A Guide to Concrete Floor Coating Methods and Techniques
November 28, 2014Gone are the days of a concrete floor, or basement, or showroom base, being an uninteresting grey slab.
Today, there are coatings or mix additives that provide an attractive, hardwearing and cost-effective product finish. No matter how old your concrete base is, it can be repaired and given a new lease of life. Below are some alternatives to turn your ugly grey slab into an attractive, long-term floor.
Concrete Sealers
Sealers fall into penetrating or film-forming categories. These include acrylics, polyurethanes, epoxies, hardeners and densifiers. Each has different properties, specific to what the base has been designed for, and the required finish. They are also one of the cheapest ways of giving that old concrete base a new lease-of-life.
Concrete Stain
Available in a range of colours, staining is suitable for use inside or out. Whether for a patio or pool surround, or to revamp a house floor or large showroom, staining can provide a totally unique look.
Concrete Colouring
With so many alternatives to having just a grey concrete base, it’s a good idea to plan the type of finish you require before mixing your concrete. Colour is a case in point. With such a large variety of colours available they are designed for use as an integral part of the initial concrete mix. This method provides an even spread of fade resistant colour throughout the thickness of the base.
Polished Concrete Floors
Yes – you can actually polish your old or new concrete floor. This method of concrete finish is ideal for showrooms, retail supermarkets and office floors.
Whether your choice of finish is wet look, polished glass type, marble, matt or semi-gloss, all are available to give a smooth, silky-to-the-touch finish.
Concrete Overlaying
An ideal way of saving the cost of replacing floor, patio, drive, stairs, walkways, pool surround or showroom floor is by concrete overlaying of the existing. Many manufacturers produce overlay mixes and all have their own specific mix. Suffice to say, included in these mixes will be polymer resins. It is these resins that provide the overlay the ability to bond with old, existing concrete.
As with everything, the finished job is only as good as the initial preparation. Old cracked and crumbling concrete needs to be cut out, until the bonding can be carried out on good, strong existing surfaces. Sprayable overlays are available for use with stencilling of the surface.
Stamped Concrete
Is the use of stencils to give patios, pool surrounds and walkways a slabbed look. Whether old rustic type slabs, or different patterns of square or rectangular concrete slabs, it is a far cheaper method of obtaining the same finish.
The Beginning
No matter how professional the concrete layer, the finished job and lifespan will only be as good as the initial mix. Volumetric concrete mixing is the way to go here.
Being able to use exactly the amount of concrete that you need to complete a job saves on both waste and money, and this, along with the ability to change the mix on the go due to weather conditions/demands of the project, is exactly what volumetric concrete mixers offer.
Written by Roadmaster Concrete Mixers; the leading supplier of volumetric concrete mixers across the UK and Europe.