Staining a self leveling Floor – Magnificent Mile, Chicago Illinois

Location: “The Magnificent Mile” – Chicago, Illinois

Project: 2 Story self leveling with stain and sealer

Installation by: CCI Flooring, Inc.

Total Sq Ft: 7,600

The project was the Columbia Sportswear in Chicago Illinois located on Michigan Avenue, also known as the “Magnificent Mile”. The 2-story building had some unique obstacles to overcome along with a tight deadline. Lets take a look at how this building received its decorative concrete makeover.

The leveling and staining consisted of 6,400 sq. ft. and the stock rooms totaled out at 1,200 sq. ft.

Columbia is split into two storied floors. The 2nd story floor was 2,600 sq. ft. of 1 1/2″ stainable topping and 400 sq. ft. of clear epoxy in the stock room. CCI was given complete  access to the 2nd floor so their timeline was a little more reasonable. With 5 days to do the complete the entire upstairs, CCI’s floor applicators did not have the typical tight deadline due to use of the entire floor space and box out all other trades.

Day one: first the CCI crew had to remove all the mastic with a Htc 800 machine and repair all the cracks with Surecretes epoxy crack treatment mixed with silica sand.

Day two: Began with grinding the crack repair smooth, vacuum up, and seal up the perimeter so that the leveler didn’t dump onto the first floor. Then the crew were ready to put the primer down. The primer that was used is from Mapei called Planibond eba. It is essentially a two component epoxy. It gets squeggeed and back rolled then broadcasted to rejection with broadcast silica sand.

Day three: They were now ready to level the floor. CCI had to sweep, scrape, and vacuum all the excess sand that was rejected from the primer.

The mix station and pump was set up. We pumped the upstairs at a rate of 110 bags an hour. Because of the sq. ft. it only took a couple of hours. Day four: we knew it going to be a long day. First we scored a pattern into the floor to incorporate joints and columns into the design. When that was completed we set up for staining the floor. The color that was chosen was a mix of Surecretes Titanium and Pewter Gray Eco-Stain. This product is an Eco-friendly concrete stain that uses porosity and the concretes natural desire to absorb moisture to create its modeled affect, rather than a typical chemical reaction. That same day we had to prep and patch the second floor stock room. Finally

Day five: The project called for two coats of Surecrete’s water based Dura-Kote satin urethane. CCI had to get started right away so that the first coat would dry. Their timeline required them to put the second coat down late that same day. The stock room was sealed up at the same time but called for a clear Epoxy coating.

Once the GC cleared the first floor off and moved all the trades upstairs CCI was cleared for take off on the remaining 4,100 sq. ft. of retail and 500 sq. ft. of stock room. Theirr timeline was the same. CCI incorporated the same game plan that they used for the second floor.

This is where the amount of days becomes a real issue. The crew with CCI had 1,500 sq. ft. more than before. Their only choice was to bring out more machinary and more manpower. The biggest problem was the first floor needed to be raised in some areas from  1 1/2″ to 3″.  They also increased the mix stater on the pump and were able to pump 220 bags an hour. It seemed like forever but They got it done!

Columbia Sportswear hosted their Grand Opening recently. They had shut down part of Michigan Ave and Chicago’s Mayor Daley stopped by and complimented how good the store looks.