[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: was Hydronic Radiant UnderfloorHeating nowPolishing Concrete

[Keith Winston]

For those interested in such things, these systems are often used with 
an adjunct product called a sprinkle-on finish, I believe. As you may 
now, concrete is harder the less water you add to it. These finishes are 
sprinkled on top of poured, troweled concrete, and use the water coming 
up out of the concrete to cure them. As a result, they are very hard. 
Furthermore, they offer the opportunity to relatively cheaply add 
interesting things like pits and pieces of glass and metal, since you're 
only adding 1/8 - 1/2", and since you're adding them to what is going to 
be a hard/strong surface, which you're going to grind down and polish to 
expose them, it all works out nicely. These are used very often in 
commercial floors.

Keith


Bruce Donelson wrote:
> You can look at www.retroplatesystem.com for more information. I used an
> installer out of Vancouver Washington. similar polished concrete systems
> include Certishine.
>
> We started with a machine troweled slab and let it cure for over a month. It
> looked fine, like a troweled floor. We polished it after the rough was
> complete, and before the insulation. When it  was done, the insualtion
> contractors showed up, looked inside, and said, " We can't walk on that
> until its dry." I had to tell them that it was dry, the polishers hadn't
> used any water in the process since the grinding phase.
>
> This floor has a shiny appearance, is generally cleaned with a dust mop,
> never needs to be waxed or stripped, and should look pretty much the same
> for quite a number of years with little maintenance but cleaning.
>
> Bruce donelson
> A Better Builder
>
>
>
>
> Wow, pretty high tech stuff.  Why is this any better than a simple
> standard machine troweled finish plus some concrete stain/sealer?
>
> http://members.socket.net/%7Ellile/ConcreteStain/Concrete_Stain.html
>
>  I'm pretty happy with mine, and find it to be incredibly low
> maintenance.  If I think it is too dirty for the broom, I dump a bucket
> of water on it and squeegee it all into the floor drain in the kitchen.
>
> I'm sure the polished floor is very pretty, but would it really be worth
> the trouble?
>
>
>
> Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP
> Project Solutions Engineering
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Gary
> Viljoen
> Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:18 AM
> To: 'Sacie Lambertson'; Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: [BULK] Re: [Greenbuilding] was Hydronic Radiant Underfloor
> Heating nowPolishing Concrete
> Importance: Low
>
> Any good sites for information on details of this process?
>
> Gary
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Sacie
> Lambertson
> Sent: 17 October 2007 05:59 PM
> To: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] was Hydronic Radiant Underfloor Heating
> nowPolishing Concrete
>
> At 09:46 PM 10/16/2007, Bruce Donelson wrote:
>   
>> the concrete was ground down with diamond polishing tools
>> to an 800 grit, dyed, hardened with Silicate formulation called
>>     
> RetroPlate
>   
>> (good article on concrete polishing in Environmental Building News
>>     
> about a
>   
>> year ago,) then touched with a stain repellant. Quite attractive. Very
>>     
> Green.
>   
>> No waxes, strippers, vinyl, carpet.
>>     
>
> Yes, this is exactly what I wish had been available when we built our
> house with concrete floors.  If you want to avoid regular
> maintenance, mechanical polishing is the only way to go.   Wish it
> had been available when we built our house with concrete floors.  In
> our area it still isn't.  In any case it can't be retrofitted so to
> speak.   If you want to avoid future maintenance this is the only way
> to go.  The result is beautiful.  Sacie L
>
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