Guest Bath Floor

Guest bath floor border is stained a light turquoise, wait 'til I uncover the final product tomorrow..............

Hallway Floor, Before & After

This shot is of the back hall / laundry, you can see the vent for the dryer, as well as the propane gas tubing, sticking out of the wall. Notice the waves in the concrete, as it was troweled to a finsih, shy of a finished job, prior to grinding and staining. The second shot looks down the hall in the opposite direction, looking into the Great Room.












This next shot here is of the same hallway, looking into the house through the back door, see the stained and scored floors within, this will be cleaned up and a coat of sealer applied, wait and see............

Bobby the Terrazzo Guy

This is Bobby the (self-described) Terrazzo Guy, his name is actually Wentworth Thomas, rather distinguished sounding, eh? Anyway, Bobby is, how should I describe this, finish-grinding the white cement and white sand concrete mix, which is the top coat of our finished floor. About 1/2 - 3/4" thick or so, more recenetly troweled on top of the rough slab we poured months ago.
Bobby is shown here, using his small rotary machine with diamond blades, I think he was using 80 grit at first, finishing with a 120 grit metal blade.
The machine itself is called a planetary polisher, that is, the round diamond-embedded grinding disks (five or seven) are also spinning, in an opposite direction than the main blade, to ensure a smooth surface, free of grinder marks. Get it, the small planets (grinding disks), rotate around the main planetary body? The master bedroom floor, shown here, is getting ground down and the slurry, or spoils of the grind, are mopped and vacuumed up with a wet vacuum system. Creating zero dust, zippo, none, he left the floor smooth and wet and clean!!
The next step, after his water has evaporated, and the floor is dry again, I begin by applying a first coat of stain with an insect sprayer, the kind you pump up by hand. I leave the stain sit on top of the cement and let it doing it's work, burning it's color into the concrete's DNA. There is no going back and there is no certainty to the color of the final product, it will be what ever it will be, end of story. Isn't it grand - no control at all - absolutely none.

Enter the Solar Age

Pictured for you here is the solar system, well, not actually the Solar System (which is substantially larger and much more complex), it is our solar hot-water-heater system, and it is installed and working, as I write. The system consists of the (from left to right) the Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) collector as part of the system, in that the electricity that operates the circulating pump, is provided by this little unit. I put it in that cute little aluminum frame and angle mounted it to provide maximum solar gain (sunlight on-target). In this way, we use none of our own electricity ($0.48 / KWH) to power the system. If the sun doesn't shine brightly enough, the pump doesn't operate, but who needs a circulating pump if the solar Hot Water Collector isn't heating water? By the way, that big brown thing, about 4 feet wide and six feet lengthwise? That is the solar hot water collector, or, heater. The insulated feed hot water water pipe is shown entering the bottom of the collector at the right. After traveling through the collector, pushed by a very small electric motor, and so-called gravity feed, (where hot water flows uphill more easily) the heated water leaves the collector at the top left hand corner, and travels into an electric hot water heater / storage tank, in the utility room of the house. The electric, or utility power that feeds the electric hot water heater, is used for long periods of cloudy days (as if).

Tile Free

The confluence of grout lines, scored into the concrete by my Soff-Cut cutting tool, are ready for grouting. This is the floor portion of this home building project, I am most humbled by the enormity of the task, but onward I press to the finish line.

This shot of the West Wing' south bedroom, or blue room. The floor is sealed and ready for the grout, which I will do later this week.

It has always been my goal, when building this house, to eliminate the need for any kind of tile, be it ceramic, or terra cotta, or marble; intended for the floor, ceiling, and, yes, even wall tiles are off the project list.

We are using a fairly new technique on our floors, be they in the bedroom, in the hall, in the bathroom, or anywhere at all! We are using a concrete staining system from DECOSUP, an acronym for Decorative [Concrete] Supplies. They are based in Miami, FL. I used their product here in St. Croix, for one really good reason; the concrete stain they manufacture is a low acidic product, compared to Acid Based Stains, which contain hydrochloric and / or sulphuric. It should come as no surprise that acid is a hazardous material, therefore, read: HAZMAT shipping costs, which are prohibitively costly, especially overseas!

The finished product, after grouting the seams between the tiles! Ha ha, as if. I have to polish the final product with terrazzo floor wax, NEXT WEEK!

In The Weeds

I have to say, that when it comes to some building materials; most especially a product with which one has never worked, the old method; or, trial and error, serves as the best guide of all. I am referring to the product concrete, and the various (they are many) problems one can have with it.
I use the metaphor thus: Toying with concrete for the first time (read: every time is different) is a lot like learning to play golf. At first, one tends to hit a lot of balls into the rough, the high grass, off the fairway, into the sand traps, or, as they in the business, hittin' 'em in the weeds. Maybe this is the most frustrating thing you've ever done in life, that is, constantly putting your golf ball in a place where it is extremely difficult to hit it from, from amongst and under the trees, from deep grass, from under a bush, etc. That being said, I've been in the weeds A LOT.
There is an upside to the predicament, and that is that, besides learning not to hit the ball into the woods, one can also learn how to make some unbelievable shots that wouldn't otherwise be a part of a normal practice regimen. It's no fun being in the weeds, but when you find yourself there, you deal with it. Afterall, some of the craziest things come from learning by burning. So, you spill a little sealer in the new concrete, because the concrete is sealed, the spots show everywhere, what to do? Scrub the spots with a wire brush and discover the emerald green you'd hope to have for an end product....
The first shot here is of the south bedroom in The West Wing, or the blue room. The floor is scored and ready for sealing, which I will do later today. The next three shots are of the guest bathroom floor, which you see here. The border of the room, about 7" wide and which will be stained later, is masked off from the rest of the room. This is after the acid staining and the use of a wire brush to work the stain into the concrete. The finished product will be the emerald green I wanted, with a light aqua, a little darker shade than the master bedroom as the border color. The seams will be filled with white grout, which will really finish the look of ancient stone.

Floor Scored & Several Days Ago

The floors of our home are going to be colored, or stained concrete, we had a top coat of concrete poured over the rough, what I call sub-floor. Which is the steel reinforced concrete slab through which the plumber and I coursed several conduit runs, and the plumber his water supply lines, hot and cold; as well as waste piping.
The top coat of concrete, poured on an average 3/4" to 1" thickness, is white cement. That is, white Portland Cement, instead of the normal shade of gray; the product we used was actually a product of Denmark. Interesting, considering the Danes owned and ran the plantations on these United States Virgin Islands, until the good ole USA bought them prior to WWI, to protect the Panama Canal, I think it was in November of 1917.

In this series I show you the stages of preparation and application for scribing and staining concrete floors. This is my second attempt at this craft, O.K. third try, our Harwich, (MA) barn was project one, the master bathroom in 71 Vista Concordia; and, now, the West Wing. The blue room, above, is in the process of protection from water based concrete stain application. We covered the lower 12" of the walls for this protection, sealed top and bottom to prevent leakage behind the protective membrane. We will leave this in-place until the floor is stained, scored, rinsed and the mildly acidic stain is neutralized; and, finally, sealed with a lacquer based concrete sealer.

We are using products from a company in Florida, under the name of Decosup, or decorative concrete supplies. Decosup's floor stains are a non-acidic solution which don't require HAZMAT (Hazardous Material) shipping. After all, shipping to this Island, 2,300 miles from Miami, FL, is expensive enough as it is for normal shipping rates.This shot of the south bedroom, sorry, the blue room, viewed down the Greenie Beanie (the name of the paint color) hallway, shows the application of the 1st stain coat, note the plastic film wall protection, taped to the wall top and bottom.

That black, cylindrical. & hosed aparatus in the center of the doorway is the stain applicator. I simply pour in the stain, pump up the pressure and pull the pistol grip handle to spray the liquid on the floor.

The vacuum cleaner I use for dust collection, and the floor jig for cutting straight lines is on the floor. The jig consists of two pieces of 1/4" masonite held parallel at the right dimension to allow for the concrete saw's footprint. This insures a straight and unwavering cut in the surface. The white cement, used to pour this layer, is extremely hard at this point, being fully cured now for several weeks. The handle of the saw pokes out of the closet at left of photo.

Everything but the.........

Before formica was discovered; prior to corian or so-called solid-surfacing, or - previous to the advent of granite, slate, or even linoleum, soapstone ruled for kitchen sinks with adjacent countertops. But that was in my grandfather's house in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in the 1960's!

Our kitchen cabinet bases (carcases) are topped with cement board, 1/2" thick and then we mixed concrete for the pour, using a brown pigmented liquid to color the batch prior to mixing, actually during the mixing stage, as it was used for the necessary water that is needed to complete the formula for concrete. Again, Portland Cement(named for the English city, not the coastal city in Maine), an aggregate, in our case sand only for a lighter mix, and, of course water. We used plenty of color additive to make the mix a color as close to Milk chocolate as possible, not to be confused with Dark chocolate, or even the Semi-Sweet variety. Actually, I'm just kidding, I was trying to match the darker brown in the cabinet wood, which is Hickory, incidentally.

Note the the under-mount sink, or the drop down front edge in front of it? Strictly Stylin', I am say - in'! Being the first concrete job I've EVER done; O.K., the second, if you count the bathroom vanity (picky - picky - picky).

The gentleman in the photo is Johnson, he is from St. Lucia, he mixed and transported the concrete from the yard to the kitchen and did some preliminary leveling, and then he left, the finish on the surface was done by yours truly!

Debbie insisted I show the BEFORE and after shots of the scene, that is before she painted the edge around the countertop, where it meets the wall, nice, huh? The next shot down is the AFTER.

At long last, the kitchen sink is in-place and Debbie finally is happy, did I say FINALLY? The counter top pour was a giant step to the completion of the house, not only for our basic cooking needs and the peace it provides us at mealtime, but for the mere saneness it affords each of us. I was petrified about the concrete work for weeks before we did it, weeks! And now 'tis done.

That red-ish looking wood in the foreground of this last photo is the last finish piece for the kitchen peninsula, I have yet to mount or finish that piece of lumber, which covers the top of the concrete block 1/2 wall that separates the kitchen from the living area. Too high for bar stools, we will just have standing room there for guests to rest and watch the cook, maybe a plant or two, who knows?

The Kitchen Counter

The Kitchen Sink

Seen here, in these exclusive photos, the kitchen counter top is being readied for the concrete. The forms are in place around the counter's edge, the 3/8" rebar placed, and tied, at 6" intervals; the pvc pipe stubs can be seen poking up through the cement board base. The grid of rebar helps to strengthen the slab and makes it less likely to crack from shrinkage. The pvc pipe stubs are for the faucet and sprayer, yet to be installed. The same shot, of the same sink cutout, during the "pour". You can see the glass like surface of the wet concrete in the next photos. The water will evaporate as part of the curing process, which also includes the production of heat, as the mix of cement sand changes from a liquid into a solid.

The Master Bath Vanity

The Master Bathroom is the first room we have completed. In this series of photos you can see the bath vanity top, and the above-counter sink, as the ensemble is being constructed. I say above-counter because the sink was intended to mount in a vanity top, lower than the height we wanted of 36", or kitchen counter height.