machines. Shot blasting can profile concrete slabs for a thin film coating or a ¼” morter. Bridge contractors can ...
Shot blasting concrete remains the #1 choice for surface preparation of any flooring manufacture and contractor concerned about bonding a coating to a concrete floor surface. In fact, the term “surface preparation” came to be known with the introduction of early shot blasting machines. Shot blasting can profile concrete slabs for a thin film coating or a ¼” morter. Bridge contractors can testify as to why surface preparation is so important prior to the installation of either concrete or epoxy overlays. Shotblasting remains the surface preparation of choice for architects and engineers who write specs for the bridge industry. Surface preparation is our business and we do it safely, cost-efficiently and always on schedule!
F.A.Q.
What is Shot Blasting?
Shot blasting is a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly method for preparing asphalt, concrete and steel surfaces. This timesaving process strips, cleans and profiles the surface while leaving the resulting surface ready for chemical treatments, coatings and overlay materials.Shot blasting can produce the International Concrete Repair Institute’s (ICRI) concrete surface profiles of CSP 3 through CSP 8.
Shot blasting produces excellent bonding characteristics that promote better adhesion and reduced coating failures.
How Does Shot blasting Work?
Shot blasting systems use a high-performance, airless, centrifugal or perimeter-fed blast wheel. In both types of wheels, kinetic energy charges steel shot by the blades on the rapidly rotating blast wheel, and the steel shot propels at a high velocity toward the surface. The shot strikes the surface and rebounds, and the shot and debris then enter an air-wash separator where the dirt and debris are separated from the shot.The shot is recycled to the blast wheel repeatedly while the dirt and debris are transferred to the dust collector. This creates a steady blast of kinetic energy that strips laitance, coatings and surface contaminants while profiling the surface in one step. The dirt, dust and debris deposit in easy-to-handle bins or quick change-bags, reducing exposure to workers and the environment. During operation, shot blasting is virtually dust-free.
Different ICRI concrete surface profiles can be obtained by varying the shot size and travel speed. Selecting the shot size is critical to proper performance—the larger the abrasive, the larger the impact power, resulting in a larger profile. The smaller the abrasive, the less impact power, resulting in a smaller profile. A surface preparation specialist can help you select the correct abrasive size for a particular project or application.
What Are the Benefits?
Shotblasting does not require harsh chemicals or acids, and it does not necessitate containment. When used properly, little to no dust is emitted into the atmosphere, and the process has a minimal carbon footprint. The largest commercially available shotblast system consumes 28 gallons of diesel fuel and 1,000 pounds of steel abrasive to blast one lane-mile. This correlates to a carbon footprint of 0.543 tons per lane-mile. Compare this to 558 tons of carbon emissions to produce a lane-mile of asphalt and 2,408 tons of carbon emissions to produce a lane-mile of concrete freeway.From a sustainability perspective, preserving roadways and bridges instead of replacing them makes sense. The low cost of shot blasting provides many benefits when compared to other pavement preservation methods. At a cost of roughly $6,680 per lane-mile, it costs one-twentieth the cost of asphalt repaving, one-third of the cost of chip seals and one-seventeenth the cost of a 2-inch asphalt overlay.
It also saves time and money by reducing material costs, labor and traffic control costs with shorter lane closure times. Shot blasting is the only process that has been proven to restore both micro and macro texture to asphalt and concrete roadways. This translates into higher skid resistance and safer roadways. If you couple shot blasting with available chemical treatments, the pavement life can be extended to five years, reducing the need to repave roadways.
To prepare concrete and asphalt surfaces for epoxy coatings, urethane coatings, MMA broadcast systems or polymer modified overlays, most manufacturers specify shot blasting as their preferred method of surface preparation. It produces a clean profiled substrate in one pass with no chemicals or water. No additional time is needed for the substrate to dry.
The product can be applied once the surface is blasted, which means less lane closure time and a faster return to service. It eliminates drying time and costly and time-consuming disposal methods associated with other surface preparation methods. The production rate, finish profile and low operating cost make shot blasting an important tool to help maintain, repair and restore the world’s infrastructure system of roadways, airports and bridges.
F.A.Q.
Scarification Pros
Scarification excels at removing thicker coating and resurfacers.
Scarification Cons
Scarification leaves an aggressive profile more so than shotblasting. This texture usually requires at least 1/8 inch of resurfacer to restore the surface to a smooth uniform texture.
Cost of wear items such as cutters and supporting cages result in a high cost per square foot than most other removal methods and is of moderate speed in terms of operation.
Scarifying
Scarification works by using steel and or carbide star shaped cutters mounted in rows with several rows around the perimeter of a rotating drum. The cutters come in several sizes and variations for different applications. With this drum machines can remove between ¼ inch and 2 inches in a single pass. Scarifiers are most often seen in the road construction business. They can be used for the ...
Scarification works by using steel and or carbide star shaped cutters mounted in rows with several rows around the perimeter of a rotating drum. The cutters come in several sizes and variations for different applications. With this drum machines can remove between ¼ inch and 2 inches in a single pass. Scarifiers are most often seen in the road construction business. They can be used for the removal of asphalt roads traffic lines, grinding down high spots and grooving the surface. Scarification is very effective in removal of old coating and resurfacers.