CPC Floor Coatings Blog

Whether your crew is building a new industrial or retail facility, or if you’re constructing homes with slab foundations, you know the difficulties of getting concrete to cure properly. It can be a time-consuming process, especially when you’re dealing with extreme temperatures, precipitation, or even excessive wind.

Unfortunately, excessive moisture rising from new concrete—as part of the curing process or because of excessive moisture from beneath the foundation—can cause a host of problems in a completed structure.

Want a simple way to brighten up your existing concrete floor? You may already be aware of how the concrete polishing process can bring dull floors to a beautiful shine, plus improve your floor's ability to stand up to heavy foot traffic.

Did you know you don't have to stick with the existing gray color?

Concrete stains and dyes, applied prior to polishing, are available in an array of earth tones and jewel tones to beautify your floors even more. 

Different colors can be applied in geometric patterns or with the use of detailed stencils. And some contractors can even use skilled hand techniques and a second stain to create marbling or even bolder patterns.  

Have you ever walked into your company’s warehouse, manufacturing floor, or retail area to discover a large crack in your concrete floor that you're pretty sure wasn’t there the day before? Perhaps you’ve just had a brand-new concrete floor poured for your new facility, and a week later it’s covered in tiny cracks.

What happened? Is your floor weakened or damaged beyond repair?

Let’s take a look at some of the common reasons that concrete floors crack and what it means for your business:

Cracking is part of concrete’s natural tendency

When it’s first poured, concrete is a liquid. Over the course of a couple of days, it hardens into a solid, shrinking as it does so. This initial shrinking often results in hairline cracking within the first few days of installation. Different mixtures and ratios of the cement may minimize some cracking, but can’t eliminate it completely.

If you manage an auto repair shop, you know the physical demands your work places on your facility. When it comes to flooring, you want something that’s going to withstand the daily rigors of mechanic work and doesn’t need to be replaced every couple of years or so.

The expansion of European grocery chain Lidl into the US starting this June is projected to make the already-competitive grocery industry even more strained. Grocers such as Lidl as well as Aldi and even Walmart’s Neighborhood Market now offer organic products at very low prices, and they’re updating the aesthetics of their stores to appeal to customers who are used to high-end chains such as Whole Foods.

Customers are no longer choosing either quality products or affordability; they’re learning they can expect it all in one store.

If you’re looking to keep your independent grocery store or chain competitive in today’s market, you’ll want to make sure your store looks modern and attractive while also keeping costs down.

Do you manage an equestrian center or horse boarding facility? Are you about to build a new horse stall or renovate an old one?

One of the most foundational choices you’ll need to make for your equestrian facility is the type of flooring your stalls will have. While natural soil and wood planks are traditional choices, they can be difficult to keep clean. Wood in particular may begin to smell of urine over time.

Looking for a simple way to improve efficiency in the day-to-day operations of your warehouse? Floor striping—the application of colored tape or painted lines to mark pathways and work zones—may be just the solution you need.

According to the 5S principles of workspace organization, an effective workplace layout allows visitors (and employees) to understand the room’s workflow at a glance. Carefully chosen colors are one of the fastest and most intuitive ways to communicate this kind of information, and floor stripes are relatively easy and inexpensive to add.

Here are four major benefits that floor striping offers your warehouse or industrial facility:

Does your facility have a moisture problem? Maybe you come in the morning to find a wet or damp concrete floor. Or worse, perhaps you just had your floors done in the last few months and have discovered your new floor coating is already peeling or blistering.

If you’ve already checked for leaks and have controlled for weather-related humidity but are still having issues, it could be that the moisture is coming through the concrete slab itself.

There’s nothing more frustrating than taking time out of your production schedule to have a new floor coating installed, only to have it peel or crack just months (or days!) later. What causes new floor coatings to fail?

Here are some of the most common causes for floor coating peeling, bubbling and more:

Oil residues

Does your facility regularly uses oils, greases or corrosive substances? If these have ever been spilled on your floor, they may have soaked into the concrete at some point (after all, concrete is a porous material).

Previously on our blog, we’ve discussed some of the workplace safety hazards that damp concrete floors can pose, including the risk of slipping accidents and respiratory issues caused by mold.

If you’ve noticed your facility’s concrete floors are wet or damp in the morning, there are a couple of potential causes. The moisture could merely be condensation resulting from temperature differences between the air and the concrete. However, the moisture could actually be coming from the concrete itself—either as a byproduct of the curing process, or as vapor from the ground works its way up through the porous floor. (For a fuller explanation, see our recent post Why is our facility’s concrete floor wet?)