When a long-standing furniture store in Louisiana was sold and rebranded as an Ashley HomeStore, the new owner had to make minor upgrades to the building. This included rejuvenating a showroom floor near the building entrance. The existing concrete surface was spalled and cracked, and couldn't be polished in its deteriorated condition.
Just a week after the store opened for business, Thames Concrete Services of Olive Branch, Miss., was tasked with repairing 2,000 square feet of the damaged concrete surface during non-business hours. They removed the damaged concrete and, over four days, the flooring contractor used Rapid-Set® TRU® PC Gray polishable topping to resurface the floor.
TRU PC is a high-flow architectural topping that can be ground and polished to expose the aggregate and simulate polished concrete. The cement-based, self-leveling topping can be used both indoors and out, is crack-resistant, and won't deteriorate in damp conditions.
Work began each evening at around 9. After removing display furniture and performing surface prep, the contractor primed the substrate using
Rapid Set® TXP™ Fast
. The zero-VOC, alkali-resistant epoxy primer is specially formulated to penetrate the concrete and create a strong adhesive grip for self-leveling toppings. Since an overlayment can be placed in four to six hours, the crew was able to prep and prime the surface in one night and place the TRU PC overlay the next night.
The crew mixed TRU PC via Hippo mixers, placed it at 3/8-inch thick with gauge rakes, and finished with spiked rollers to release any trapped air and provide a smooth, level surface. Each 50-pound bag covered 15 to 16 square feet.
The new floor was ready for foot traffic in two to three hours and for grinding in 24 hours. Grinding and polishing took place on the third and fourth days, with the crew diamond-polishing up to an 800-grit, high-gloss finish. The final steps included applying a guard and burnishing.
When the store opened the following morning, the floor was showroom-ready with all display furniture in place.
