True protection and savings
Cutting Edge Decorative Concrete has specialized in concrete surfaces for over 25 years in the Akron/Cleveland areas. We only use tried and true concrete repair products and systems that provide real protection and offer savings for our customers.
We don’t use products that just hide the damage you may have, nor do we claim to “repair” your concrete by just covering up problems. Instead, we offer complete custom systems that truly strengthen and protect your concrete surfaces by stopping deterioration by salt, acid rain, gas spills, oil spills, pet accidents, food stuff, and much more. Your concrete surface will be truly protected, and any repairs will be properly and professionally addressed.
Uncoated and unprotected concrete—which most people have—will consistently suffer damage if exposed to contaminating elements. It’s a fact. Read “The Nasty Things” below and learn why coating and protecting your concrete is so important. Any type of concrete flooring product, such as epoxy stones, that lets fluids leach into the surface, allows bacteria to grow, or allows corrosion of the steel reinforcement, actually weakens the concrete and is expensive and difficult to maintain. Those products aren’t helping you. In fact, they assist in the degradation of your concrete and offer little to no protection. Those products only cover up damage.
At Cutting Edge, we only offer custom concrete garage floor and concrete basement floor coatings systems that will greatly improve the performance of your concrete surfaces. The products we use are impervious to any fluids or contaminants. They will extend the lifespan of your concrete and are easy to maintain. No other company performs at the high level of quality as Cutting Edge Decorative Concrete. We have worked hard for years to establish the reputation of being a high-quality company, and we are proud to install materials and systems for concrete floors that really work and increase the value of your property.
The nasty things
Most people don’t know enough about what damages their concrete. As experts, we’re here to educate.
You might not know it, but several nasty substances are damaging your concrete little by little, every year, every month, and every hour of every day! All of these cause damage to exposed, unprotected concrete! (Reference material available upon request)
What are they?
Bacteria
Corrosive salts
Carbonation
Sulfates
Acid rain
Leaching
Laitance
Each of these damages exposed, unprotected concrete!
For a better description of each “Nasty Thing” see below
Bacterial Corrosion
Bacteria themselves do not have a noticeable effect on concrete, but they do harm us as humans. Sulfate-reducing bacteria in untreated sewage tend to produce hydrogen sulfide, which is then oxidized by aerobic bacteria present in biofilm on the concrete surface above the water level to sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid dissolves the carbonates in the cured cement and causing strength loss, as well as producing sulfates harmful to concrete.
Salts Damage
Continuing to let salts seep through porous stone coatings, improperly prepared, and unprotected concrete leads to further damage and degradation.
Repair principles for stopping and preventing further degradation include control of anodic areas; cathodic protection, cathodic control; increasing resistivity; preserving or restoring passivity; increasing resistance to chemical attack; protection against ingress of adverse agents; and moisture control.
Calcium chloride and, to a lesser extent, sodium chloride, have been shown to leach calcium hydroxide and cause chemical changes in Portland cement. This leads to loss of strength, and it attacks the steel reinforcement present in most concrete.
Carbonation Damage
Carbonation from the air decreases alkalinity of concrete below an acceptable level. This in turn negatively affects the steel reinforcement in the concrete by increasing corrosion. Corroding steel inside concrete escalates decay and damage, it and weakens the structural integrity of the concrete.
Sulfates Damage
Sulfates in solutions that come in contact with concrete can cause chemical changes to the cement, which can cause significant microstructural effects leading to the weakening of the cement binder. We call this a chemical sulfate attack.
Sulfate solutions can also cause damage to porous cementitious materials through crystallization and recrystallization—a salt attack. Sulfates and sulfites are everywhere in the natural environment, including in the gypsum (calcium sulfate) often present as an additive in 'blended' cements, which include fly ash and other sources of sulfate.
With the notable exception of barium sulfate, most sulfates are slightly too highly soluble in water. These include acid rain where sulfur dioxide in the airshed is dissolved in rainfall to produce sulfurous acid. In lightning storms, the dioxide is oxidized to trioxide making the residual sulfuric acid in rainfall even more highly acidic.
Leaching Damage
When water flows through cracks in concrete, it dissolves various minerals in the hardened cement paste or aggregates—if the solution is unsaturated with respect to them. Dissolved ions, such as calcium (Ca2+), are leached out and transported in solution some distance. If the physico-chemical conditions prevailing in the seeping water evolve with distance along the water path and water becomes supersaturated with certain minerals, they can further precipitate, making calthemite deposits—predominantly calcium carbonate—inside the cracks or at the concrete outer surface. This process can cause the self-healing of fractures in particular conditions.
Laitance Damage
The surface of new concrete is always weak, even on high strength concrete because troweling methods and the curing process encourage lighter components such as surplus Portland cement and water to rise to the surface. When this cement-rich scum sets, it is called “laitance.”
Laitance is present to a depth of approximately 1/16-inch and is weak and brittle. Unless the laitance layer is removed, stresses put on the laitance layer will very likely cause disintegration of the laitance and disbandment of any applied coating.
As Cutting Edge concrete experts, we know how important it is to protect
your concrete floor in the most cost-effective way.
Let us help you do just that!
And soon you too will be saying, "My Floor is Cutting Edge, and I Love It!"
Why can't I do this myself?
You can, kind of.
There are obviously low-quality products that are sold in big box stores that claim to protect concrete. The problem is that they just don’t last. And there is a lot of hard work that must be done to get the concrete prepared correctly, per the instructions on the box. Inevitably, it always seems that the material chips, peels, and doesn’t last. We usually meet this customer at some point in time, very frustrated at the money and time they've wasted. There is a reason for their frustration, and it’s always related to the improper preparation of the concrete surface, and the low quality of those types of materials.
Proper Preparation of Concrete
SHOTBLASTING—period.
Not grinding or acid washing. Neither is acceptable and are not warranted by any manufacturer of coating materials, nor by The International Concrete Repair Institute, the true industry guideline.
Metal shot blasting is a method of industrial floor preparation that is widely regarded as the most professional and most effective surface preparation method for concrete.
It is a light blasting of the concrete surface with a vacuum-assisted shot blaster. The objective is similar to acid etching but much more intense and effective. The blast removes all forms of release agents, weak concrete, laitance, dirt, and contamination. Our highly powerful industrial HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) vacuums assure that at least 95% of the dust is contained. Shot blasting is the best method for the best impregnation of resinous floor coating materials. No matter how good the coating, its effective service life will be shortened by insufficient or ineffective surface preparation.
At Cutting Edge, we only follow the CSP (Concrete Surface Profile) guidelines that have been determined to be the industry standard by the International Concrete Repair Institute. And the industry standard is shot blasting for epoxy and urethane coatings systems. These are standards that all architects, builders, contractors, designers, and distributors must follow. Any and all “Warranties” are worthless if the concrete is not prepared correctly and professionally, as there is no guarantee that any coatings system will bond properly and last.