1384 Bungalow Rd.
Morris, Illinois, U.S.A.
Filling Pinholes? – No Problem with Substrate Technology Inc. Grout Pans
Pinholes in terrazzo, as well as concrete floors, can be a real problem when it comes to polishing. Contactors know this well. You just finish polishing a really great floor and realize the shine is not what you expected or worse. And then some months later, you get a call back from the client who wonders why it is starting to look so dull. One common reason is pinholes.
With the naked eye, it’s hard to see those tiny little cavities in the flooring surface. They are almost invisible, but their presence in the surface is very real. Pinholes greatly impair the gloss factor, and over time, they start to hold dirt and grime further dulling the shiny surface.
Of course, the obvious and best solution is to fill those tiny holes during the grinding and polishing process before they cause problems later on. Most contractors know this already, and add a “grouting step” into their floor grinding procedure; however, this added step is almost always done by hand.
Hand grouting to fill pinholes is very laborious and can require not just one, but two or more applications. This process always adds expense to the job in terms of time, labor, and stress on the personnel. So, we asked, why not have the grinding machine do the bulk of the work? It would be much more efficient than a human, and the machine could fill those holes in less than half the time.
Introducing the Substrate Technology Inc. Grout Pans!
Substrate Technology Inc. is proud to be the exclusive seller of these patented grouting miracles. Substrate Technology Inc. Grout Pans are small concave stainless steel disks that Velcro directly onto your current grinding machine, just like regular diamond polishing pads.
As you can see in the slideshow, we are demonstrating the grouting process on terrazzo. After the TPS#3 (or EGT#3) grinding step, the operator spreads epoxy over a vacuumed surface as another one sprinkles pulverized marble evenly over the epoxy.
Using the Substrate Technology Inc. P/M Machine (or other variable speed rotary model) outfitted with the Substrate Technology Inc. Grout Pans, the operator utilizes a side-to-side motion pushing the epoxy-marble mixture in, and at the same time, forcing air out of the pinholes. This mechanical grouting process has been shown to fill over 95% of the pinholes in less than half the time!
While most projects budget 2-3 days for grouting – with Substrate Technology Inc. Grout Pans, all you need is two days to grout and cut in order to get results that are impossible to achieve by conventional methods. You gain time, labor costs, and high quality – at a fraction of what it used to cost as well as the time it used to take. The only thing you truly lose are pinholes!