Finishes
What Tauranga aggregate looks like when you cut it
The stone was decided at the pour. The depth is the decision you still have. What local aggregate looks like at each of the five exposures we cut to.
9 minute read
Writing
Concrete, explained
What decides how a floor turns out, written down plainly by the people cutting it.
What this is
These are working notes from a Tauranga applicator, written for the two people who usually need them. The first is a homeowner deciding what to put on the floor and trying to work out whether concrete is the right answer, what the finish will actually look like once it is cut, and what it will be like to live on in ten years. The second is a builder or site manager programming a slab, who needs to know what to send before the pour, how to protect the floor through the build, and when in the programme the grinder should arrive.
Everything here comes off jobs. Why a floor turns out patchy, what a test grind on your own slab tells you that a photograph cannot, how colour has to be batched before the truck leaves the plant, and what sealing a floor near the coast asks of the system you choose. Where a post reaches the limit of what writing can do, it says so, because most of these decisions are settled by looking at concrete rather than reading about it.
If you are deciding on a floor, start with the finishes compared side by side or with polished concrete in Tauranga. If you are building one, the builders and specifiers portal holds the pre pour checklist and the specification pack.
Approved PeterFell C2 Applicator
Approved TextureSafe Applicator
Twenty-Five Years Combined Experience
Residential, Commercial and Civic
For builders
Choosing your concrete colour before the pour
Colour goes into the mix at the plant, not onto the floor afterwards. What that means for your build programme, and how colour and aggregate decide each other.
9 minute read
Outdoor
Sealing concrete on the Bay of Plenty coast
A driveway in Papamoa works harder than the same driveway inland. What the coast does to concrete and to sealers, and how that changes the resealing cycle.
9 minute read
Deciding
Polished concrete against tiles, vinyl and timber
Polished concrete usually costs more than vinyl and less than good tile. The comparison that matters is what each floor is like to live on fifteen years from now.
10 minute read
For builders
A builder's guide to getting polished concrete right
By the time a grinder is called, most of the floor is already decided. This is what to get right at each stage of the build so the finish is a result rather than a gamble.
10 minute read
Deciding
What polished concrete costs in Tauranga
A rate per square metre tells you almost nothing on its own. Here is what a polished concrete quote is genuinely built from, and how to read two of them side by side.
10 minute read
Problems
Why your polished concrete floor looks patchy
Patchiness is the most common complaint about a polished floor, and most of it was decided before anyone turned a machine on. Here is what causes it and what can honestly be done.
9 minute read
Outdoor
Non slip pool surrounds in the Bay of Plenty
A pool surround is the hardest working surface on a residential property. Grip cut into the concrete outlasts anything applied on top of it, and it can be done on an existing deck.
9 minute read
Renovation
Can you polish a slab that is already poured
Lift the carpet and there is a floor under it. Whether it can be polished comes down to what is stuck to it, how sound the slab is, and what you are prepared to accept.
10 minute read
For builders
How long after the pour before we can grind
The answer is 28 days from the date of pour, and it is a minimum rather than a target. Here is what curing does, what going early costs you, and how to sequence it.
9 minute read
Reading only gets you so far. A sample tile is the real answer.
Request a Sample
A physical tile, posted free, anywhere in the Bay of Plenty.
Every floor is different. Ask us about yours.
Request a Sample
A physical tile, posted free, anywhere in the Bay of Plenty.