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What is Metallic Epoxy Flooring?

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Metallic epoxy flooring can take your space from wow to WOW, and Power Rental & Sales. Elegant, unique, durable– all these words adequately describe metallic epoxy flooring. One of the hottest trends in decorative concrete flooring, contractors with experience in this type of flooring can use a slew of techniques to create visually interesting effects and even make flooring look three dimensional.

What is it, exactly?

Metallic epoxy flooring is created with a special multi-layered floor coating process incorporating a metallic additive into clear epoxy to create extraordinary effects with color, pattern, and bits of glittering metallic pigments.

How is metallic epoxy floor coating applied?

Used for both residential and industrial projects, this unique floor coating is applied in layers to achieve certain looks. Many different effects can be created by adding colors and certain additives in each layer applied. You can choose from matte or glossy finish, add vinyl color chips for flair, and even recreate the look of natural stone. Metallic pigments are used to create metallic epoxy floor coatings, and these bits of pigment catch the light in interesting ways to achieve an overall style.

Benefits of Metallic Epoxy Flooring

  1. Customizability– This type of floor coating offers a totally custom outcome. No one else will have a floor exactly like yours.
  2. An Economical Choice– Metallic epoxy flooring can cost even less than alternative types. Durability– Just like traditional epoxy flooring, this type boasts an industrial-grade system that resists wear and tear, abrasions, moisture, and even chemical spills.
  3. Safe and Easy to Clean– Metallic epoxy flooring features a seamless surface that is very easy to sweep and mop without the need for waxing or polishing. It is also slip-resistant and hygienic.
  4. Uniqueness– This flooring choice offers up endless aesthetic appeal without sacrificing quality or budget, offering more dimension by far than more traditional stained or polished concrete flooring options.
Power Rental & Sales stocks everything you need for flooring projects of this variety, from epoxies, to flakes and metallic additives, to every concrete flooring tool under the sun. Check out some of our concrete coating products, and see what you can dream up for your next creative concrete project. We’d love to help!

Concrete vs Cement

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Concrete vs cement– what is the actual difference?

What is the Difference Between Concrete & Cement? And Other FAQs

When it comes to concrete vs cement, you may have wondered, well, what is the actual difference? Though these terms are often used interchangeably, cement is actually an ingredient in concrete. Concrete is a mixture of paste and other aggregates– sand, gravel, and crushed stone, while the paste portion is water and portland cement. This may bring other questions to mind, so check out this FAQ for a little more information on this topic.

Q: What is portland cement?

A: Portland cement is the most common cement type, used worldwide as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout.

Q: What are blended cements?

A: Blended cements are another type of hydraulic cement, similar to portland cement. These cement types are produced by blending two or more types of materials, portland cement, and one or two of the following elements: slag cement, limestone, fly ash, silica fume, or calcined clay.

Q: How are blended cements used?

A: Blended cements are used in all manner of concrete construction applications. They can be used as the only cementitious material in concrete mixtures, or they can also be used in conjunction with other supplementary materials added.

Q: How do you control the strength of concrete?

A: The easiest way to add strength to a concrete mixture is to increase the amount of cement within. The factor that most affects concrete strength is the water to cement ratio in the cement paste that serves to bind the aggregates together.

Q: How do you protect concrete from aggressive materials such as acids?

A: While most materials have no effect on concrete, some more aggressive substances like acids can deteriorate concrete construction. Using a concrete mixture with chemical resistance as well as applying protective treatments can help armor concrete against these corrosive substances.

Q: How do you remove stains from concrete?

A: There are several methods used to remove stains from concrete. Common dry methods include scouring, flame cleaning, and sandblasting. Wet methods use an application of water or specific chemicals depending on the type of stain. If you have a concrete need, our team at Power Rental & Sales can help. Our decorative concrete solutions as well as our product line up are sure to make your next concrete project a success! Get in touch today. We are a supplier of all things concrete from supplies to tools, and can help you dream up your next decorative concrete masterpiece too.

How to Prolong the Life of Your Concrete Floor

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With proper maintenance, you can prolong the life of your beautiful concrete floor, and enhance your home's aesthetic appeal. There are lots of advantages to using concrete for flooring in your home or in your patio area. It’s durable and extremely sturdy, but also concrete has the potential to be really beautiful. Its appeal can be enhanced with color and patterns from concrete stamping, staining and intricate designs which can really help elevate the concrete in your space. That said, like all materials, concrete can suffer wear and tear, and proper maintenance is essential to prolonging the life of your concrete floor.

Consider a Concrete Sealer

When you use a concrete sealer on your floors, it helps keep the flooring hydrated and protected from exposure to UV rays, and even traffic that can wear it down over time as well as protect the color from concrete staining or integral color. Using a sealer also adds an aesthetic appeal for a shinier, more polished look overall.

Polish the Flooring

Using a polish or wax on your concrete floor is a great way to add another layer of protection. This step can offer yet another sacrificial barrier that can help minimize grime build up ,and any scuffing that could occur from foot traffic on your concrete flooring. Waxing can also be used to hide scratches or scuffing of the sealer that may occur over time.

Protect Flooring with Decorative Rugs

It’s a great idea to use decorative rugs in your space not only to provide additional protection for your concrete flooring, but also to inject the area with a little style. The rugs add a physical barrier between furniture and the flooring, mitigating scratches and scuffs. Additionally, concrete flooring, though beautiful, can feel a little cold without the right accessories. Rugs are a great way to soften the look while cozying up the space.

Practice Proper Cleaning

Keeping your concrete flooring clean is an essential part of maintenance. For indoor concrete flooring, it’s important to clean and polish to mitigate debris and scratches that can cause cracking. Regular sweeping and vacuuming are recommended, and be sure to address standing water or spills immediately to avoid staining. For smooth finish floors, you may find that denatured alcohol applied with a clean microfiber mop will provide a final cleaning without leaving streaks on your sealed floor. For outdoor concrete, keep it maintained by spraying it off with a hose, or pressure washing. When you take steps to properly care for your beautiful concrete flooring, it will be a long lasting staple in your home. If you’re interested in exploring the options of concrete flooring, feel free to get in touch with our team at Power Rental & Sales. We’d love to hear about your ideas, and offer up our expert advice on how you can achieve your concrete goals at your home or business.

Huntsville Decorative Concrete

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decorative-concrete-chattanooga_post_lgConcrete has been prized for thousands of years because it’s both easy to work with and strong. It can be molded into a variety of shapes, whether it’s custom countertops, a patio with organic edges, the deck around an irregular shaped pool, or nearly any other shape. Those are all horizontal surfaces, however— and you don’t have to limit yourself to just one plane when it comes to concrete. You can think vertical, too!

Butterfield Color produces a vertical overlay material called Cantera Vertical Wall Mix that is a polymer modified, cementitious overlay that is lightweight and sag resistant. It can be colored like other concrete mixes, and stamped like them, too for strong yet attractive facings that imitate more expensive materials. The overlay system can be applied over pre-existing surfaces and then colored and stamped, making it lightweight and more cost effective than natural stone.

As for the overlay stamps, that’s another way to truly make your project your own. Stamp textures include brick, wood grain, light bark, timber end grain, rock face, weathered edge, and more. You can use a variety of colors and stamp patterns to mimic many natural surfaces, all with durable, affordable concrete.

In fact, local Huntsville, Alabama contractor Steve Thompson formed this wall top using Butterfield Cut Stone Formliners to imitate the texture of the natural stone below while also providing an even, smoother surface that will better meet the resident’s needs. Imagine the possibilities! Not only do we carrying vertical overlay and stone formliner stamps, we carry a full line of color mixes and can offer you advice about which products will best create the effect you’re dreaming of.

With a combination of different textures across horizontal and vertical surfaces, you can take your indoor or outdoor space from dull and plain to a true work of art that will stand the test of time, whether it’s an outdoor kitchen or living space, decorative concrete columns and exterior work on your home or business, or hardscaping around your pool or back yard that go beyond the utilitarian to really wow friends and family.

To find out more about how you can create a similarly stunning space, Find out more about making this happen at your home by calling us at (256) 858-0400.

Chattanooga Decorative Concrete

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decorative-concrete-chattanooga_post_lgPeople often associate concrete with patios and other outdoors spaces, but it’s quickly becoming a hot trend nationwide for indoor spaces, too. If you’re imagining the plain grey floors from your local big box store, though, think again. Acid-staining concrete can give concrete floors beautiful tones and finishes that coordinate with any decor scheme.

Acid stain brings out the detail and texture in concrete much like staining hardwood does for traditional flooring and trim. Acid-stained concrete has become a popular choice for residential floors or even kitchen countertops, giving a look and feel you might ordinarily get only by installing expensive stone like quartz, granite, or marble. You can even select different colors of acid stain to achieve complex inlay looks and unique designs.

Far from being limited to more contemporary looks, acid stained concrete can contribute to a wonderful antique feel in your home, if you so choose, with a beautiful translucence and warmth that can’t be achieved even with more expensive finishes. That’s great news for anyone who has torn up worn-out carpet to find a concrete slab underneath and was unsure how to work with what they have.

Acid stain is simple to apply. It forms a chemical bond with concrete, so it’s more permanent than paint, attaching itself to the top layer of the concrete at a molecular level. You can’t clean it off, making home maintenance a snap. Its simple to apply with spray equipment in a step by step process.

We can advise you on everything from color selection to what type of sealant would work best to protect your finish and keep it looking its best for years to come. For example, despite the glossy look you can achieve with acid stain, there are concrete sealer additives like Butterfield Color Shark Grip that will give extra grip to the floor, which could come in handy in spaces like pool decks.

Our first customers at our Chattanooga location, Tracy and Stacy Wallin, sent us photos of their beautiful closed in garage that they treated with a gorgeous acid stain. They used Kemiko’s Black and Cola Acid Stain with Clemons Concrete Coatings Supreme 25 as their sealer. See for yourself how beautiful acid stained concrete can be!