Using VOC Compliant Sealers

CTi has diligently been keeping up to date with the new requirements each state has been implementing regarding the levels of Volatile Organic Content (VOC) used in its sealers. The Series 155 OTC sealer and Aquathane 6000 urethane sealer were developed to meet the new requirements of the states listed below. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., Indiana and the country of Canada. Please make sure to use the appropriate sealer if you are installing the CTi products in the areas listed above. Fines and penalties are levied by the states for failure to adhere to the appropriate sealer usage.

When Should You Upgrade Sealers?

by Chuck Brewer

That depends on several factors... Let me explain.

Traffic: If you have a job on a driveway and the customers have kids and both kids have their own cars as well as mom and dad having 2 cars, I would upgrade to the 200 or 6000. By the same token, commercial driveways should automatically get 200 or 6000.

Weather: If it''s the rainy season where the chances of showers are strong and you have to get a coat of sealer on the job or stand a chance of losing it or it getting damaged, I would drop back and use the 150/155. If the 150 or 155 gets wet before it’s totally cured it will haze white. The second coat of 150 or 155 will 99% of the time pull the haze out and it will look great. However, if the 200 or 6000 gets wet before it is cured it too will haze up white but you will have to grind the job down to get it off and then start over.

Chemicals: If you’re selling a job and there are lots of solvents or chemicals being used, you will need to upgrade from 150 or 155 to 200 or 6000. For example automotive repair centers: Brake fluid, transmission fluid, battery acid, etc. And, keep in mind that some folks still do heavy repairs on their own cars at home. They need 200 or 6000 as well.

So here are some examples where you might want to upgrade from 150/155 to 200 or 6000:
1. Heavy traffic
2. Lots of chemicals
3. Customer looking for a lot of sheen

Here are some examples when you might have to step down from 200 or 6000 and use 150/155 on outside jobs.
1. Strong chance of rain getting on the job before 200 is cured.
2. Have to put sealer on late evening and they''re expecting dew.
3. Foggy outside.

Keep in mind you can NOT put 200 or 6000 over 150 or 155 or 150/155 over 200/6000 they are stand alone sealers.

Coverage for CTI Products

Hallmark System Estimated Coverage
Series 105 Polymerized dry component 100 – 125 s/f per 50 lb. Bag (skim & spray)
Series 110/111/112 Polymerized Wet component 400 – 500 s/f per 5 gal. Bucket
Series 150 Cure and Seal 400 – 500 s/f per 5 gal. Bucket (2 coats)
Series 190 color integration component 400 – 500 s/f per quart bottle

Sealers
Pro Seal 200 (clear and colors) 80 –100 s/f per gallon at 2 coats
Aquathane 6000 80 – 100 s/f per gallon at 2 coats
Super Seal 210 Epoxy 100 s/f per gallon at 1 coat
Series 155 400-500 s/f per 5 gal at 2 coats
Rapid Armor 100-125 s/f per gal at 1 coat.

Preparation materials
Fast Crack 1431 40-60 linear feet per unit
Enviro Prime ¾ gal. Kit 100-250 s/f
High Density Mortar 12 s/f at ½” or .40 cubic feet
Series 280 Waterproof Membrane 100 s/f per kit

Durafleck System
Series 5000 Binder 100 – 125 s/f per gallon
25 lb. Box of PVA Chips 500 s/f

Tapes
¼” filament tape 180 feet
½” filament tape 180 feet
½” filament brick tape 180 feet
¾” filament tape 180 feet
1” Masking tape 180 feet

NOTE: CTI makes no specific claims as to the actual coverage of its products. Certain variables may effect the coverage of certain products and your results may vary.

Spraymark System

The CTI Spraymark system is very similar in appearance to the Hallmark system. There are however, a few differences that make the Spraymark system considerably more economical and less labor intensive.

The two main differences between the Hallmark and Spraymark systems is the Spraymark is applied without the application of a skim coat. In other words, the entire job is simply sprayed 100% over the bare prepped concrete, and then highlighted and sealed.

In order to eliminate the skim coat a new more advanced modifier was formulated for the Spraymark system . The 112 modifier utilizes nano technology in order to provide better adhesion without the skim coat. The mix ratio’s for the 112 modifer are the same as the regular 110 and 111 modifiers, and they are interchangeable. 112 Modifier can be used for all other CTI applications.

Applications best suited for the Spraymark system are those that require little if any concrete repairs and few serious cracks. Cracks are addressed by simply sponging grout directly into the crack before spraying.

Generally, the Spraymark system does not incorporate any patterns due to the lack of a skim coat. However, patterns can be taped out on the bare concrete prior to spraying. The Spraymark system requires about 1/3 less material and about ½ the labor of the hallmark application and can therefore be sold at a lower price. The Spraymark system offers a 1 year warranty similar to the Designers series. It is a highly cost effective alternative.

Working with a Radiant Heat Concrete Surface

Radiant heat flooring is a situation you may encounter if you live in a colder climate. Radiant heating is the process of embedding tubing in a concrete surface (i.e. interior floors for room heating and exterior slabs to melt snow and ice) and then having hot water or electric heating transmit through this tubing to warm the concrete slab.

The challenge posed by radiant heat flooring is that of not harming the tubing during the preparation stages. Since the floor has tubing running approximately 2” down throughout the floor, you cannot cut the floor for tension relief.

Preparation of a radiant heat floor must be mechanical. Use of acid on a radiant heat slab may cause damage to the tubing. Crack repair procedures can be utilized by forming a small “V” channel in the slab along the crack line and injecting the Fast Crack 1431. Once the mechanical preparation and crack repair is done, the installation of the CTI System can proceed as normal.

Once the CTI System has been installed, it is recommended that the radiant heat unit not be used for a minimum of 30 days. This allows the CTI System to cure and so the rapid heating of the concrete caused by the radiant heating doesn’t damage the surface.

Factors That Affect Color

CTi has always been a proponent of selling its product from sample boards showing the actual color combination and sealer used. This tool not only gives the customer a much better representation of the finished product, it also shows them how the colors will end up.

Two main factors affect how color is perceived in the final product. Explaining this to the customer will help them understand and in the end increase their overall satisfaction with your work.

Reflectivity: Texture will affect how reflective the surface is. The smoother the texture (i.e. Stone Troweled vs. Hallmark texture), the more reflective the surface will be. The more reflective a surface is the lighter the colors will appear.

Highlight Choices: The overall appearance of a main color will be affected by the colors used in highlighting it. The darker the colors used to highlight, the darker the main color will appear. In certain instances, you will notice a color change depending on the angle you view the project.

Listening to your customer is the best way to satisfy their needs, but once you know what they are looking for (especially regarding color), you need to keep these factors in mind as you complete the color choice process.

Making Sample Boards

By Ethan Schneider

So you just received all your materials and ready to start coating everything in sight. Before you do something to mother in laws driveway that you may regret for the rest of your life, you might want to consider making a few sample boards first. In dealer training Chuck makes it very clear that it is important to make sample boards for several reasons.

First, you need to get all your equipment dialed in and adjusted properly, as well as getting used to how it all feels in your hands. By adjusting your equipment and playing around a little bit, you’ll become more comfortable and you’ll start to learn how to achieve the perfect results your looking for.

Second, you don’t want to waste a significant amount of product on a project without having some idea of what you are doing. Worse case scenario, you might end up having to grind it all off because it didn’t turn out the way you wanted or didn’t end up as a good example of your capabilities.

Before all your materials arrive, you should review all of your instructional DVD’s located in your welcome aboard package. Be sure to view the segment labeled "Doing the job right" There is also a video called "Assembling your equipment" located in the "Product application section" of the dealer website located at http://www.cti-concrete.com that should be viewed prior to getting started. Once you have organized all your materials, and reviewed the videos, then it’s time to get started making some basic sample boards.

We are often asked, "what’s the best material to use for sample boards?" You can use 1/4"or 3/8" plywood, Luan, Masonite , Hardy-back board or Dura-rock. Any of these materials will work fine. Luan is light, durable, and inexpensive. On your first sample boards you may want to just use entire 4’ by 8’ ft. sheets of plywood. With this size you will be able to work on your skimming, spraying, and taping techniques. If you don’t like the way they turn out the first time, you can skim right back over them again and start over.

After you have practiced on the 4’ by 8’ sheets a few times and have gotten a little more comfortable with the product then you might want to consider making some smaller sample boards usually 2’x 2’. This size is light, easy to carry around, and can easily fit in a small car used for sales calls. Architects and designers also prefer the more convenient smaller sample boards.

Making sample boards requires the same procedures as doing a real job except for the prep of the surface. On a real job we would either acid-etch and power wash or mechanically abrade the surface in order to properly prep the concrete. Because sample boards are usually made of wood we recommend just skim coating them twice.

We suggest making at least 6 to 10 sample boards at one time. It doesn’t make sense to mix products and get your tools and equipment dirty for only 1 sample board. We usually start by mixing a ½ bucket of 105 grout at skim consistency. For half a bucket we mix ½ a bag of 105 grout and 2 ½ to 3 qts. of 110 or 112 modifier. We mix the grout with our ½" drill and square mixing paddle. Once the grout has been mixed, we then pour it out equally in to 5 or 6 smaller buckets. We then add approximately ¼ cup of 190 colorant to each of the smaller buckets making each bucket a different color so you can skim different boards in different colors. Next we skim coat each of our sample boards. After the first skim coat has cured, we lightly flat scrape or rub brick the surface, brush or blow it off and skim again. Allow the skimmed sample boards to cure out completely. Cure time will depend on temperature, humidity, air movement, and direct sunlight. Cure time could be as little as 1 hour at 85 degrees outside in direct sun light or over night if inside with cooler conditions.

Once the skim coat has fully cured, again flat scrape or rub brick as needed to remove any sling from the troweling and then brush and blow off. Any excess dust. At this point you can tape out the desired patterns using filament tape. You can do bricks, stones, tiles, etc.

After you have applied the filament tape for the patterns you will have to decide what type of texture you are going to apply over the tape, either a spray texture or a hand troweled stone texture. For either the spray or stone troweled texture, we will need to mix up another ½ bucket of 105 grout. This time however, we will make the mix a little bit thicker. We’ll mix ½ a bag of 105 grout with 2 ½ qts. of either 110 or 112 modifier. Be sure to mix thoroughly so that there are no lumps that might clog your hopper gun. Use a margin trowel to scrape the inside of the bucket when you mix to insure consistency. Once the grout is mixed, pour it equally into 5 or 6 separate buckets and then add ¼ cup of 190 colorant to each bucket making them all different colors. Now you have the ability to spray multiple combinations of colors on multiple boards. We suggest shooting the boards with lighter main spray colors first. Remember, when you spray your highlights to start with the lightest color and then work your way to the darkest. You will have to either clean your gun or switch guns to go back to your original main spray color. Refer to the "Doing the job right video" if this is unclear. Once you have sprayed and highlighted your boards, allow them to cure out thoroughly. Once cured, you can flat scrape, broom, and blow them off. At this point they should be ready to seal. For most Hallmark samples 2 coats of 150 or 155 sealer can be applied. You can use other CTI sealers such as Rapid Armor, Aquathane 6000, or Pro-seal 200 as well.

If you have questions about making sample boards call the CTI tech department.