Lululemon Athletica designs apparel for yoga, running, training, and "most other sweaty pursuits." In 2019, the Canadian brand more than doubled retail space at one of its New York City locations by occupying four floors comprising more than 20,000 square feet. As part of the build-out, the company specified a polished-concrete, exposed-aggregate finish for the sales floor.

Flooring contractor All Stone Restoration of Smithtown, N.Y., achieved the owner's desired look by using Rapid Set® TRU® PC (for "polished concrete") self-leveling architectural topping.

TRU PC is a high-flow, hydraulic cement-based topping that can be ground and polished to expose the aggregate and simulate polished concrete. Its low polymer content and dense matrix help achieve outstanding clarity and gloss. TRU PC is available in natural and gray colors and can be customized onsite using integral colors. For this project, TRU PC Natural was used to achieve the designer's specified color.

Work included filling in holes and other damage in the existing concrete substrate with Rapid Set® Cement All® , a multipurpose repair material that achieves structural strength in an hour. The contractor then primed the substrate with Rapid Set® TXP Fast epoxy primer and sand broadcast to prevent pinholes and create a strong bond for the topping. The primer was applied by squeegee and then back-rolled to achieve a uniform thickness of 10 mils to 12 mils. The floor was ready for the topping four to six hours after the primer was applied.

Next, the crew mixed TRU PC in Hippo mixers and placed it at 3/8-inch to ½-inch thick. To provide the desired appearance, the crew broadcast an additional 1/4-inch aggregate.

The topping was ready for grinding and polishing 24 hours after placement. The crew ground and polished the surface up to 800 grit to expose the aggregate and provide a high-sheen look.

The location opened in December 2019. In all, 850 bags of TRU PC Natural were used for 10,000 square feet of flooring.