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.
The floor of Our Baby Our World, in Wallingford, Conn., started out as what Pinger calls “a crappy old dirty stained, etc. floor.” His crew ground it with 40-grit diamond pads, then 150-grit pads.
The first colors put down were dyes. They colored the floor with Elite Crete Hydra-Stone Dye Stain, using Deep Purple and Light Violet randomly on the floor.
Then came the first primer coat, 100 percent solids epoxy was infused with Elite Crete Reflector Enhancer in Lilac, about half opacity. (Reflector Enhancer achieves look similar to popular metallic additives, but the company’s website begs, “Please don’t call these ‘metallic’ floors … Depth and visual texture are achieved naturally, not by adding solvents or spraying contaminants that change the chemical makeup and impact performance.”
|
|
|
The six-color main coat was epic. Pinger did it on his hands and knees, he says. “ had three guys mixing six different colors in small batches and bringing them to me while I rolled around on knee-blades.”
The six colors in the main coat included four clear epoxies infused with Elite Crete Reflector Enhancer in Lilac, Blue, Violet and Red Purple. The other two batches were clear and a clear to which Pinger added dark blue dye. “The dye adds another whole dimension to the colors because it blends differently than the metallics and changes the colors of the metallics it comes in contact with in a very interesting way,” Pinger says. “I spread the epoxy around with small magic trowels, brushes and 4-inch rollers.”
Finally, he topcoated with three coats of NCL One, from Marko Inc., and burnished the next day.
