I'm giving Remi and his team at Texas Concrete Flooring ALL THE STARS. Seriously, the system only…read morelets me do five, or there would be more.
Boy, did we have a problem floor and WOW, did Remi and his team save us. We bought a house where dogs had urinated - frequently, for a long time by the smell - indoors.
The house has a slab foundation, so simply installing new flooring wasn't going to get rid of the smell. We have a dog as well, and even if we zapped the entire floor with enough cleaner to where WE couldn't smell the urine, it didn't mean SHE wouldn't. We loved the house and we got a great deal so we knew part of our savings would go into addressing the smell.
I had 3 companies come out to look a the floors and give me a bid. Remi impressed me with his professional conduct: he measured each room for calculation, and then he sat with me and tactfully brought up the issue of the odor (really, it was undeniably bad, though better when I pulled out the carpet/laminate wood flooring in the bedrooms; the rest of the house had a vinyl tile glued down that was going to have to be professionally removed). Remi explained the process of removing the vinyl tile and he recommended grinding the slab, then pouring and sealing a concrete overlay to prevent any marking by our dog.
He and his team did an amazing job; they would grind, then wash the floor with a baking soda mix, let it dry, then grind some more. Remi was very conscientious about grinding deep enough to remove the urine. It took longer than a typical job and I'm grateful for the work he and his team put into our floors. They definitely went above and beyond (and, let me say, the bid we got from Remi was in the middle of the 3 I took, so I never felt like he was gouging us for all that work).
When the grinding was done, just as they were preparing for the overlay, I worried the natural color of the overlay would be too gray. Remi showed me pictures and video of other work he'd done and the natural is warmer than I thought it would be (I was imagining dark gray concrete) but I just am not a fan of gray and was lamenting that we couldn't do a warmer brown color. So Remi worked with dye to create a color for us! It was tricky; the dye had to be added to the overlay before pouring and there was an inherent limit to how much dye could be used without compromising the structural integrity of the overlay. And this wasn't something Remi had ever done before, but he researched it and did some test "pies" (concrete discs) to see the effect. Remi said he was willing to try it if we were willing to take the risk. We are so glad we did. Our floors look amazing. They aren't too dark but they aren't gray; they are warm dun color that seems to catch and softly emit light.
I admire Remi's willingness to try new techniques and his commitment to quality work. He's an artist.
You can see the incredible difference in our floors in these before and after pictures. Believe me, if they were scratch and sniff, you'd be even more impressed.
