Polyurea floor coating (Citadel)

[ProjectPete]

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend! I've manged to tick a few things of the to-do list ready to sell my house.

#Wifey and I have had some back and forth about polished concrete floors in the living area (I'm FOR, she's AGAINST) and we agreed on floorboards but I've managed to swing her back around

However this does means she wants a specific colour/finish so whilst that's not necessarily achievables by simply grinding/polishing/sealing our standard slab, I've come across http://www.icoataustralia.com.au/ who are suppliers/installers of Citadel Polyurea Coating Technology (a product from the USA).

I'm wondering if anyne has experience with iCoat and/or Citadel Coating.

Also open to other idea/suggestions for a floor coating that'll give a polished concrete effect with the range of colour/finish options.

TIA

[BIM_Engineer]

Unfortunately (AFAIK) there are no Australian Standards for Polyurethane coatings for concrete surfaces, although there are Standards for Metals & Timber Coatings. In light of this Engineer’s tend to shy away from products which fail to provide material properties, Checks, Fact Data Sheets and technical specific information.

Here are my tips for (any) product selection

• Stick with tried and tested products ie British, Dulux, Cabot’s Paints… Look for data & proofs
• Check Australian Standards if there are no standards look for other similar standards
• Make sure the subcontractor doesn’t substitute materials in their quotes; you can avoid this by purchasing the paints yourself.
• Finally this is a Bunnings sponsored website. Stakeholders appreciated suppliers product placement

 Concrete Paint at Bunnings

Dulux DATA Product Specifier

Alternatively, If you choose to Re-engineer your slab for Grinding & Polishing

Make sure you have it properly Designed, Specified & Inspected. Otherwise long term you maybe hiding, tiling or covering the unwanted cracks, Discolouration, etc,etc  hth

[ProjectPete]

What's the go with grinding/polishing a slab that hasn't been poured with the intent to be polished? Our contracts are signed and we're goign to site soon so can't back track now but the fact is, we didn't specify the fact it'll be polished (because we weren't goign to do it).

Is it a complete no-go or does it just heighten the risk of cracking, etc?

[BIM_Engineer]

@ProjectPete
Hmmm.I suggest you pull up the Floorcovering in your current house and check out all the cracks, If that's acceptable then fine.

BTW your slab might be  85mm-10 tolerence - Grinding 10mm = 65mm a liitle thicker than a paver?

Alternatively,  I would recommend a 100mm thick slab with additional crack control reinforcement steel with proper cover After grinding 20mm, the code also recommends 2 layers of mesh, additional bars, lean mix,proper vibration, curing, etc,etc There have been many times I've shot down to Bunnings to purchase 16mm Re-entrant Bars because someone carelessly left them out. enough said

[ProjectPete]

@BIM_Engineer I did actually pull up some caroet in 2 rooms about 2 years ago (slab would've been 5-6 years old) and no cracks to be seen.

Given I can't go changing anything on the builder's plans now can you suggest the questions I could ask them to get an idea of the final slab thickness, etc? That way I'll know where we stand.

[BIM_Engineer]

@ProjectPeteyou might get lucky with a single storey house.. tho I wouldn't push your luck with a 2 storey House where the loads are considerably heavier.
Going back may incur an administration and engineering upgrade fee. As you stand the builder holds the whip hand you will need to negotiate a far price hopefully you won't be charge an extra $3000 for  $300 in material...the subcontractor gets paid approximately the same for labour.
Check your soil report & engineering drawings also

OT The best Time to ask for variations is before you sign the initial agreement form and hand over a deposit, where prices are always cheaper than post contract variations
Goodluck