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• Features & Benefits
• Application Notes
• Limitations

Features & Benefits

• ‘Dry shake’ floor hardener for new concrete floors
• Supplied ready to use — no additives required
• Provides a hard, abrasion resistant surface
• Forms monolithic bond with fresh concrete base
• Non-metallic aggregate — will not rust when wet
• Non-dusting
• Anti-slip
• Easy to trowel into the surface of fresh, wet concrete
• Available in natural (concrete grey) colour as standard
• Ideally suited for all industrial areas subjected to heavy traffic, e.g. power stations, heavy industry, agricultural buildings, warehouse floors, loading bays and workshops
• The selected aggregates contained within Nitoflor Hardtop S have a hardness value of 7 on the Mohs original scale

Application Notes

• Product should be applied at an even application rate. It is recommended that the floor be marked off into bays of known area. Sufficient materials should then be laid out to meet the recommended spread rate
• The base concrete should have a minimum cement content of 300 kg/m3 . The concrete mix should be designed to minimise segregation and control bleeding, although some limited bleed is desirable to ensure sufficient moisture is available to wet out the product when it is first applied
• The use of water reducing admixtures such as the Conplast range is strongly recommended in order to achieve a water:cement ratio below 0.55. The base concrete should have an on-site slump of between 75 and 100 mm
• Vacuum dewatering is not recommended
• Nitoflor Hardtop S is applied in two stages:
• The first application (see table) is broadcast at an even rate onto the concrete surface. When the material becomes uniformly dark by the absorption of moisture from the base concrete, this first application can be floated. Wooden floats or, on large areas, a power float disc may be used. It is important, however, that the surface is not overworked
• Immediately after floating, the second application of the product is applied evenly over the surface at right angles to the first. Again, when moisture has been absorbed the surface can be floated in the same way as before
• Final finishing of the floor using the blades of a power float can be carried out when the floor has stiffened sufficiently so that damage will not be caused
• Where bay edges are likely to suffer particularly heavy wear or impact and where saw-cut transverse control joints are to be located, it is desirable to give these areas additional protection, by one of the following methods prior to full treatment of the entire surface:
• Immediately after levelling the freshly placed concrete, product should be sprinkled by hand at a rate of 0.5 kg/lin.m. (5 kg/m2 ) in a strip 100 mm wide along the bay edge and hand-trowelled into the surface
• Immediately after levelling the freshly placed concrete, remove a wedge of the concrete 10 mm deep at the slab edge and tapered up to slab level. Replace this with a very stiff paste of the product, mixed thoroughly with a small amount of water. Ensure it is fully compacted on to the base concrete
• Any addition of water to wet out the surface on either the first or second application of the product will be detrimental to the overall quality of the floor
• It is essential that the correct recommended rate of application is achieved over the entire floor area in order to avoid possible localised variations in shading
• All equipment should be washed with clean water immediately after use and before the material has hardened
• Proper curing of concrete floors treated with Nitoflor Hardtop S is essential to the physical properties of the finished floor. The most effective method of curing is to use Concure WB which should be applied on to the finished floor 10 minutes after the power floating operation has been completed
• The use of polythene sheeting, wet hessian and damp sand or ponding are not recommended. The use of salt water or brackish water should not be considered under any circumstances
• Subsequent surface treatments are not normally necessary with Nitoflor Hardtop S because of the high density, low porosity finish
• Coverage rate 5 kg/m² / 3 kg/m², supplied in 25KG bags

Limitations

• Do not use the product in areas exposed to acids and their salts or other materials known to rapidly attack or deteriorate concrete containing ordinary Portland cement
• Do not apply to concrete containing calcium chloride or concrete having greater than 3% air entrainment
• Where a coloured floor is required, it is strongly recommended that a site trial is undertaken to assess possible local variations caused by aggregates and sands used in the base concrete
• If stored at high temperatures and/or high humidity conditions the shelf life may be reduced to less than 6 months