Located in the heart of Austin, Texas, just steps away from the city's convention center, the 31-story Austin Marriott Downtown features flexible meeting space, a rooftop pool terrace, and a spacious lobby with a two-floor cocktail bar and lounge. The lobby itself radiates modern style, with locally inspired accents and 13,000 square feet of polished flooring with bronze inserts.
To achieve the lobby floor's high-end, polished concrete look, flooring contractor ModernCrete used Rapid Set® TRU® SP Natural high-flow topping. TRU SP is an advanced, professional-grade cement-based topping that can be ground and polished to expose the sand and aggregate and provide a salt-and-pepper appearance. Available in natural and gray, TRU SP levels quickly, producing a dense surface and high bond strength.
ModernCrete, headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, first leveled the floor by applying Rapid Set® LevelFlor® self-leveling underlayment using gauge rakes and spike rollers. LevelFlor rapidly levels to provide a flat, hard surface, and it sets and cures fast. It can be walked on in two to four hours and covered with finished floor coverings in four to 16 hours.
Next, the crew primed the substrate with Rapid Set® TXP™ Fast and sand broadcast to prevent pinholes and create a strong adhesive grip for the topping. Workers applied the primer by squeegee and then back-rolled with a ½-inch nap roller to achieve a uniform thickness of 10 to 12 mils. The crew also installed bronze inserts.
As the last step before polishing, the crew mixed TRU SP Natural via Hippo mixers and placed it at 1/2-inch thick. They finished with a spiked roller to release any trapped air and provide a smooth, level surface. TRU SP can be customized by adding integral colors or decorative aggregate. For this project, the contractor worked with manufacturer Delta Performance Products to create a custom gray integral color called "Austin Marriot."
The flooring was ready for foot traffic in two to three hours and grinding and polishing in 24 hours. The crew used up to 1,500-grit diamond abrasives to expose the aggregate and provide a high-sheen look.
In all, the project was completed in one month.
