HONESTONE NEWS

The advent of polished cement floors has certainly changed the way we think about concrete flooring. We used to associate concrete floors and walls with coldness and blandness.

Not anymore, not with the beauty, elegance and style that polished cement brings with it.

How do we at Honestone provide you with polished concrete that meets all your requirements? Let’s take a closer look at the basics of polished cement floors.

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The very smooth and shiny finish of polished concrete floors tend to give people the impression that they’re slippery too. Nothing, however, can be further from the truth. Polished concrete floors are completely safe to walk on. The reason? They are subject to rigorous slip resistance tests. It’s a procedure that we are very strict about, in order to guarantee that all our products are slip resistant and absolutely safe.

How is slip testing on polished concrete floors done? Read and discover the details, one of which may surprise you.

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Concrete is everywhere. Just look at our roads, buildings, dams and bridges. Today, it is the single most widely used material in the world. Its impact on our everyday lives is hard to ignore.

So we decided to collect 10 fascinating quotes about concrete, all of which will put how we view concrete in the proper perspective – be it music, dreams and even bad weather.

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Since the 1970s, the Pyrmont Fire Station has had a resident of the non-human variety dubbed Harry. Over the years, a lot of firefighters who have worked at the station have their own stories to tell about him. Those stories often tell of banging and clanging noises during the night, making Harry the ghost quite the legend.

However, with the iconic building undergoing much-needed renovations, Harry also appears to have been affected. With Honestone providing the station’s polished concrete flooring in Pyrmont, the station’s human residents are well pleased. What about Harry the ghost?

$2.7 million upgrade

The change began when NSW Emergency Services Minister Stuart Ayres and Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Greg Mullins announced a $2.7 million upgrade of the station building.

Located at 197 Pyrmont St, in Pyrmont, Sydney, the legend of Harry the ghost has disappeared, along with the old look of the station. With the upgrade, the station has been transformed into a first-class, modern, sophisticated and functional facility.

Polished Concrete Flooring in Pyrmont by Honestone

Integral to the 16-month make-over were principal contractor Artel constructions, Ispecs, and award winning flooring and wall specialist Honestone, in conjunction with Ardex Australia.

Artel constructions director Fyaz Gill said the company was honoured to take over the direction of the building and was buoyant that the refurbishment was a success.

Working from the ground up, Mr Gill said removing lead paints and asbestos took 4-5 months, and seismic work was done to resist a potential natural disaster.

“The extension took three months, then 5 months for the slab and lasiations” he said.

Ardex Australia NSW Specification Manager Mark Zangari said with a noticeably finer aggregate, the PanDOMO TerrazzoMicro was the chosen finish, producing a homogeneous and elegant finish.

“Being an engineered system by Ardex, the ratios all work together to ensure the right amount of marble chip is being displayed in the finish, something which often doesn’t happen with conventional polished concrete finishes,” he said.

“Considerably thinner than traditional terrazzo does not sacrifice in the strength of the floor, with it able to be used in high traffic areas.”

“The shinier material thickness also ensures minimal material consumption, which, combined with the Low VOC of the finish, provides some excellent green attributes for the flooring system.

“With the Pyrmont Fire Station, a white aggregate was used with a white binder in order to give the floor a nice, simple and sleek look. This assisted in accentuating the dark and face brick walls.”

Honestone director Rick Hendriks, in conjunction with an Ispecs spokesperson, said the polished concrete component was a medium diamond grind to partially expose the aggregate in a “hit & miss” appearance whilst the terrazzo flooring was Barossa White marble with White Ardex panDOMO TerrazzoMicro cement. Honestone’s polished concrete flooring in Pyrmont was met with praise.

“The finish was impeccable, extremely aesthetic and functional,” Mr Hendriks said.

“Our team worked tirelessly to perfect the project and we could not be happier with the results.”

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When a central business district building in Erina, on NSW’s Central Coast, needed some nurturing, the owners decided to turn their commercial headquarters into a chic retail hub. Their first port of call for the iconic Platinum Building’s make-over was well known flooring and wall specialist, Honestone.

The company’s director, Rick Hendriks, said for the discerning property owner, nothing matches the natural beauty of a stone or terrazzo floor. Terrazzo, as well as stone, has been used since Roman times to produce high performance commercial floors,” Mr Hendriks said. “It is still used in today’s largest shopping centres and institutional buildings. The Platinum Building is a perfect example of how functional and stylish the finish can be. Unfortunately at Platinum the floor has never received the right care after having been installed with original construction many years ago. It was Honestone’s role to rectify the situation and ensure a prefect finish.”

S J Skipper & Associates chairman of body corporate of the Platinum Building, Steve Skipper, said they were very happy with the results. The reputable corporate group said they would opt for the Honestone profile any time.

“The job hit expectations – a definite yes there,” Mr Skipper said. “Overall we were really pleased with the results.Would we recommend Honestone? Yes.”

Honestone stripped the existing Terrazzo flooring throughout the 645 metre square area on three levels, over two buildings. Once the terrazzo had been restored, Honestone used diamond polished pads and treated the floors with a high performance impregnating sealer from Aqua Mix.

So too, Honestone was integral in the revamping of City Link Plaza in Morriset St, Queanbeyan. The project was instigated after the plaza’s representative, Doug Chown, was shown the reputable skill-base and expertise Honestone could demonstrate, to revive yet another 650 square metre retail hub.

Mr Hendriks said Honestone representatives were requested to visit site to demonstrate the wall and flooring specialist’s ability to rejuvenate the existing mall terrazzo flooring.

“The mall flooring was in terrible neglect after years and years of mismanagement,” Mr Hendriks said. “I believe the property had ‘then been’ recently been purchased by Trinity Funds Management, and they were remodelling the entire mall to improve its vacancy rates. Doug had been appointed as the on-site property manager and who we met for our site sample. Within four hours we had demonstrated to Doug sufficiently our capability with stunning results. As soon as Doug had our proposal approval from Trinity, we were down there for stage 1. The overnight transformation was simply amazing.

“Our crews worked diligently throughout the night to make the area look like a new floor had been installed. Firstly we had to strip years and years of sealer, then we diamond polished the beautiful underlying insitu terrazzo and protected the floor with an impregnating sealer. Doug was left with a maintenance schedule he still uses to this day. The mall looked brighter, cleaner – just amazing. I think we surprised ourselves with this one. The job was completed over another two stages.”

Mr Hendriks said Honestone had fitting materials for a plethora of environments including the commercial industry, just like the Platinum Building and City Link Plaza, the hospitality industry, manufacturing, and commercial spaces, offices, architectural residential projects, and many more. He said the company had fitting experience with rejuvenating old worn flooring as well as utilising new materials on existing surfaces.

To find out about how Honestone can enhance your space, why not contact us today?

 

Related Tags: Terrazzo Floors Sydney

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