Bedrock Floors was contracted by Bertram Construction in Barrie, Ontario to provide a high-end Polished Concrete floor with exposed aggregate for their client’s basement and garage in Shanty Bay, on Kempenfelt Bay. This estate property, once completed, will consist of several high-end finishes inside and out: cedar millwork and roofing, copper accents, custom stone masonry, etc. The polished concrete basement provides a rich and unique foundation that the interior finishes can build upon.

Polished Concrete Dye Samples

We were asked to provide an on-site sample of the polished concrete including potential dye colours. The client chose 7 colours (samples shown in the gallery to the right), however they decided to go with the natural colour of the concrete.

Challenging Slab Conditions

Prior to starting the floor, we tested the hardness of the concrete with a Mohs Hardness Scale test kit in order to determine the tooling required to expose the aggregate below the top cream layer of the slab. We ordered tooling that corresponded with the hardness of the slab, however, after two days of grinding we determined that the tooling was not adequate to expose the aggregate. Rossi Abrasives provided us with prototype tooling specific to this challenging slab and once we hit the floor with the new tools we were well on our way to a beautiful floor.

In order to expose the aggregate and even out the high and low spots, to meet the client’s preference, we had to grind the floor with our newly acquired aggressive tooling several times before continuing with the rest of the polishing process.

Cracks and Decorative Control Joints

The basement floor slab was cut into 4-foot sections with control joints, as both an aesthetic design choice and to prevent unwanted cracks. We filled all of the control joints with a rapid curing polyurea elastomer joint filler which will allow the individual slab sections to move independently without breaking the seal.

3000 Grit High-Gloss Finish

Once the control joints were filled, we patched any major voids in the concrete surface, densified the entire slab, and continued to hone the floor and polish up to a 3000 Grit High-Gloss Finish. For more information on our polishing process Click Here.

The client and Bertram were very pleased with the finished floor and we are looking forward to seeing how the floor looks once the other interior finishes are complete! Updates to come.