Terrazzi finish at CRG Gallery New York

On my recent trip to visit Paul Huneck at Hudson Concrete, an unexpected opportunity came up to show our latest Cast-on technique over Arapido to create a Terrazzi finish.

Conclusion : Cast-on adds an interesting dimension to the surface matrix and improves the polishing results.

The Terrazzi surface was applied over a new self- leveled concrete floor that was showing up unwanted curing lines due to protection cardboard. 

Those important concrete details;

Polishing the Terrazzi edges with a 4 inch variable hand polisher and dry diamond pads.


We place these pads also under the larger 17' floor machine to polish the field areas.

So Important:
Always spray apply the first coat of sealer. This eliminates the possibility of roller or applicator lines.Second coat can be applied with applicator.



Keep the pressure up and apply a very thin coat.

 With a closer look:
The polished concrete micro topping creates subtle depth and character on a very smooth floor surface without detracting form the wall art.

No rivalries here!

the Terrazzi floor acts as a perfect backdrop for objects of art.
After the floor was sealed with Deco Seal Supreme two coats of a flat wax floor finish were applied to assist for easy maintenance.

Special thanks to the owners of CRG Gallery:
Carla, Richard and Glenn for their trusting support.
Making quick decisions allowed the installation to proceed very rapidly.



THE PROJECT: installed by Hudson Concrete

Revisit the polished concrete Arapido at Vancouver College

I thought it would be a good time and have a look at an old Arapido project.
Back in 2007 we  had 2 years of successful project testing with this new product and felt it was time to put it to the real test.....the heavy demands of a large boy's college.


Vancouver College Crest

With decorative concrete finishes we had a opportunity to give the College a chance to present their heritage with the present in the new school extensions.

With Bjorn Olner we worked on a concept of deconstructing the school crest and using aspects of it in the new floor.

 Bjorn Olner's original watercolor drawings for the foyer.

We chose gold as the main field color's as it was used in the college's uniforms. The first task was to lay out the design and spray on the Arapido which had a fine combination of Silica hardeners and pearlescent powders broad-casted to provide extra hardness.

Large graphics depicting aspects of the crest and in this case the opening year the school was established 1922. Purple was the predominate color used in the college uniforms.

The school demanding foot traffic has had no effect on the Arapido surface, since its inception in the school another two renovations have seen the material used.

Sprayable Arapido cement micro topping on vertical

Tony from  Melody Concrete mixes the arapido cement with 4.6 liters of CP 2008 polymer for 2 minutes.
Allows it to sit for a couple of minutes ...re-mixes for 45 seconds minute.
He uses a fine screen to pour it through prior to filling the hopper of the Arapido sprayer.

  
Do not mistake this with the Stucco hopper gun system!
that systems spatters the coarse material on with air, and then knocked down with a trowel to give a stucco finish.


The difference:
  The Arapido gun puts on a very smooth fine cement finish without air .....thus having real concrete characteristic.

 Stand back at least 5ft when spraying very light smooth coats

The freshly sprayed Arapido cement is very lightly textured with magic trowels to give movement and a fresco finish...  the desired look.

WALLS AND EVEN CEILINGS

Once dry, Arapido cement takes on a totally different look to paint....a softer warmer natural ascetic

"Its time for a Self-Level"

The problem:
 Even though this surface needed to be level with the adjoining tile, the surface had been so poorly place that it still would have required a self leveling cement like Level 1.
Arapido requires a much smoother substrate.
Remember the newly sprayed cement goes on very thin, and any physical deficiencies underneath would not be hidden.

level 1 brings the concrete floor up to the level of the tile, and at the same time eliminates the heavy trowel lines.
Prior to installing the Arapido over the self level, the floor must be primed with CP2008.
This will stop air movement up through  Level 1, plus bond the two surfaces together and allow the Arapido to hydrate as required.

Laying graphics with different color and matrix

The Process: involves a layer of Arapido, including Cast-on and then polished the following day with 100 mesh dry diamond pads.
Then another layer of sprayed Arapido over a hand cut card board graphic....this time no Cast-on, thus producing more surface contrast. With this second layer, a 200 mesh Diamond pad polished the last graphic even finer then the first layer.




The Project : was completed by Tony Qi from Melody Concrete at  Yaletown Vancouver

A resurfacing installer's nightmare

Bull-nose steps
The original steps were poorly installed with typical gray concrete once the various  deficiencies were patched and ground the Arapido spray pump makes fast work of resurfacing.

Typically resurfacing these 10 bull nose steps would take the best part of an afternoon,with the Arapido sprayer the job was completely resurfaced in 10 minutes not including the patching.


The smooth finish produce by the sprayer had a broadcast of Cast-on to give a fine sandstone appearance to match the visual of the sandstone walls and to create a nonslip factor.

Imagine Joanne's vision

A pretty daunting task at this stage. The old crumbing concrete floor needed to be removed to allow for a complete renovation including raising the house and new foundations.

Joanne inspecting her new Garden suite even at this stage she had visualized the finish needed for her furniture.

A new floor was place the gray concrete was power trowelled to produce a smooth finish ...perfect for the Arpaido process that was done 4 weeks later
the photo gives a glimpse of the abuse a new concrete receives during construction.

COMPLETION: Joanne a very happy client

What makes this interesting is that the white Arapido cement floor with the Terrazzi finish absolutely suits Joannes fine antique furniture in her garden suite.

The Matrix's ...simple yet elegant
The SST Cast-on in the project had a combination of fine silica's, red glass and small white marble chips.