Concrete Surface Finishes: Stucco Application

Concrete Surface Finishes

• Stucco involves mortar consisting of cement, sand, and water.
• Hydrated lime is added to mortar for easier workability.
• Applied in three coats: scratch, brown, and finish.
• Scratch and brown coats uses one part Portland cement to three parts sand, plus ~10lbs of hydrated lime.
• A richer finish coat uses one part Portland cement to two parts sand.
• Coarse sand is for base coats, and fine sand is for the finish coat.
• Roughen concrete to ensure good stucco/cement plaster bonding.
• Bush hammers or small picks roughen old surfaces, followed by acid and water wash.
• Heavy wire brushes or special scoring tools roughen new concrete.
• After trowelling the scratch coat onto the wall, scratch it with a small rake to provide a key for the second coat.
• Average scratch coat thickness is 3/8".
• The brown coat is applied a few days after the scratch coat and is also 3/8" thick.
• Utilize a wood float to level the brown coat to a flat, even, smooth surface.
• The finish coat goes over the set and dried brown coat.
• A minimum of 1/8" thick, the finish coat rarely exceeds 1/4", except with rough textures.
• Keep the finish coat damp for a few days to avoid hairline cracks.
• Rubbed Finish involves grinding freshly poured concrete, generally one or two days after.
• For the rubbed finish Use carborundum brick, emery, or soft natural stone.
• Apply a thin grout of cement and sand to the surface in a circular motion to fill imperfections, followed by clean water.
• Using fine sand without grout is called a sand-float finish.
• Brushed Finish obtains a finish by scrubbing or brushing the concrete surface with fiber or wire brushes and water.
• This removes the surface film or mortar, revealing the coarse aggregate.
• Perform brushing while the concrete is still green, without dislodging aggregate.
• Washing a brushed finish improves its appearance with a diluted acid solution, thereby intensifying aggregate color and texture, but must be thoroughly rinsed.
• Too Finish includes tooling concrete surfaces via methods used to dress or finish natural stone.
• Bush hammering, done either manually or with pneumatic tools, is very common.
• Tooled finishes yield the best results on thoroughly hardened surfaces.
• Preferably, the concrete is about two months old.
• Use small-sized aggregate for dressing uniformity.
• Pebbles in gravel concrete may dislodge during tooling.
• Sand-Blast Finish has mostly the same appearance as brushing concrete.
• Sand blasting produces granulation which is sandstone-like, but the aggregates emerge irregularly.
• Concrete must be thoroughly hardened before sand-blasting.
• Dried silica sand or crushed quartz are most effective for sand-blasting, done with 3/8" or 1/4-1/8” nozzles.
• Use a nozzle pressure of 50 to 80 lbs on a month-old concrete surface.
• Exposed Aggregate Finish achieves color by exposing aggregate, instead of using coloring material.
• A facing mortar of 1 part Portland cement, 1-1/2 parts sand, and 3 parts special screenings or pebbles should be placed against the forms at ~1 inch thickness.
• Complete placement in advance of body concrete to prevent contact with forms.
• The colored/special aggregate is then exposed by scrubbing.
• Steel Trowelled Finish is achieved by leveling the surface with a straight wood screed and giving a wood float finish after forcing the concrete aggregate below the surface.
• The entire surface is steel-trowelled before the concrete sets.
• Integral Colored-Cement Finish requires leveling the still green concrete, but when no surface water is left, with a straight wood screed.
• A 1:3 mortar finish coat is then applied, leveled with a wood screed, wood float finish, then steel-trowelled.

Granolithic and Terrazzo Floor Finishes

• Granolithic Finish is a topping of 1 part cement, 1 part sand, and 1 part finely crushed stone, so-called after fine aggregate chips originally used.
• Finely ground corundum is also part of the aggregate to produce an enduring and non-slip surface.
• Terrazzo Finish is cement, marble chip aggregates, and water.
• It is laid as a topping or wall finish and then ground to a smooth surface.
• Terrazzo is for floors and bases needing durability, wear resistance, and minimal maintenance.
• Available as either precast (e.g. tile), or cast-in-place, available with smoothly polished or non-slip surfaces.
• Nonslip surfaces include abrasive granules in the mixture.
• A terrazzo topping contains 200 lbs marble-chip aggregate to 1 bag (94 lb) of cement, with a white or gray Portland cement matrix as desired.
• Use 150 lbs marble-chip aggregate and 50 lbs abrasive granules per cement bag to create non-slip heavy duty floors.
• Common non-slip terrazzo topping specifications entail 70% of the marble aggregate be visible.
• Heavy-duty non-slip topping: a 3:1 ratio of marble granules to abrasive.
• Light-duty non-slip topping: a 4:1 ratio of marble to abrasive.
• Minimium terrazzo topping thickness is 5/8".

Tile Finishes

• Cement Tile Finish involves pressing a plastic mix of cement and sand in molds.
• Surface color is from mineral oxide additions, at a 25mm (1") thickness.
• Common sizes are 200mm x 200mm (8"x8"), 300mm x 300mm (12"x12"), and 400mm x 400mm (16"x16") squares.
• Leave the top of the base slab 50mm (2") below the finish floor for cement tile installation.
• Soak tiles in water, then lay on a Portland cement to three parts sand cement mortar.
• Ceramic Tile Finish: small clay surfacing units, or mixes fired for varied processes.
• Tile differences are principally due to the composition of the body, surface finish types glazed or unglazed, process of manufacture, and degree of vitrification.
• Those made of compound bodies contain three principal constituents: plastic, filler, and flux or solvent.
• "Plastic" is clay with high bonding power and some fluxing ability.
• "Filler" reduces shrinkage in drying and firing, and provides rigidity to avoid heat deformation e.g. flint, finely pulverized silica, kaolin, or tale.
• "The flux or solvent" melts under intense heat and fuses heat-resisting elements for solid mass.
• The minimal feldspar is the flux for floor and wall tiles.
• Unglazed tiles show composition throughout, deriving color/texture from the material it's made of.
• Glazed tiles fuse a glass-like ceramic surface to give decorative and impervious finish.
• Ranging from white to black, glazes have two light reflecting qualities: bright and matte.
• Bright glazes have a highly polished surface to reflect an image clearly.
• Matte glazes do not clearly reflect an image, nor show it at all.
• Degrees of semi-lustrous/satin-like finish exist between max reflection and nonreflection.
• In addition, glazes include plain, textured, polychrome, mottled, stippled, and rippled.
• Dust-press Process shapes dust-pressed tile in steel dies by applying heavy pressure to the damp ceramic mix while in finely pulverized form, having greater mechanical precision and more regular appearance to the tiles than other methods.
• The Plastic Process shapes Plastic-made tiles from clay using water.
• Plastic-made tiles use hand moldings or by extrusion from an auger-machine, where the extruded ribbon of clay is cut by die to desired sizes.
• Most tiles made by the plastic method varies slightly from the true geometric forms and therefore have a more hand-made appearance than to dust-presseded tiles.
• Vitrification in Tiles is a measure of density/relative water absorption depending on composition and burning.
• Four levels of vitrification exist: non-vitreous, semi-vitreous, vitreous, and impervious.
• Nonvitreous tiles have a density to permit > 7% moisture absorption but with high strength.
• Semivitreous tiles have a degree of density limits moisture absorption ranges from 3 - 7%.
• Vitreous tiles measure < 3% for moisture absorbtion with body density, preventing dirt penetration.
• Impervious tiles are the hardest with negligible moisture absorbtion, and cleans easily of stains/dirt.
• Glazed interior tiles are non-vitreous dust-pressed product.
• Ceramic Mosaic Tiles are < than 6 sq in of facial area, predominantly unglazed w/ fully vitrified/fairly dense bodies.
• Installation for ceramic mosaic tiles occur with mounting on sheets of paper ~2 sq ft, spacing units insertion of cement after paper removal.
• Quarry tiles are unglazed floor tiles made from natural shale or clay by plastic method which are both impervious to stains, moisture and abrasion.
• Pavers are standard size unglazed tiles similar to ceramic mosaic tiles in composition and physical characteristics with facial area of > 6 sq in with a range of 3"x3" to 6"x6".
• Pavers are not pasted on paper, and are laid individually.
• Plastic formed vitreous/semi-vitreous and dust-pressed both vitreous/impervious pavers and are ideal for heavy floor service.

Resilient Floor Finishes

• Resilient flooring is available as either tile or sheet.
• Resilient flooring types: asphalt, vinyl, rubber, linoleum and cork.
• Vinyl, linoleum, & rubber flooring types also have a sheet form option.
• Asphalt Tile and Sheet is made of thoroughly bonded thermoplastic binder (asphaltic type for standard asphalt tile and resinous for greaseproof asphalt tile).
• Additional materials include asbestos, inert filler (stone dust, diatomite, mica, et al.) and inert color pigments, formed under the hot pressure and cut.
• Standard asphalt tiles are 9" squares, but may be less common at 12".
• Rectangular 18"x24" borders have standard thickness measurements from 1/8"to 3/16".
• Use asphalt title with no dampness, above or below grade on any smooth concrete or wood subfloor with enough strength, since non-deflection is needed.
• Asphault is bad for, outdoor interiors, subjects with direct sunlight, concrete containing dampness or hydrostatic, or flooring the cannot reveal the contours of the underground.
• It's best to avoid constantly splashing floor areas like shower and toilet rooms to ensure greaseproof asphalt title.
• There's 3 vinyl flooring types: solid vinyl, vinyl and asbestos combined, and thin vinyl layer.
• Solid vinyl sheet flooring occurs at a 2.0mm and 2.5mm thickness measure at 1.80m (6') wide and can be in any length.
• Vinyl tiles, composed of all vinyl, have mm measurements at: 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm,and 3 mm in length at 300 mm x 300 in squared.
• Vinyl flooring gives colorful, textured finish and is resistant for greasy flooring traffic.
• The vinyl can be above or below grade, but not outdoory or areas where specific attacks will cause vinyl chemicals.
• Commonly, rubber floor tiles neutral rubber with home installation occurring, in measures and thickness and applications used as vinyl flooring types.
• Rubber sheet flooring is made in rolls 3' width, and has 3/32", 1/8" and 3/16" thickness measurements, commonly used for given linoleum.
• It the quietest in thick cork tiles and the colors are brilliant from the household soap oils.
• linoleum is waterproff and resilient, in a thick backing that has linseed processed materials with dust whiting.
• The materials are stone bound , and contain cork-wood fillers, resins, pigments, and drivers at intervals.
• The 5 Classifications to devide linoleum - plain, marbled ,spatter, straight , inlaid and molded.
• Use ⅛", 1/16 service and 3/32" standard" to measure all lines.
• It is available in three gauges with rolls coming 2, 6' wide.

Wood Floor Finishes

• Strip Flooring contains tongue-and-grooved (T&G) boards ≤ 6" width as nominal (1" x 3", 1" x 4", 1" x 6") with face widths (2-1/4", 3-1/4", 5-1/4").
• Net thickness measures at 7/8".
• To lay strip flooring, strips begin squared to the side wall, with the first strip grooved towards the wall. Face-nail the first strip close to the wall, so the baseboard hides this. Blind-nail all following strips so joints lack successive courses.
• Wood preservative are added at concrete, at least, concrete fill should have damp concrete and at any area of grooved surface for coverings in water.
• Plank flooring - square-edged boards of width 8" or more usually find home in the old Spanish houses which are nailed on.
• Flooring or block-flooring is formed by veneer wood from the parquet styled to show that joints can add it in mastic and subfloor.

Ceiling Finishes

• Ceiling Boards involves shiplapped running boards that commonly call attention to BCB to fill in gaps .

Acoustic Tile

• Acoustic Tile applied in ceilings wall where air absorbed.
• Cellulose fiber tiles are made of compressed fibers ,
• Rock wool tiles limits rough usage but is effective due to being in, 7/8" the sizes range.
• Glass fiber tiles made with binder of thickness range as sizes are held together.

Paint Finishes

• Wood oil Stains- Pigments derived and dissolved in linseed. Colors are thinned with Turpentine.
• Water Stains use anyline dyes.

Paint finish- Transparent Finish application

1. Clean scraping and sanding with wood surfaces.
2. Use some wet rag to fill surfaces.
3. Smooth with thin coat. 4 Dust surfaces clean for the brush.
4. Apply some shellac to fill cracks with alcohol.
5. Fix filler wash off.
6. Fine sand and select surface finish.

• For filler mixes, add turpentine fillers

In wood, Paste Fillers-

1. Apply filer. 2 For rough cracks, sealants are more effective.
2. Rub for adhesion and to prevent water with sealant

• Shellac is refined seed; that protects from damage

The chief resins in varnish:

1. Gum fossil
2. East indies
3. turpetine