Art Galleri 2987

Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation In Old Factory Prior To Repairs And Resurfacing
Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation In Old Factory Prior To Repairs And Resurfacing (Looking South)

This is an old concrete foundation in a room adjoining the Camtrade business offices at the old Donegan Electric factory in downtown Detroit.  The owner wanted to see if it could be finished as an extension to the acid-stained concrete in the office area.

Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation After Repairs
Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation After Resurfacing With Cement Overlay Base Coat

The concrete was stable but in extremely poor condition.  We patched it, repaired the cracks, filled the construction joints (above left), and then resurfaced it with new cement (above right).

Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation After Resurfacing With Integrally-Colored Blue Cement Overlay
Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation With Integrally-Colored Blue Micro-Topping Over Blue Cement Overlay

Because cement overlays are much more sensitive to acid stain than normal concrete, we started with blue cement to simplify the process - first, a resurfacer (above left), then, a microtopping (above right).

Application of Acid Stain to Integrally-Colored Blue Cement Overlay Of Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation
Acid-Stained Cement Overlay of Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation After Rinsing Excess Residue And Neutralizing pH

Next, we used the same three colors of acid stain that were used in the adjoining room - gold, brown, and reddish brown - to apply accents and highlights over the blue base.

Acid-Stained Blue Cement Overlay of Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation During Application of Clear Epoxy Sealer
Acid-Stained Blue Cement Overlay of Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation After Application of Clear Epoxy Sealer

We then applied a clear, water-based epoxy sealer to bring out the color and protect the surface, followed by a gloss, acrylic floor finish to aid in maintenance.

Acid-Stained Blue Cement Overlay Of Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation After Application of Clear Epoxy Sealer and Clear Acrylic Floor Finish
Sealed And Finished, Acid-Stained Blue Cement Overlay Of Damaged Concrete Slab Foundation

While not a perfect match to the other floor, it turned out to be a great complement, as can be seen by our work (below) on the entry area to the conference room.

Concrete Floor Museum Entryway With Saw-Cut Design To Match Interior Decorative Concrete Flooring
Concrete Floor Museum Entryway With Blue Cement Overlay To Match New Interior Decorative Concrete Flooring

To create a stylish transition between rooms, we saw-cut a small section in the office area and then extended the cement overlay from the conference room.

Concrete Floor Museum Entryway After Acid-Staining Blue Cement Overlay To Match Interior Decorative Concrete Flooring
Acid-Stained Blue Cement Overlay Of Museum Entryway Concrete Floor After Applying Clear Epoxy Sealer

Finally, here are two photos below of the way the floor looks now, the room having been transformed into an art gallery, called Galleri 2987 .

Acid-Stained-Cement-Overlay-Gallery-1.jpg
Acid-Stained-Cement-Overlay-Gallery-2.jpg