Polished Floors, Right on Schedule

Students and faculty at the Southridge Elementary School in Casper, Wyoming were a bit shocked when they were informed that their brand new school would not be ready for the August 19 start of the school year. Many construction delays were encountered during the project, including the polished concrete floors in the school that were deemed unacceptable by the architect.

The building was 100-percent complete when the decision was made to completely repolish the entire school. Cove base was in place, walls were painted, carpet was laid and cabinets were set. The building was virtually ready to be occupied when the decision was made. A well-known concrete consulting company was hired to assess the situation. Their 20-page report indicated that the floor did not meet the standards of the specification and should be repolished and dyed to the architect’s specification.

Freddie Gwynn, owner of Polished Concrete of Wyoming sat down with the contracting superintendent of the project and discussed the potential remedy. “It’s not going to be cheap, but it will be right” Freddie told him. A rigid timetable to complete the work was laid out. In order to pull this off, Freddie brought in another highly qualified FGS Permashine Contractor, Shawn Weaver of Concrete Floor Systems based in Denver, Colorado.

Plastic was put into place floor to ceiling in order to minimize dust contamination and damaging the finished painted walls. The edging was perhaps the biggest task to tackle. Crews spent countless hours hand grinding and polishing right up to in place carpeting.

Care was taken to densify to complete rejection to ensure that the dye was properly locked in. Final polishing and further densification brought the entire building up to the specified 1500-grit level. What does the school think? “We are very pleased with our floors and with the two contractors,” exclaims Principal Rick Skatula.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

  • Image courtesy of MiEN Company

    6 Ways to Pull Off a Major District Construction Project

    Designing and building a large-scale project on a K–12 campus is a monumental undertaking that requires the right blend of ideas, funding, design and execution to get it right. The process also relies on multiple partners, each of which has to handle its respective aspect of the project while also keeping the district’s broader mission and goals in mind.

  • New Jersey PreK–12 School Breaks Ground on New STEM Building

    Saddle River Day School (SRDS) in Saddle River, N.J., recently announced that it has broken ground on the new Dr. Kristen Walsh Hall of Science & Entrepreneurship, according to a news release. The school partnered with DIGroup Architecture for the design of the new facility, which will provide the school with space to expand its STEM and business education classes.

  • California District Starts Construction on New Robotics Facility

    The Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) near Silicon Valley, Calif., recently announced that construction has begun on a new Robotics Facility on the campus of Cupertino High School, according to a news release. The 14,500-square-foot facility will serve students at high schools across the entire district, providing purpose-built spaces for student creativity and collaboration.

Digital Edition