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The finished floor of this art center brings in the arts wherever applicable. The new floor was one of the major changes to the space, and it presented the perfect opportunity to showcase local talent in artists who could work with concrete. Instead of creating a neutral floor, we went for bright and vibrant.
UpStream Art, a project of the University Of Arkansas Division Of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, has been using Seal-Krete products to protect murals on storm drains. The murals are being used to communicate the function and importance of storm drains.
Don Pinger, Custom Concrete Solutions, West Hartford, Conn., used a unique combination of dyes and metallic epoxy to achieve a neat, radiant floor for this baby accessories shop.
Using grit additives has become the most common method for reducing slipperiness when sealing decorative concrete flatwork on exterior walking surfaces. The grit additives are mixed into the sealer, then the gritty sealer is applied to the concrete. However, in this situation the weather was too cold to reseal the concrete. So another method needs to be used until springtime arrives and temperatures rise.
Surface preparation is the crucial beginning stage of any concrete polishing process. It is especially important in old office buildings, warehouses or department stores where tile or carpeting once covered the flooring, leaving behind residue that must be removed before applying an overlay or polishing. Photo courtesy of Stoops Freightliner
Decorative concrete wizard Tom Ralston is a familiar name to Concrete Decor readers for his elaborate, multifaceted homes and backyards. But there’s another side to Ralston’s work: the wildly creative stuff that’s almost pure fun.
If Florida’s Turnpike were a rail line, the Fort Drum service plaza in the south central part of the state would be the equivalent of New York’s Grand Central Station, with glitzy interior treatments that include terrazzo floors and decorative exterior treatments and landscaping that evoke Florida’s unique natural environs.
This is very similar to the story told in the old children’s tale, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” If you remember, the slow-footed tortoise won a race against the faster hare by keeping a slow, steady pace while his faster counterpart sprinted, tired and lost concentration.
First Federal Savings Bank, Sheridan, Wyo., asked Doug Carlton if there was an overlay that could improve their cracked, uneven parking lot. He told them no. The crack pattern shows a problem beyond random cracking. He guessed that the concrete is too thin or not properly reinforced, or that the subgrade had failed.
Glass-fiber reinforced concrete became a commercially viable material in the early 1970s. But it would take another decade or two before it became an economically attractive and faster alternative to the heavy and expensive materials traditionally used in commercial buildings.
