Recently, a local builder contacted us.  They were working on a large addition and had some problems with the floors.  The main floor of the original house had radiant heat. The architect and designer had specified a micro-topping installed as the finish floor.  The house had since sold and the new owners liked the floors and wanted something similar for their addition.  Somehow, they decided a gypcrete product was a close enough match.  The original color of the gypcrete was a fairly close match. But as it was finished and sealed several black aggregate pieces began to stand out on the beige colored floor.  The client wasn’t happy with the black specs, but would have let it slide.  A short time later, the floor began to develop cracks over the radiant heat coils. Now something had to be done to fix it.

The Original Failed Gypcrete Floor

We were brought in to coat the floor with the same micro-topping material used on the original home floors. The hope was to achieve a closer match than the gypcrete product. At the same time, we needed to provide a surface that wouldn’t crack.  The gypcrete installer removed all of their sealer so we had a fresh surface to start from.

Gypcrete Finished with Integrally Colored Micro-topping and Stained

We installed three coats of integrally colored micro-topping to get the desired surface color and floor texture.  We ended up using three colors of stain to get color variation and similar look to the downstairs floor we were matching.  It was a bit of a process trying to match someone else’s work. We only knew what product they used, and not how it was installed or colored.

While we might not have achieved a perfect match, we were certainly much closer than the gypcrete product. I think we got close enough that unless someone was told it was an addition, they would probably think all the floors were done at the same time.

Gypcrete Finished with an Integrally Colored Micro-topping and Stained
Stained Micro-topping Over Failed Gypcrete

Contact us today for more information about micro-toppings, or other services we provide.  (425) 586-0706.