Michael Rosenblat, Owner of TCF West Inc. and his team recently completed a stunning, polished white PCT floor with terrazzo stone aggregate in the new head office of Republic Architecture in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. (For non-standard applications, we always recommend contacting ARDEX’ technical experts for guidance.)
The ARDEX products used in this installation were:
ARDEX SD-P® Self-Drying, Trowelable Concrete Underlayment,
ARDEX ARDIFIX™ Low Viscosity Rigid Polyurethane Crack & Joint Repair
ARDEX SD-M™ Designer Floor Finish™
ARDEX PC-T™ Polished Concrete Topping
In preparation for the new floor, the subfloor was prepped by diamond grinding and then extensively repaired. Zinc strips were affixed in the specified design. Rosenblat has over 20 years of experience in concrete construction and relied upon his expertise to mix, place and finish the PC-T and aggregate in order to be suitable for polishing the next day. TCF West used a combination of traditional terrazzo and concrete placing techniques to achieve the desired result.
Rosenblat explains the greatest challenge of the install, “The sheer size of the terrazzo stone aggregate made the product difficult to get screeded to a consistent height. It required more than the usual ‘old school’ hand and knee work.”
Polishing began just 24 hours after the pour, and was brought up to an 800-grit shine. There were a few characteristics of the ARDEX materials that Rosenblat found advantageous in this install, “The high strength gain, with no shrinkage cracking, was critical in order to polish the next day after the pours.” He added, “The fact that the floor hardly required the grout coat was impressive.”
TCF West Inc.is an industrial flooring company in Canada, and holds the Level Master Elite (LME) status with ARDEX. As an LME, TCF West Inc. has not only advanced ARDEX technical training and years of installation experience, but they are also able to offer 10-year extended warranties on their installations.
