Kansas City Epoxy flooring

Just a quick note on some of the epoxy products I have seen at some of the big box stores. I’m not totally against these products but there are a couple of things to keep in mind before you go applying them to your concrete surface.

1. Prep your concrete, Prep your concrete, Prep your concrete. This can’t be said enough. Your concrete surface must be perfect before you going putting down your epoxy, and I mean perfect. If you don’t feel completely comfortable licking your garage floor then it isn’t prepped enough. It costs a little more money, but I would suggest renting a diamond grinder to remove stains/chemicals and to scarify the surface. These can be found at Bledsoe Rentals in Olathe (expect to pay around $150/day)
2. Top coat your surface. Use a polyurethane or a clear epoxy to topcoat. This will protect your surface.
3. Have a pro do it. Most every diy epoxy floor i’ve seen is flaking in a couple of years. I’m not saying that you can’t diy, or that the peoples floors that i’ve seen missed some steps that is why there are issues. All i’m saying is to come back and redo something is always more expensive than doing it right the first time.

you can always find more at kansascityconcrete.net

Kansas City pool decks are ready for use!!!

After an extremely long winter and cool spring with a lot of rain, many people are just now getting their pool deck opened up. Upon examining the concrete I would bet that winter has taken it’s toll on many concrete pool decks around the area. If this is the case with your pool deck…there is hope. A concrete overlay might be just the thing to make your concrete deck the talk of the neighboorhood. These concrete overlays will also give your feet a break from the heat too since most every overlay material out there is a polymer modified product your temperature of your concrete can be reduced usually around 25%. Most people refer to this application as cool deck or kool deck, which is an older technology that is not put down much anymore.

I hope this helps anyone looking for solutions. Remember if your concrete is sunk and/or heaved and has structural issues it needs to be torn out and replaced.

Kansas City would benefit from pervious concrete.

It seems when we get a lot of rain around Kansas City we have flooding issues…especially the Brush creek area and the southwest boulevard area. Pervious concrete would greatly help these issues. This is a video I found from a Michigan concrete association. If you would like more information on pervious concrete in Kansas City speak with Mike Murray at http://www.murraydecorative.com

Kansas City, MO. wants you to pay for concrete sidewalk repair !

The city of Kansas City is considering making homeowners pay for concrete sidewalk tear out and replacement. This means that if your sidewalk is in bad shape they will have it replaced and give you a bill? They have talked about possibly a ten year payment. I have some questions about this;

• What makes a concrete sidewalk “bad”?
• Can I do it myself?
• Do I have options as to who does the work?
• If I have to pay for it I want it to look/go with the rest of my home. Can I have it stained or stamped?
• Would it be possible to do a concrete overlay in some instances?
• I live on the Kansas side, but could I run for mayor of KC, MO. It looks like they need some help?

“Green” products for a concrete overlay

Just a quick post to say that I was out at a concrete overlay seminar today featuring the Miracote line of products. They have an concrete overlay product that uses marble dust (they call it something different instead of “marble dust”). This is big in the overlay business for a few reasons

• don’t have to breathe silica sand and get lung cancer
• stains much better than “sand”
• qualifies for Leed points, big deal right now.

The use of low voc sealers and products w/o cancer causing attributes such as silica sand isn’t a huge deal for the Kansas City area right now, but is heading our way.

Concrete countertops…what’s the price?

Concrete countertops are becoming more and more popular as people seek out unique surfaces for their countertops. Granite is so nuts right now I think that it will be the most replaced item in about 8-10 years mainly because everybody seems to have them. Concrete counter tops on the other hand are individual, unique pieces that are designed for you and only you. Your neighbor, even if they want what you have, can’t have the exact same thing. There are many things that can be integraded into the concrete like colors, broken glass, coins, ect.

So how much do they cost. Generally you’ll find they will range around the $100/square foot price. I remind people not to get caught up in a square foot price when it comes to counter tops, mainly because it doesn’t matter. For example my counter top is 35 square feet. This would make the concrete counter top to be around $3500. Most granite is running around $60 / sq. foot(most co.’s then stick you with an install price for additional money of course). So granite would be $2100. Big deal… a little bit more money for something unique that everybody in johnson county DOESN”T have . Go with a custom built concrete counter top built just for you.

Will Kansas City concrete contractors continue to give FREE estimates???!!

This is a great questions. With gas prices reaching “all time highs” everyday it obviously gets more and more expensive to drive all over town to give customers “free” estimates. Let me tell people something….they are not free. Estimates never have been. Someone has to pay for the gas and time it takes to do estimates. Contractors have built this in as part of their price of the job. With the prices of gas going up so does the price of the goods and SERVICES. Here are some things you as a homeowner can do to help or should consider.

• If your not serious about getting the work done ask for a number you can use for budgeting purposes. (I still would like to get in front of these people. As a contractor I always thought it was good to start working with people on their project from the earliest stage possible).
• Be patient. Don’t expect the contractor to drop everything to drive across town for your estimate. Everybody is trying to be a little more efficient.
• Be present for the appointment. This is one of my pet peeves. “Can you swing by and put the estimate in my mailbox?” If you can’t take 10 minutes out of your day to meet the contractor they won’t spend the time to drive across town (unless they are real hard up). Early on in my career we would do be willing to write something up and drop it off without seeing the customer. We never got one job by this, and most of the time the customer was unresponsive to any follow up. What a waste of time and money.

It’s a small world…so be an honest upstanding citizen!

Kansas City isn’t that big of a place. Remember that the next time you have some work done by a contractor on your home, or if you are a contractor doing the work. The next time your out in public you might run into that person. Will you have the “glad to see you again” conversation, or the “that no paying/crappy contractor owes didn’t pay.”

I had this happen to me today. My former company had done a small job (resealed some concrete) for a guy that we had done a pool deck for a few years back. It was a maintenance job, and we are happy to do it since he was a past client and was great to work with in the past. With this being said we did the job for about 25% less than normal. Long story short he never paid us and was unresponsive to letters, calls, and emails. We didn’t know what kind of financial situation he was in, but we were willing to let him make a couple payments if needed. By the way the job was for around $800 and the house was a 750k dollar house. He had the money, but made up every b.s. excuse in the world. Whatever, nothing a lien wouldn’t solve. Months down the road he sold his home and we were paid by the title company on closing.

Nearly a year later, today as a matter of fact, I bumped into him at the health club. You could tell he felt like a jackass and even said he would have paid us if he knew it was “only going to be that much”. We did everything, but hire the Goodyear blimp to let him know.

The point is make sure that you can walk around town and not worry about running into people. This goes for both homeowners and contractors. All too often we hear people take little issues and blow them out of proportion without trying to sit down like adults and work through them. Remember…things happen on jobs and in peoples lives that can change the coarse of events rather quickly. Its best to sit down and talk about it than to rush off to file a lien or call your attorney. Its probably best that you hire or do the work for people you feel comfortable with in the first place. If you have a bad feeling it’s best to walk away.