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A Brief History Solid Ground is a Decorative Concrete company located in Deep Creek - licensed in Charlotte County and eligible to provide services to Sarasota and DeSoto counties, as well. Dan Cormier, owner and Deep Creek resident since 2002, brings 25+ years of self-employment experience and hands-on knowledge of the trowel trades. Most of those 25+ years were spent in eastern Massachusetts, serving prominent neighborhoods such as Cambridge, Brookline, and Chestnut Hill, and for clients like Senator John Kerry. The same high quality craftsmanship is now applied to the decorative concrete surfacing of driveways, pool decks, patios, and lanais. Solid Ground maintains an excellent reputation for providing high quality installations and customer service. Our customers continually echo this statement, job after job. See for yourself online. Solid Ground and the Community
Concrete Sealing / Surfacing Why consider doing either one? Concrete is an amazing product. A properly installed concrete slab generally has a pretty long lifespan without any preservation. However, if preserved with a high quality concrete sealer or overlay system, like decorative concrete, its life expectancy can be extended significantly. This can save you from the inconvenience and expense of replacement before it is really necessary. A professionally applied concrete color sealer can provide many years of protection from deterioration and can accent the home nicely at the same time. There are many color choices available. Though opinions vary in the industry, our recommendation is to use a xylene or solvent-based concrete sealer. A xylene-based sealer provides the maximum protection from basic wear and from the usual outdoor and automotive elements, especially when used on a driveway with heavy vehicle traffic. The xylene-based sealer is also the most tire mark resistant, not to say that tire marks won't appear. In most cases, tire marks will simply wash away with rain or a garden hose. Handcrafted Decorative Concrete Decorative concrete (or overlay system) is an excellent way to preserve concrete slabs. The decorative concrete used by Solid Ground is a Portland Cement-based acrylic. It is applied by hand or can be sprayed on in some cases. Two thin coats are required for maximum bond and life expectancy. The preparation process is the key to a successful decorative concrete installation. This includes a heavy duty cleansing with the use of a high-powered pressure washing machine, then a thorough acid wash and neutralization process to follow - all thoroughly rinsed each time to clear the surface of any chemicals and residue that can be left behind. Without this intense preparation, the finished product may only last a few months or even weeks before delaminating or clouding sets in. Decorative concrete can't be applied over just any surface. It should never be applied over any type of River Rock system. The moisture that resides down inside the River Rock will eventually fight its way to the top, causing major cracking, lifting, separation or cloudiness through the sealer. Not "may happen", this will happen! Random stone designs are our specialty. Stone patterns are extremely popular today on driveways, pool decks, patios, and lanais. We handcraft some of the most authentic stone finishes you will ever see. We are not your typical decorative concrete installers. We consider ourselves craftsmen and nearly everything we do is hand-applied and handcrafted. Like all handcrafting trades, the finished product always looks more authentic. When people see our finished product, they are more apt to say, "Hey, look at that beautiful flagstone finish", not, "Hey, look at that imitation flagstone". Visit our online portfolio to see examples of our work in full color. Educating the Consumer We feel that the customer should be thoroughly (and truthfully) educated on the entire process at hand, whether it be a simple sealing job or a complete concrete overlay installation. If I were considering investing hundreds or even thousands of dollars into my home I would expect to know what was going to be done and how I can maintain and preserve my investment once completed. Solid Ground takes the time to explain the entire process, from start to finish, and then educates the consumer on how to take care of things once finished. Unlike most companies in this field, we keep a customer database, recording all materials used, tracking dates of installation, and setting reminders to contact the customer when it is time to reseal. The customer is also provided with important product information at the time of job acceptance. These are the little things that make a difference in extending the life of the application. Most decorative concrete installations can last 25+ years if maintained properly. Maintenance consists of resealing every 3-5 years, which we can do for you or we can explain how you can do it yourself. Customer Service Our customer service is absolutely second to none and it will be noticed from the first point of contact to job completion. You will be treated with great respect and appreciation from the get-go. After all, you are the customer and we can't exist without you. From the estimating process until the final day of work we will be in constant communication with you, keeping you aware of our arrival, what we’re doing each during visit and what is expected of you. This constant communication is what keeps each job on schedule and completion of the work on time. This being said, the number one complaint among most of our competitors’ customers is that they can never get hold of the contractor after the job has been completed. This problem does not exist at Solid Ground! We want to hear from our customers, whether it is a call with a referral or a call to fix an area that may have been accidentally damaged. We take great pride in our workmanship and possess the confidence to answer the phone when a customer does call back. Isn't that what customer service is all about? A Growing Problem Hiring unskilled workers is a serious ongoing problem in Southwest Florida. Just look around you. Unskilled fly-by-night companies are still making a mess of not just individual residences, but entire neighborhoods in some cases. It is so important that you choose your contractor wisely, as explained in the previous section. It is also critical that you record all product information immediately and keep it in a safe place, because within a few years that information could save you a lot of money and heartache. The most common problem with maintaining decorative concrete is that it is not resealed on time or with the right materials. Because the original contractor is usually nowhere to be found when it's time to reseal, it becomes the consumer’s responsibility to reseal or to hire someone who will guess at the products to be used, which could be disastrous. It is so important to reseal decorative concrete properly and on time. If your decorative concrete coating is starting to fade, there may be a way to save it and bring back some or all of its original luster. That's what a good quality clear sealer can do, if applied properly. Coated driveways should be resealed about every 3-4 years, just to be safe. A driveway takes more abuse because of the vehicle traffic, leaky engines, lawn equipment, etc. All other surfaces should be resealed every 4-5 years. If you wait just a little too long, unnecessary repair expenses may be required. A decorative concrete surface can last 25 years or more if properly installed and maintained. A water-based sealer and a solvent-based sealer are 2 different animals and you need to be careful that you do not incorrectly seal over one with the other. In some cases, if the original sealer is aged enough, it may not matter. But in other cases you can create an irreversible mess. If people don't start paying attention to these problems, I predict that within 10 years, our neighborhoods will be riddled with unsightly driveways, patios, pool decks, etc. It can be costly to tear up and redo a faulty surface, so you can imagine how many people would back-burner correcting their driveway issues, leaving an eyesore in front of every other home. It can easily happen, but we can prevent it with a little advanced knowledge and an educated decision of who to hire. Beware of.... Everything The cost to (re)seal or (re)surface concrete can vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars, so it is critical to consider a few important factors before signing a contract. - Estimates: Get more than one estimate and only get estimates from licensed and insured contractors. Does the estimate seem reasonable or unusually low? If an estimate seems too good to be true, it probably is. That contractor will most likely be cutting corners somewhere, by either "watering down" the products or simply skipping some critical steps in the preparation and/or application process. Rule of thumb: Unusually low prices usually equate to low quality and eventual heartache. Get more than one estimate and compare. - Licenses: Find out who these contractors are. Is the contractor licensed to perform this type of work in your county? Is the license specific to the job at hand? Call your town’s building department to see if a proper license exists. Charlotte County provides its citizens with an online database that allows you to search and find out if licenses exist and if they are up to date. Search Charlotte County's Contractor Database. - Insurance: Is the contractor insured with liability and workers' compensation? Contractors should be able to provide you with an updated copy of their license and a valid copy each insurance certificate. Did you know that if a worker is injured on your property you can be held personally liable if the contractor is uninsured? This can cost the homeowner thousands or even millions of dollars. It amazes me how some people are still willing to take a chance by hiring an unlicensed and uninsured contractor, solely because their low price is so enticing - especially after knowing how many of their fellow citizens were swindled out of their money following Hurricane Charley. - References: A reputable contractor can and will provide you with SEVERAL (non-family) references and addresses to view previously completed projects - jobs that they have done personally. Ask the contractor if they will be doing the work themselves or if it will be subcontracted to another company. Find out if that subcontractor is insured and licensed to work in your town. Are they skilled enough to work on your property and to satisfy your every need? - Warranty: Who is going to guarantee the work? The contractor or the subcontractor? When the contractor or subcontractor is located outside the customer’s county, history has shown an enormous breakdown in communication between customer and contractor, once the project is completed. Maintenance or repairs become difficult and more often than not, near impossible. We hope that this information was helpful to you. If you have any questions or concerns or if you would like us to stop by for a free evaluation and/or estimate, please call us at 941-743-0030. |
Check out our customer reviews from 2007 forward.... See our work without getting out of your car.... |
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