After doing a lot of research about how to cover the concrete in the production area, I decided that polyurethane is the way to go. It's impervious to harsh chemicals and can withstand heavy tools being dropped on it. I asked Duron who they recommend and they referred me to Bob Gordon at Concrete Fusion. Bob's first quote was out of my budget but he came back with a supplier from Montreal called Ureco who had better prices. Despite the still high cost, I signed Bob up to apply polyurethane in the production area and to polish the concrete in the retail/office area. I realized the floor is serious business when three pallets of supplies showed up.
One feature I liked about the system is that the polyurethane can be run up the "baseboards" to essentially create a water proof bathtub. To do so, they firt installed a "cove" where the floor meets the wall using a cementitious polyurethane. I was surprised that they didn't cover the cement board (which I put in to cover the ICF) but Zach told me that the top coat would be painted on later. This turned out to be a mistake that would haunt us later.
After the coves were in place, came the fun part. The polyurethane is a two part product mixed on site then spread over the floor using a trowel. They then sprinkled silica dust over the polyurethane to give it some grip.
Zach came back the next day to apply the polyurethane topcoat. That's when he realized the cement board covering the ICF foundation wall was to rough to paint. It should have been covered with the cementitious polyurethane used to make the cove. Ironically, the Ureco product video showed this detail being done. Zach tried to solve the problem by sanding the cement board but that didn't turn out. His brother Adam came up with the idea to apply a stucco like product to the cement board to make the surface more even. I was happy with the look so they went with it.
Then, the moment I've been waiting for. Zach and his team rolled on the top coat. Boy did it shine!
