While concrete is a serviceable material, up until recently, it wasn’t thought of as being beautiful. In the past few decades, we’ve seen how it can take on new life with dyes, stains, tinted coatings, and flake designs. These give you the opportunity to get creative with your concrete surfaces. We’re walking you through how to install a patterned, multicolor concrete floor so you can tackle your next project and get professional results. Check out the amazing 3D floor that Josh did with just polyaspartic and flake coatings!
Preparing Your Slab for a Multicolor Design
The first step to getting a flawless multicolor concrete surface is making sure the surface is perfectly flat and at the proper surface profile for a polyaspartic coating. We used a diamond grinder to smooth the surface without polishing it so the coating could properly bond when it’s time to lay it. After grinding the floor flat and vacuuming it three times to remove all traces of dust and debris, we were able to lay the grid pattern.
Laying the grid is how you determine your pattern. If you’re doing a chevron pattern, simple squares, or angled diamonds, you’ll want to use pencil lines to lay the design. For the three-dimensional pattern above, we laid out the grid, individual interior squares, and 45-degree angles to ensure precise, sharp lines.
Coloring the Floor with Polyaspartic and Flake
Once your grid pattern is laid out, it’s time to tape off areas that you will be coloring second or third. In the three-dimensional pattern Josh did, you’ll see that he taped off the interior squares first. Make sure to use heavy-duty tape to prevent any seepage under the material. Once your first area is taped, follow these steps:
- Mix the polyaspartic with the desired tint and apply to the designated, taped-off area with a roller or brush depending on the amount of precision needed.
- Work in small sections, then, after a few minutes, go back and apply a generous distribution of flake over the wet polyaspartic before it dries
- Continue applying polyaspartic then flake over the next section.
- Once the floor is complete with polyaspartic and flake, let it sit for about 45 minutes, then carefully pull up the tape. You want it to be pliable enough to lift any excess, but not wet so that the polyaspartic seeps into surrounding areas.
- Wait two hours, then vacuum up any excess flake.
- Tape off the next section.
Follow steps one through six, making sure to wait 45 minutes to remove the tape, then two hours to remove any excess flake.
Finishing the Multicolor Concrete Floor
Once the colors and flake are applied, you’ll want to wait at least six hours to move on to the next step. After this is complete, you’ll want to aggressively scrape away any flake to remove any that may not be properly bonded to the concrete floor. We passed over the slab three times with the scraping tool to prevent any flakes of one color from bonding to another when it is sealed. Once the floor is scraped, you’ll want to vacuum multiple times to ensure any loose flake is completely eliminated.
Once the floor is complete, it’s time to make it permanent. We recommend using a clear polyaspartic topcoat at a rate of 100 square feet per gallon. This may seem like too much, but you’ll need the extra left over. First, smooth the topcoat in small sections with a flexible squeegee, then use a floor roller to break the tension in the coating and eliminate the squeegee marks. Once that’s done, just let it cure for 48 hours before opening the space up for foot traffic.
Get Your Concrete Coatings and Colorants Today
If you want to apply a multicolor design to a concrete slab, we have everything necessary to get beautiful, professional results, from concrete grinders to coatings. Get a free quote today by calling our customer service team at (815) 472-9749 or by filling out our contact form to get started!