Concrete Resurfacing in Wexford, PA

Concrete resurfacing

Keep the slab, replace the surface

When is resurfacing the right call?

When the slab is structurally fine but the top of it is finished. Typical signs are surface pitting and spalling from years of salt, an old coating that has failed in patches, a floor that has been repaired so many times it is a patchwork, or a surface too rough and uneven to polish. Resurfacing gets you back to a flat, sound floor that will then take a polish or a coating properly. What it cannot do is hold together a slab that is cracking through its full depth, sinking or heaving. That is the line our Wexford concrete contractor work stops at, and Rick will tell you so.

How is this different from pouring a new slab?

Everything stays where it is. No breaking out, no hauling away, no rebar, no form work and no waiting weeks for fresh concrete to cure before you can use the room again. The doors, the thresholds and the drains all sit at the same height, which on an existing building is worth more than it sounds. Cost and disruption are a fraction of replacement, and for a slab whose only problem is its top inch it is the obvious answer. Read about commercial floors for how this runs in a working building.

Repairing a surface rather than replacing a slab is normal practice, and the American Concrete Institute publishes the standards behind it.

What does the finished floor look like?

Whatever you want it to. Resurfacing is the foundation, not the finish. Once the floor is flat and sound it can be left as a plain sealed surface, taken to a flake or metallic system, stained, or ground and polished. Most garages that come to us for resurfacing end up in flake, because the texture hides the history of a slab that has had a hard life. In a commercial space it more often goes plain and sealed. Protecting it afterwards is the other half of the job: see concrete sealing.

Why do old surfaces fail around here in the first place?

Water and salt, mostly. Concrete is full of tiny pores, so it takes water in. Road salt comes off the tires in that water and works down into the surface. When it freezes, the water expands and lifts the top of the slab off in flakes, and every winter takes a little more. Inside, a basement slab takes moisture from the ground instead, which lifts old coatings and adhesives. Either way it is the surface that goes, not the concrete underneath, which is exactly why sealing a finished floor matters so much here.

Is my floor a resurfacing job or a replacement?

If the slab is sound underneath and only the top has gone, resurfacing is the answer. If it is cracking full depth, sinking or heaving, you need a concrete contractor first. Rick tells you which one you have, even when it is not work for us.

Do you pour concrete?

No. We finish concrete that is already there: grinding, resurfacing, polishing, staining, coating and sealing. Pouring and structural repair are a different trade, and you will hear that straight away rather than after a deposit.

How long does resurfacing take?

Most rooms are two to three days including the finish on top, and it moves with the size of the floor and how much repair the surface needs. You get the sequence and the dates before we start.

Will you see where the repairs were?

That is the point of resurfacing rather than patching. The new wear surface goes across the whole floor, so it reads as one slab instead of a map of old repairs.

Can you resurface an outdoor slab?

Sometimes, and it depends on what it is and what it takes. Weather and salt are hard on anything outdoors here, so bring Rick out to look before you plan on it. He will tell you if it will not last.

What happens to the drains and door thresholds?

They stay where they are. Resurfacing adds a thin wear layer, so doors still clear and drains still sit at the right height, which is a large part of why it suits an existing building.