Polished Concrete Floor Enhances Indoor Cycling Experience

The popularity of indoor cycling has gained incredible momentum in the last few years, and the newly opened CycleBar® at Denver’s Union Station is among more than 200 CycleBar facilities to open in recent years. Located in an existing building, the stadium-style studio underwent a major rehab to transform it into an indoor cycling mecca. One of the first and most important tasks was to remove the old carpeting in the space to expose the existing concrete floor.

“Polished concrete was chosen for CycleBar’s entryway, lobby, and main floor level for a few reasons, the key ones being longevity, resilience, and ease of maintenance,” says polishing contractor Steven Weeks, owner of Professional Polishing & Resurfacing, along with his brother Mark. And although the newly polished floor won’t be exposed to actual bicycle traffic, it will receive plenty of heavy-duty foot traffic and frequent exposure to salt and snow.

“CycleBar at Union Station is located in one of the snowiest states in the country and this brings with it snow, salt, mud, and many other possible contaminates. Also, the main foot traffic on the floor is cycle or bike shoes. These have hard plastic bottoms and would easily damage many other forms of flooring,” says Weeks.

Durabilty wasn’t the only factor in the decision to use polished concrete. “The customer wanted a beautiful one-of-a-kind floor that would act as the main lobby and sales floor for CycleBar. She also wanted to add some sort of design element, and decided on the decorative saw-cut bands throughout,” Weeks explains.

How it was done

After removal of the existing carpeting and performing some minor patchwork, the crew’s first step was to saw cut and tape off the bands and color them separately from the rest of the floor using a penetrating translucent dye.

Next, the entire floor received a 400-grit polish with a planetary grinder. A densifier was used to help lock in the color and strengthen the slab.

The final step was to seal the floor with a two-coat system, beginning with a polish guard to increase gloss and stain resistance followed by a low-odor penetrating water and oil repellent. The entire job encompassed over 1,200 square feet, but took only five days to complete.

“We put a lot of time and effort into communication with owners and superintendents prior to the work beginning. This pre-job diligence allowed us to stay on schedule, greatly reduced the number of onsite snags or surprises, and increased our productivity and efficiency,” says Weeks.

Products and equipment used

Polishing machine: Lavina 25-X planetary grinder, from Superabrasive
Penetrating dye for saw-cut patterns: Prosoco Consolideck GemTone Stain in onyx
Densifier: Prosoco Consolideck LS
Sealer system: Prosoco Consolideck PolishGuard followed by a final coat of Prosoco Consolidek Concrete Protector SB

Polishing Contractor

Professional Polishing & Resurfacing

Location: Denver, CO
Specialties: Polished concrete, epoxy resurfacing, concrete countertops, decorative concrete

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