Welcome To
Vanguard Concrete Coating
Of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Concrete Floor Repair & Coating Services
We're a Grand Rapids, Michigan based concrete
flooring specialist involving the polishing, cleaning, and installation of polyurethane or epoxy
floor coatings of indoor
cement surfaces and concrete floors for industrial, commercial, and residential
clients. For our industrial & commercial flooring clients this usually
involves factory manufacturing floors, chemical containment areas, showrooms, bathroom floors,
and/or breakroom floors. For residential flooring clients this involves
their basement and concrete garage floors. See our high quality repair
work by visiting our
commercial concrete photos and/or
residential concrete photos.
Resinous Floor Coatings
Concrete floor coatings are special resins
(polyurethane or epoxy) that when properly applied create an impenetrable
coating, or layer on the concrete preventing the transmission of water and
contaminants while at the same time keeping the structure safe. Installation of
resinous flooring is typically used for sealing, waterproofing, and resurfacing
of concrete. Flexible polymer coatings may also used on pre-cast concrete used
in parking areas, protecting the structural surface from the damaging effects of
water transmission, chemicals and physical abuse. Salt and other corrosive
elements can cause damage to structures, especially in high traffic areas. It
can also be used to prevent, reduce and repair damage in such areas. The most
common types of Resinous flooring include epoxy coating, epoxy resurfacer or
epoxy mortar, urethane coating, urethane mortars, fluid applied and spray
applied polyurea, as well as polyaspartic coating application.
Chemical Containment
Chemical Containment offers a wide variety of elastomeric and highly
cross-linked coatings and caulking material for applications including:
Secondary Containment
Concrete Protection
Anti-Corrosion
By focusing on cost-effective coating
technology that protects the environment while protecting host surfaces,
Vanguard Concrete Coating provides users with safe, long-term epoxy flooring &
finishing
protection that reduces maintenance and expenses.
Concrete Polishing Services
Concrete polishing is the act of changing an existing concrete surface by means
of a mechanical process that involves cutting and/or refining the surface to a
desired finish. Decorative polished concrete is one of many end results in
what is the processing of the concrete surface by mechanical refinement through
the use of multiple abrasives measured in grits.
Decorative
Floor Coating Colors
Our
standard colors
for epoxy flooring for basements and garages are displayed on our residential colors page;
For large jobs we obviously offer custom colors and decorative logo lettering as
seen on the pictures scrolling above.
Surface Floor Preparation Services
Vanguard offers several forms of surface
preparation including shot blasting, diamond grinding, and scarification.
We know that preparation is the key to great finish. Over 80% of coating
failures can be attributed to improper or in sufficient prep. It is
important to provide a clean surface free of contaminants and defects with a
profile or texture.
Material Sales and Installation Training Services
We offer material sales for the do it yourself
application as well as on the job training Service / Market Area for industrial
jobs when bidding on work in Ohio, Indiana, Northeastern Illinois, and Michigan;
For small residential jobs (garage & basement) we generally only bid on work
within 125 miles of Grand Rapids, MI in cities between Muskegon, Traverse City,
Mount Pleasant, Midland, Bay City, Saginaw, Flint, Howell, Lansing, Jackson,
Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, South Haven, Holland, Grand Haven and Grand Rapids.
Epoxy Floors
The most common type of polymer flooring
installation is the epoxy floor. Epoxy flooring installation can accomplished by
spraying the epoxy, roller epoxy application, epoxy slurry and broadcast as well
as Epoxy power Troweled resurfacer where the epoxy is screed applied normally at
1/4 inch and a mixture of epoxy resin and blended aggregates are combined to
make an epoxy mortar which is then finished with hand trowels and power trowels
in order to resurface and restore the concrete surface. An epoxy floor coating
may be applied as thin as a coat of paint or up to 3/8 of an inch and in areas
in need of repair may be several inches in thickness if needed. Industrial epoxy
flooring installation requires well trained applicators, specialized
preparation, and working knowledge of the proper epoxy coatings or epoxy
resurfacers for the individual application. Epoxy floor coatings may offer
varying degrees of chemical resistance, ultraviolet resistance, as well as speed
of cure time and installation thicknesses. As a general rule the faster it
dries, the higher the chemical resistance, the better the UV stability and the
thicker the floor the more it will cost. This is why it is important to
understand the epoxy flooring installation to compare on product or installation
with another rather than just picking the least expensive product or epoxy
flooring installer.
Industrial Floor
Commercial Floor
Residential Garage
& Basement Floors
Cement / Concrete
Flooring Terms:
To the far left are buttons to our interior
industrial, commercial and residential web pages. Listed below are some direct
links with flooring definitions.
Cement vs Concrete
- concrete is composed of cement (aka portland cement) water, sand and
aggregates and various admixtures to alter the concretes various properties.
Cement is what holds concrete together. While concrete is sometimes called
cement by lay people when describing their basement and garage floors, the terms
are
not interchangeable.
Concrete Testing
- A Strength Testing Technician is an individual who has demonstrated the
knowledge to properly perform, record, and report the results of four basic ASTM
laboratory procedures.
Shotblasting - The
leading industry technique in floor surface
preparation, removal, and repair procedures in a dust free environment.
Scarification - The
most common method of cementitious coating and resurfacer removal.
Waterjetting - use of high pressure water for hydrodemolition, coating
removal and or cleaning.
Diamond Grinding
- The least aggressive form of mechanical surface prep that can be used for
cleaning and thin film coating removal.
Scabbler - a machine
designed for removing a layer of concrete flooring from a structure.
Acid Etching -
chemically etching a cement floor in preparation for
sealer or epoxy coating.
Concrete Polishing - heavy-duty polishing
machines equipped with
progressively finer grits of diamond-impregnated segments or disks are used to
gradually grind down surfaces to the desired degree of shine and smoothness.
Concrete Stains -
two categories of concrete stains - reactive and
nonreactive. Reactive stains are water-based acidic solutions containing
metallic salts that react with the concrete's lime content; Non-reactive stains
are water-based acrylic stains that don't rely on a chemical reaction to impart
color.
Concrete
Densifiers - Sodium, potassium or lithium silicate formulation that
penetrates the concrete and reacts with calcium hydroxide formed in hydration,
filling pores in concrete and making the surface denser and less porous.
Epoxy Flooring - epoxy
resins are thermosetting resins known for excellent surface and sub-surface
adhesion, mechanical properties, and chemical resistance.
Polyurethane
Flooring
- polyurethane resins, commonly referred to as urethane, are thermosetting or
thermoplastic resins and demonstrate moderate chemical resistance and good
resistance to diluted acids and alkali. Polyurethane resins generally offer
moderate adhesion, but good resistance to shrinkage and excellent flexibility.
Other Flooring Resources
If you're outside our market area of Michigan,
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois or if you're looking for a different type of floor
contractor, we suggest that you check out these resources for the right type of
decorative flooring contractor:
