we are building a new home and have ground (50 grit and 120 grit) the slab throughout the entire house. we like the natural gray color and do not want to stain. my research is pointing me towards penetrating sealer/densifiers with a top coat of wax. my questions for you are: - does anyone have product recommendations for indoor penetrating sealer/densifiers that they have used? - does anyone have a recommendation for a long-wearing, but easy to apply (read: mop-on rather than buff-on) wax? ideally this wax will also slightly darken/enhance the color variations already present at the surface of the ground concrete. thanks for your help!

I doubt you are going to get helpful posts on this request. Fiberglass overlays on a concrete pool are just not very commonly done. And since you only got 10 years from the one that the prior owner installed I would offer that it's a bad idea as well. A plaster coating is much more common on a concrete pool and should last for up to 25 years if maintained properly. I am also sure you will find a ton of companies in CA who do plaster finishes. They also offer higher end pebble finishes as well that are suited for a concrete pool.

I have a finished concrete floor that i need to, uh, finish. its colored (charcoal) with davis color mixed right into the concrete if it matter. I guess the finishers burnt it and its nice and smooth for the most part. the concrete company recommended Bellatrix by WR Meadows ... i had purchased 10 gallons ($1000 worth or so) last fall but unfortunately i got caught in the middle of the Northern CA forrest fires last october and it all burnt. The company treated me like shit after that so i'm hesitant to give the more of my money. Surecrete has been awesome and recommended DK 400WB but they also recommended sanding my entire floor with 180-220grit sand paper first which just seems wrong. It's also almost $2k worth of product. My budget is tight after having to deal with the fires but i want a good product. I will be using their Surecrete XS-327 Polyurethane Sealer for my shower floor. Any recommendations for a sealer? also, whats the deal with them suggesting i sand it first? i've done the orbital scrubber to clean it and even using the green pads was too coarse and seemed to take away the smoothness and made the test area look like it was exposed aggregate kind of. the white pads were fine. i've talked to a few concrete finishers and they had never heard of that. Surecrete said if i dont sand it i should at least etch it.

The 1.3 R value is HUGE on a floor. Imagine your concrete slab as a HUGE refrigerator. And imagine it is left with the door open and running full throttle 24/7 for DECADES. That's what a slab is. We call it a heat sink. Because heat SINKS into it (never to come back out). What you want to do is COMPARE the COST of the DriCore R and the TOTAL RENOVATION cost of the in-floor radiant heating. The 'extra' $1300 for the DriCore is ONLY what you pay for. Leave the heating in the home as it is. I'm not kidding. Us the DriCore to UPGRADE the insulation in the home. And continue using the heating system you have. Now compare the cost of the HYDRONIC heating system purchase and installation with the DriCore R. I'm going to guess there is a HUGE difference. If you do NOT install SOMETHING insulating over that slab, you are going to heat the refrigerator and the EARTH below it. You are going to make some worms VERY happy....nice and toasty. You must have some form of heat break. Gluing plywood to an old slab isn't going to get this done. And this is precisely why the cost of RETROFITTING a hydronic system over a slab is one of the MOST EXPENSIVE upgrades you can do. The cost to do this properly (which means removing an inch of concrete, adding an insulation barrier like cork and then adding the tubing and then pouring new concrete) is exceptionally expensive. Trying to figure out a DIY level hydronic heat retro-fit over concrete slab is very tough. You have already stated you will be adding 2" of flooring height. But where is the HEAT BREAK? The cost of heating a heat sink (your concrete) is VERY HIGH. You will not see any savings. It might even become more expensive. Who has 'sold you' on the retrofit hydronic heat over concrete slab??? I'm in Canada and have had people in Northern Saskatchewan (1 hour drive south of the Territories). They routinely reach -40 C (same as -40 F). The basement never reached 16 C (60 F) in the winter time. They added 6mm cork (1/4") over the basement slab then added 11mm cork flooring over that. The basement was the warmest space in their house. It sat at a comfortable 22 C (72 F) without any change in their lifestyle (setting on their thermostat sat at the same place all the time). I saved them $25,000 because they were going to do the hydronic heat (properly). Not bad for a day's work (talking on the phone with them = 4 hours). All they needed was a regular heat source and some INSULATION over the slab. The 6mm cork underlay = the same as the insulating foam in the DriCore R (1.3 increase). The 11mm cork floating floor = same again (another 1.3). A regular heat source PLUS insulation over cement = warm spaces PLUS reduced heating costs. Nothing else needs to be added. No expensive retro fit (which needs to have the concrete jacked out and the insulation added then the tubes sunk in cement). This is the POWER of insulating a HEAT SINK. It's like turning off the refrigerator AND throwing down some carpet. Remove the chilly iceberg and you will automatically save money. It's your call.