Vivid Polished Project

Project Team
Jeff Abrahamson of Wholesale Floors
Rob Swelgin of Diamatic

Sponsor

Project Description
Jeff Abrahamson of Wholesale Floors in Phoenix took on a big challenge when he decided to rehabilitate part of the 86-year-old basement floor of the historic building that houses the museum. He reached for Diamatic equipment to do the job. American Decorative Concrete Supply donated the densifier and coloring materials.

During the workshop, the floor was prepared with progressively aggressive diamond blades from 0 to 400 grit. Before gold, red, eggplant and pine green oxide dyes from Ameripolish were applied, Abrahamson demonstrated a method of scoring the floor to avoid color bleeding between sections. The floor was wet scrubbed to remove dye residue, then the densifier was applied. Next, the floor was progressively polished, using 800-, 1,500- and 3,000-grit resin diamond grinding. A hand-held Diamatic polishing tool was used for edges. From start to finish, the floor was broomed and scrubbed clean between steps.

Grinding and polishing concrete is gaining in popularity for high-traffic areas because it reduces maintenance and stands up to heavy-duty use. The workshop demonstrated the use of stains and dyes to provide a variety of different colors and appearances. While the polishing was completed before the workshop, advanced staining, joint filling and scoring techniques were demonstrated as part of a workshop on March 17 given as part of the Concrete Decor Show & Decorative Concrete Spring Training.

The basement floor of the 1913 Monroe School Building that houses the Children's Museum of Phoenix was an ideal place to demonstrate the way that a sound concrete slab that has been subjected to the most challenging conditions can be transformed into a thing of beauty. After serving thousands of elementary school students, the school had been closed in 1972 due to the declining downtown population. Later the floors were subjected to heavy use as a Department of Defense recruiting and training center before the building was closed altogether. While the upper floors were remodeled in preparations for the opening of the Children's Museum in 2008, the renovation budget did not stretch far enough for basement improvements. Organizers of the Concrete Decor Show saw this as a great opportunity for dramatic before-and-after demonstrations.

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