New Concrete Flooring Focuses on Commercial Sector
Minneapolis, MN, May 20--With dreams of supplying big-box retailers like Minneapolis-based Target Corp., Concrete Arts of Hudson, Wis., has created a terrazzo-like polished concrete aggregate flooring that is cheaper, easier to care for and stronger than sidewalks.
Concrete Arts executives hope that smaller customers and big-box retailers will convert from terrazzo or vinyl composite tile (VCT) — a common commercial flooring option — to their product, LifeTime Syntegrity.
Tom Graf, owner of Concrete Arts, developed the faux terrazzo flooring in 12 colors. He works with smaller retail and residential customers who desire harder-than-concrete flooring with varying sizes and colors of aggregate.
Concrete Arts has formed a joint venture with Eagan-based Gresser Cos., which can install 10,000 square feet of the flooring a day.
A potential major customer is Target, which will test a 7,000-square-foot slab of the flooring in a store that is under construction at 1776 S. Robert St. in West St. Paul.
The 4-inch layer of flooring is near a loading dock in an area that will be punished by fork lifts and other heavy equipment, said Mike Dougherty a vice president with Concrete Arts.
Considering the hardness of LifeTime Syntegrity — 10,000 pounds per square inch (PSI) — the product should be able to endure heavy traffic and loading operations, Dougherty said.
LifeTime Syntegrity has increased density and superior strength because the number of micro-pores in the product have been reduced significantly. And just after a concrete slab is poured, 2 pounds of powdered hardener are applied over each square foot of floor.
Matt Hanan, a sidewalk inspector for the Minneapolis Public Works Department, said the average city sidewalk in Minneapolis is 3.5 inches thick and has a PSI rating of 3,900. Most conventional terrazzo floors are even softer, ranging between 2,500 and 3,000 PSI.
So each LifeTime Syntegrity surface has more than twice the capacity of Minneapolis sidewalks and between three and four times the hardness of terrazzo.
Dougherty said 150,000 square feet of Lifetime Syntegrity product have been installed so far. One of the early locations was Studio A, an Aveda Concept Salon in Osceola, Wis.
Salon A owner Trish Annunziata said the floor is durable and easy to maintain and clean.
Studio A’s floor was installed last July, when Mike Gresser, president and chief executive officer of Gresser Cos., was lobbying Target officials to install LifeTime Syntegrity flooring in a new store.
"That’s the case," said Gresser. "It’s an 18-month lead time on getting business with those folks."
Gresser Cos. has done ample business with the Minneapolis-based retailer, having laid concrete pads or installed concrete blocks in at least 24 Target stores.
Gresser said LifeTime Syntegrity is an attractive option for big-box retailers because other floor surfaces, including the VCT floor surface that Target currently uses, occasionally have trouble after installation.
Even when VCT is installed correctly, its expected life is just 10 years, compared with 20 years for LifeTime Syntegrity.
But buyers pay a premium for having a floor that’s harder than a sidewalk. LifeTime Syntegrity’s price range of between $7 and $8 per square foot is between $1 and $2 per square foot more than VCT, Gresser said.
"In general, VCT requires a constant waxing," Gresser said. "It’s like sailors polishing brass on a ship. People come up and ask why your brass is so beautiful, and that’s because they never stop polishing it. When they finish going around (a ship), they start again. That’s sort of how VCT is for retailers. It’s an expense that comes with the flooring."
LifeTime Syntegrity can be cleaned with water and a light detergent and requires waxing just once every three months.
