PetSmart prides itself on equipping people to help their pets live long, happy, healthy lives. The specialty retailer provides pet food and merchandise, training, grooming, boarding, veterinary services and, yes, pets in its more than 1,400 stores nationwide. When the Syracuse, N.Y., store decided to rehab its flooring, the retailer wanted an aesthetically pleasing surface that could withstand the high traffic of both customers and their pets. The first step was to remove dozens of unsightly steel plates embedded in the polished concrete floor by the building’s previous occupant.
Flooring contractor Syncon Inc., based in Livonia, Mich., was tasked with cutting out the steel plates, or traps, filling and patching the resulting holes, and polishing the repaired areas to match the rest of the floor. Work had to be scheduled around store hours, with the floor ready for foot traffic by the time the store opened for business each morning. This meant the contractor had to work in sections, replacing three to four traps a night.
To work within this timeframe, the contractor needed a fast-setting concrete repair material. Rapid Set® Concrete Mix was chosen for its high durability and fast strength gain—the high-performance blend of hydraulic cement and quality aggregates typically sets in 15 minutes and is ready for traffic in an hour.
Overnight Concrete Repairs
When the store closed each evening, the Syncon crew went to work. After cutting out and removing each steel trap, the crew created a sub-base first by laying down thick polyethylene sheeting at the bottom of the hollow hole and then filling the space with gravel up to four to six inches below the top surface. The remaining four to six inches were filled with the concrete repair material.
Each hole required at least seven bags of Concrete Mix (one 60-pound bag yields approximately 0.5 cubic feet). The crew mixed the material in two-bag batches via barrel mixer, placed the material and screeded to the desired height, and troweled the surface for a smooth finish. After wet curing for a minimum of one hour, the repaired sections were ready for the store’s morning traffic.
After all traps were removed and Concrete Mix was installed, the crew ground and polished the repaired areas. The project was completed in less than two weeks, with minimal disruption to PetSmart staff and customers.
