FL-07 Pads Give Flight Hangar a Good Cleaning – Wyoming

Freddie Guynn with Polished Concrete of Wyoming (PCOW) loves a good challenge, and this job tested every bit of knowledge that he had with concrete.

The job was a 10,000 SF (1,000 M²) flight hangar in Buffalo, Wyoming. During his walk through of the job it was clear to Freddie that there was a big problem with the concrete. Soil Entrapment was everywhere throughout the floor. After having lunch with both the owner, and the concrete company who poured the slabs, it was agreed that tearing out the concrete and re-pouring it was not an option.

The first thing that Freddie did was to clean the floor. He took a power washer and completely cleaned out all the holes from the soil entrapment. This took over a week to do because there were so many.

Fixing the Floor

The damage to the concrete was extensive. The pitting was so deep that you could see rebar and the heating pipes. Once all 10,000 SF (1,000 M²) were thoroughly cleaned out and vacuumed PCOW began the process of grinding the floor.

The team utilized the Prep/Master 3030 and 2807 to rough cut with 30 grit 10-segment diamonds. The 30 grits were aggressive enough to remove the cap, but not so aggressive to expose any new holes.

After this process was completed the holes from the soil entrapment had to be filled. Freddie decided that the most efficient and durable method of patching these holes was to use a quartz urethane epoxy coating to fill them.

After all the holes were filled the crew continued on with the remaining grits in the metal bond sequence. After the 30 grits the crew followed up with 70s, and then 120 grit ten segment metals.

For the transitional step Freddie went with the proven STI Terrazzo 100 grit semi metals to remove any leftover scratches from the metals. This step was done wet to get a more consistent cut, and a more uniform scratch pattern.

Using the FL-07 Polishing System

PCOW then moved into the FL-07 polishing system with the #5 grit, quickly followed up by the #6. It was at this time that owner of the hangar was becoming impatient, and unhappy with the way his floor was looking. To help make the floor look more uniform Freddie decided to apply a coat of STI Diatech Obsidian (black) stain to hide the damage to the floor.

He also decided to apply a coat of Seal Hard to the areas with the patches on them to help blend them in with the rest of the floor. Once this was completed Freddie applied his first coat of Lion Hard lithium densifier from L&M Construction Chemicals.

Once the floor was allowed to dry Freddie and his crew proceeded with the rest of the polishing sequence. He finished with the FL-07 #8 and it left the floor looking great. Although he was presented with what seemed like an impossible challenge, Freddie was able to bring all of his knowledge and skills that he had learned over the years of polishing concrete and give the owner a finished product that was both beautiful and durable.

This is another perfect example of what contractors can achieve with the proper equipment, tools, chemicals, and training all available from STI.