FAQ’s

Concrete questions

 To understand what can be done with concrete flooring 1st thing we need to know is what are you dealing with.

1. concrete 2. hard surface tile or 3. wood sub-floor

(1) If it is concrete,  what condition is that in?  does it have pits, chips, and  and chunks out of it is a hard or soft concrete, luckily for you with today’s technology even the poorest concrete can be beautified

if your concrete is in poor condition it may require  a self-leveling concrete resurfacing followed with a Arapido  cement finished with a polishing that will give you a beautiful finished floor.

(2)  if you’re dealing with existing ceramic tile that is outdated we will need to know how to fix the grout lines are are they glossy tile or porous, and what surface preparation is required to get proper adhesion to them.

Often times we will apply a quarter inch self level concrete to smooth out the service followed by a layer of Arapido, if you’re looking for a Venetian style finish you may choose a couple of layers of SGRAFFINO that would give you that affect. When a burnished finish with trowel lines and chatter are required we use SGRAFFINO applied with a 16 inch steel cement trowel.

(3) have you a plywood sub-floor? We would definitely recommend sealing of the plywood not to absorb moisture and then apply a 3/8 layer of Self level cement.This will take the bounce out of the floor and give us a rigid surface to apply a layer of Arapido cement.As discussed earlier all these systems require sealing the new concrete surface. The use and visual appearance will determine the concrete sealer we specify.

You might ask why we don’t just polish the existing concrete,  this is possible only if the concrete is Sound,  stable  and in the condition that warrants polishing.  The important thing to remember is that cracks, patches, damage and other unsightly imperfections are not hidden with the polishing process and they do not go away only with resurfacing system can the concrete be made to look new.   If you’re choosing to color your concrete the colors will be more effective on an overlaid or resurfaced concrete they will stand out as well as provide us more controlWhy wouldnt we just polish the existing concrete? well you can as long as the concrete surface is sound and in good condition. Remember unsitely concrete patches after polishing don’t go away and if colored with an acid stain or concrete dye, they will stand out even more.

A double layer of self level concrete was installed to cover the 5/8 high stainless steel Smithrite logo This was due to the original concrete floor being poorly finished. When installing over a logo its better to keep the cemnet thickness of each pour down to a 1/4inch as to have better control over the final level.

Some people want to know if you can go over a painted concrete surface with an overlay.   unfortunately in most cases the answer is no.  A concrete resurfacing system will adhere to whatever  is placed upon,  therefore a pealing and flaking painted floor would not make for a good substrate.   Surface preparation can be done to  roughen and remove  flaking paint.

After both wall and wooden base plate are removed, we will completely seal off the wood sub floor in the trench.

The trench will then be overfill with a rapid high strength cement and once dry ground to meet the surrounding floor level.

We recommend honouring exterior expansion joints due to the large daily movement that can take place due to the temperature changes causing expansion an contraction in the concrete slab.The unattractive expansion joint in this case undergoes a number of steps to reduce its size and refine its appearance.