Polishable Topping Gives Old Concrete Floors a Beautiful New Aesthetic

ModernCrete uses 23 pallets of TRU® SP to restore an iconic downtown Austin, Texas, office building.
Posted on 11/02/2022

Project image

The Frost Bank Tower, a well-known high-rise building in Austin, Texas, is 515 feet tall with 33 floors, and among the tallest buildings in the city. The Class A office building was completed in 2003 and, by 2020, due for some repairs.

Austin-based national flooring contractor ModernCrete chose Rapid Set® TRU® SP Gray and Rapid Set® TRU® SP Natural , along with TXP™ Fast epoxy primer, to repair and restore floors throughout the building. The products are ideal for the type of work the company was contracted to do.

TRU SP is a high-performance, self-leveling architectural topping available in both natural and gray colors that creates a salt-and-pepper finish on polished, decorative floors. It provides outstanding clarity and gloss. One of its biggest advantages is that the surface can be ground wet or dry and polished in 24 hours. The topping is placed with a minimum thickness of 3/8-inch or, for floors subjected to high-load rubber-wheeled traffic, a minimum thickness of ½-inch. It is often used for polished concrete floors in schools, airports, warehouses, retail, restaurants, and lobbies.

TXP Fast is designed for use under Rapid Set TRU flooring products. TXP Fast's formulation provides excellent substrate wetting capabilities to promote penetration and adhesion. It is moisture-tolerant and resistant to elevated pH levels, and ready for overlayment in four to six hours. With its low viscosity, TXP Fast deeply penetrates the floor substrate surface.

The work took place inside a climate-controlled building. TRU SP was mixed using a CS Unitech Hippo mixer and polished with SASE Co. polishing equipment.

A total of 23 pallets of product were used on the 12,000 square feet of flooring. Work took place between March 17 through April 28, 2020.

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ModernCrete’s crews get a lesson in mixing and placing Rapid Set® TRU® SP self-leveling architectural topping from CTS Technical Representative Billy Rangel. The product contains aggregate that, when polished, creates a salt-and-pepper appearance.
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Before pouring TRU SP overlayment, ModernCrete’s crews applied TXP™ Fast epoxy primer with sand broadcast to promote adhesion. The crew member at right is using a TRU PC spiked roller to release any trapped air and improve aggregate consistency at the surface.
Project at a glance
  • Type: Commercial
  • Application: Flooring, Polished Concrete
  • Products: TRU® SP Gray, TRU® SP Natural, TXP™ Fast Epoxy Primer
  • Location: Austin, Texas
  • Size: 12,000 square feet
  • Dates: March 17 - April 28, 2020
  • Owner: Endeavor Real Estate Group
  • Contractor: ModernCrete
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Products Mentioned

Rapid Set
TRU® SP