“Washed Out” – Custom concrete saves the day in Fort Worth, TX
Not only is Christmas a magical time of year that’s full of good food, good friends, family gatherings and holiday cheer, it also is when many people get a break from work or school and go on a vacation.
That’s what one Fort Worth, TX family did a few years ago. They enjoyed their vacation, then returned home to find a disaster inside their home. Their water heater had broken, saturating their hardwood floors with water. The wood warped so badly it was beyond repair. Not wanting to go through the hassle again, they contacted us to remove and replace the wood with a new floor that would be water-resistant and would outlast any future flood events.
We knew immediately that the best choice to replace the home owners’ water-logged wood floor was to install a custom concrete floor. Because the concrete overlays that we use are cement-based, water does not damage them as it does wood, carpet, or linoleum. A custom concrete floor is just about the most durable type of floor that you can choose. And, just as importantly, custom concrete floors are highly coveted because they can be finished in a variety of unique and stylish ways to complement and enhance any room. In other words, not only is a custom concrete floor functional and tough, it’s also aesthetically pleasing.
For this particular installation, our client selected to apply a trowel-down. We first installed the concrete overlay material then texturized it lightly and subtly by hand (by spreading material over the floor with a trowel.) While this may sound like a quick and easy process, it is actually a technique that takes much practice to master. It is definitely a learned skill. Once the concrete material dried, we moved on to phase two: color.
This is the stage when customers start to see the “end result” and appreciate how amazing the new floors look. In this case, we tinted the flooring a nice, beige color that complemented the rest of the home’s décor. The color included subtle nuances and shadings that helped to create a well-refined, custom appearance. The final step in the process was to score the new floor. We scored (cut) it into 24-inch tiles that help accentuate the look of the new flooring.
It turned out beautifully! Having endured the nightmare of a flood inside their home, we are thrilled that we were able to help these customers recover from their dilemma. Funny thing, about a month later we got a call from another customer for whom we had previously installed a custom concrete floor, they had just suffered a washing machine leak and water had poured all over their new floor. They were very worried about it being damaged. We asked them to mop it dry and if there were any problems, let us know and we would swing by and take a look at it. They never called back.
