(This is a copy of a story originally published by the Real Estate New Jersey magazine https://re-nj.com/renukrete-solves-difficult-flooring-problem-for-condo-complex-in-short-order/)
CASE STUDY
Baridge House is a 17-story condominium located in Hackensack, NJ, with lots of amenities such as door attendants, a swimming pool and easy access to commuter transportation to New York City and northern New Jersey commercial hubs.
Managed by Young and Associates of Wood-Ridge, NJ, a leading property management firm with a portfolio including condominiums, townhomes, commercial retail and golf courses, Baridge House had undergone regular maintenance in recent years including a lobby renovation, a three-level parking garage renovation and other smaller projects.
One of the more vexing problems recently faced by the management company at Baridge House was two garage hallway floors. Covered with conventional vinyl composition tile, the floors had become a hazard for residents because the tile had cracked in many places and had developed divots where pieces had been knocked loose, making the floor unsafe for anyone walking on it.
Simply replacing the old cracked and worn vinyl tile with new ceramic tile was a non-starter because the floors of the garage walkways were not level and very uneven. For ceramic tile to be an option, the lengthy floors would have required leveling of the concrete base, which would in turn have required significant expenses and unacceptable delays. In addition, many of the doors adjacent to the hallways would have had to be re-hung due to the changing floor height in many areas of the walkway.
And unlike carpeting, which can quickly look worn, stained and haggard in a heavily trafficked hallway, or tiles which can easily break or crack if struck by a dropped object, Baridge House needed a low-maintenance solution that could repel all kinds of stains and abrasions; especially one that was particularly well-suited to a residential installation where traffic is fairly constant. Naturally, the flooring choice needed to be visually appealing and to coordinate well with the wall colors and decorations.
RenuKrete Engineered Concrete Flooring (ECF) provided the ultimate solution.
In search of options which wouldn’t require amending the slope of the floor (which featured several significant height and flatness differences in a span of 60 feet), Harvey Young, President of Young and Associates, contacted RenuKrete for a flooring consultation.
“After seeing the impressive results RenuKrete has achieved with restored concrete surfaces on their website, I thought I’d give the company a call to see if they could apply their flooring technology to our garage hallway,” said Young. “Other proposals I received required leveling the hallway floor before applying tile, which would have posed an inconvenience to condo residents while they waited for each step of the process to be completed. RenuKrete was able to complete the entire job in just a few days.”
Making bare concrete look like natural flagstone.
For Baridge House, the choice was RenuKrete’s “Warm Chalet” design, which captures the look of natural flagstone and is crafted from the existing concrete floor. To begin the flooring transformation, RenuKrete removed the old tile and checked the floor for any cracks or blemishes that needed repair. Once the integrity of the underlying concrete floor was established, the RenuKrete team turned its attention toward the aesthetics of the concrete floor and began to install the tile patterns into the existing slab, revealing the unexpected beauty of the previously inconspicuous concrete.
RenuKrete’s flooring technology is unique in that it can create the look of natural flagstone, slate tile or even wide-plank, barn-style wood from an existing concrete surface. There is no subfloor or floor covering required. The end result is a durable, hard surface floor that stands up to heavy traffic and won’t chip, peel or interfere with the peculiarities of existing conditions, such as uneven floors. In an area that gets as much traffic as a parking garage hallway, durability is paramount and RenuKrete delivered.
“Our residents were amazed that their new natural stone tile-style floor was actually custom-crafted from the concrete that had always been there, hidden under the old tiles. Recently, the success of the hallway project led me to contact RenuKrete again to turn their attention to the concrete pool deck outside, which had become rundown over the years,” said Young.
Inside and outside, RenuKrete’s flexibility is a flooring rarity
Baridge House is a prime example of the adaptability inherent in RenuKrete’s flooring technology. Rare are the flooring products that work just as well inside as they do outside.
Much like the garage hallways, the Baridge House pool deck was worn and cracked and replacing it was out of the question due to inconvenience and the prohibitive costs of demolishing and removing an old concrete deck before pouring a new one.
For example, the prior KoolDeck installation on the condominium’s outdoor concrete pool deck had become forlorn and unsightly with significant chipping and peeling. RenuKrete removed the KoolDeck surface and repaired and restored the existing concrete in preparation for the surface installation, which in this case was RenuKrete’s popular Granite Slate deck finish.
Taken all together, the management team at Young and Associates chose the benefits of RenuKrete ECF, which include:
A durable, beautifully renewed floor created from the existing concrete deck or slab. There’s no demolition or replacement of old concrete, saving money and carbon output.
RenuKrete is not an overlay or paint. It won’t chip and peel away in a few years like those kinds of products.
Low maintenance. Clean up is easy and RenuKrete can handle foot traffic without issue far longer than other floor coverings.
RenuKrete maintains the natural texture of a concrete floor or deck while giving it the look and feel of natural stone.
RenuKrete’s cutting-edge, proprietary technology can reveal concrete’s true decorative possibilities by sculpting a distinctive floor installation design right into the existing concrete.
“Needless to say, our management is thrilled to have a cost-effective solution that can restore the appearance and integrity of our concrete surfaces,” Young concluded. “RenuKrete’s benefits have exceeded our high expectations.”
For residential and commercial property managers and owners in the New Jersey, Massachusetts, eastern Pennsylvania and Long Island areas who’d like to request a meeting to discuss an estimate for a current or future interior flooring or exterior decking renovation project, call RenuKrete at (800) 406-5010.