“Sea of Change” – Floor Design Ideas In Fort Worth, TX
We got a call one day about from a couple that was moving into a new office area in Fort Worth. They had taken one look at the existing flooring, an old badly stained glue down carpet and knew it just had to go. They were looking for some floor design ideas that were unique and would really stand out.
After meeting with them and going over some options they decided to stain the floor in a “sea foam” color, as in, on a beach, enjoying the waves crashing in. It’s a unique color scheme and I would be fibbing if I said we weren’t a little nervous about it but we decided to give it a try.
The first step in bringing our clients’ floor design ideas to life was dealing with the glue down carpet. In this particular case we were lucky, it wasn’t holding on for dear life. After peeling it off we went right to work on the glue underneath. It was literally “caked” on and the only way to get through it was to use a scraper blade attachment on our buffer. We also found some VCT (vinyl composite tiles) that were hidden under the carpet. We got those up with handheld scraper.
When our clients had first asked us about floor design ideas, the original intent was to stain the concrete directly. Once we showed them all the glue that was going to show through and the tile pattern “ghost image” that the VCT was going to leave behind on the floor they decided to go with the microfinish overlay where we apply a thin concrete resurfacing material that buries all these problems.
Once all the glue was gone we attacked the floor with our floor grinders to open it up. This creates a texture that allows our microfinish overlay material to bite down and stick tightly to the floor. We finished the prep work and got right into mixing the overlay material which is poured out and squeegeed all over in a smooth, even coat. This is what we call a bond coat. It has a sandy texture that provides excellent abrasion resistance. Once that dried, we applied the microfinish overlay on top of the bond coat using a steel trowel and passing it over and over again to “burnish” it. This is what gives the floor so much personality. Next we passed a scraper blade over the entire area to smooth it out some more.
Now comes the hardest part-colors! With any floor design ideas, choosing the right colors can be daunting. Here, we used two stain colors, the first a blue base followed by a green top coat. These two colors beautifully complement each other. Once the top color coat had dried we went in with the sealer. This is what gives stain it’s “wow” factor. Last but not least, the wax coat. This creates a sacrificial barrier that helps protect the sealer from the normal wear and tear of daily use. The final result is absolutely stunning! And most importantly, they loved it.
