Friday, May 16, 2014

Finishing the Dorm Floors

 We are working hard to finish the Trapline Lodge.  Karol had been waiting for warm enough weather to dye the last two floors, which seemed to take forever.  Finally, a couple of weeks ago, we had warm enough weather so that the windows could be opened and the furnaces turned off.  The processes are so caustic, that these precautions are a must.  Karol trained Nick throughout the process.  The first step, taping up the plastic, took Steve and Nick more than a day.  All of the walls, doors and plumbing, must be completely covered.  Then, the concrete is etched so that the dye and clear finish will adhere.  That process is done with muriatic acid, and a vinegar neutralizer.  That was another full day with a respirator.  We then get to the photos.  It’s too hard to take photos while doing these jobs, so there’s not many action shots.    The blue floor in the photo above and below is the White Tail Deer Cabin.  The dye is acetone based, which is a nasty chemical that eats through plastics and such pretty easily.  Each floor has two different colors to achieve the final look.  The dye is applied with a garden sprayer.  It must be applied quickly before the hoses and parts of the sprayer become too corroded.

 The bathrooms were a real job as the countertops had to be acid etched and dyed too.
 The Black Bear Cabin has a black floor.  Naturally!
 After the floors were dyed, Karol and Nick applied three coats of a concrete finish, which is applied with a paint roller.  One day per coat.  Then after that was cured, Karol and Tony applied two coats of wax with the buffer machine, as seen below.


 Done.....Finally!!!

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