Decorative Concrete Flooring Case Study: Hilliard’s Chocolates in North Easton, MA

Customer Name: Hilliard’s Chocolates

Customer Location: North Easton, MA

Customer Needs: A decorative floor finish in the back of the house, and a durable floor that can stand up to the rigors of chocolate manufacturing

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Headquartered in North Easton Massachusetts, Hilliard’s Chocolates had been creating their exquisite candy in the same “Kitch-In-Vue Candy Store” that they had been using since 1950. As the need for space increased, they had commissioned a new facility to be built on the property. After meeting with the contractor, New England Floor & Wall and Hilliard’s’ agreed upon two separate systems; a decorative flake finish flooring system for the back of the house, and a ¼” epoxy resurfacer for the manufacturing area, with the caveat being that the entire floor would be installed over plywood.

Scope of Work: 

• All plywood areas were prepared using swing sanders and 36 grit sandpaper
• Vacuum entire floor
• Fill all plywood seams using an epoxy/amorphous silica blend
• Fiberglass over all plywood seams, increasing the structural integrity at all terminations
• Install patches created by epoxy mortar
• Install zinc strip to termination areas
• Install various integral cove base to eliminate the fear of water traveling
• Install ¼” epoxy mortar resurfacer system in manufacturing area- this product is one of the most durable on the market and is easy to clean and sanitize
• Install decorative flake flooring system in the back of house area, allowing for a slip-resistant floor that can stand the rigors of chocolate making while still being an aesthetically pleasing design
• Install a high-performance topcoat to both areas respectively.

 

Conclusion:

Working alongside an entire contractor group, New England Floor & Wall was able to finish this project on schedule. Shown in the before and after pictures, the transformation of this project has been tremendous!

Leicester Public Library Renovation: Mosaic Terrazzo Restoration & Epoxy Terrazzo Installation

Leicester Public Library Renovation: Mosaic Terrazzo Restoration, Repair, Deep Filling, and  Epoxy Terrazzo Installation & Polishing

An “original to the building” mosaic terrazzo floor had been discovered under a rug that was torn up during the demolition phase of the Leicester Public Library Renovation in Leicester, Massachusetts. The floor had some major cracks, deep penetrations, elevation issues, remaining layers of rug mastic contaminating grout lines as well as still adhered to large areas of the floor, and also had cementitious areas within the floor that built-in bookcases had been installed on that were in poor condition (shown below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New England Floor & Wall was contacted to meet with the Architect Charlie Van Voorhis of DVV Architects to see if the floor could be restored. A small mock-up was performed to show what the floor would look like restored (shown below).

It was decided to come up with an epoxy terrazzo mix to infill the cementitious areas using Red aggregates. A sample composed of Red Cedar aggregate blend, silica sand, and a custom mixed General Polymers color was chosen for the terrazzo installation. The Infill areas were cut and chipped out, and deep filled with epoxy mortar to a depth of 3/8″ in preparation for the epoxy terrazzo. The next day the epoxy terrazzo was installed. The following day the infills were rough ground and a grout coat of resin was applied to fill any pinholes (shown below).

After allowing the grout coat to cure, the epoxy terrazzo was ground with 30/40 metals to full aggregate exposure. These areas were then ready to be restored and polished with the rest of the floor (shown below).

The floor was then ground and honed with a 6 step process using progressively finer grits of diamond tooling. A final pass was made using a Marble polishing compound and polishing pad. The floor was then cleaned thoroughly, sealed with a Stain Protector, and given a Final Burnish to “pop’ a mirror finish on the floor.