Bauer Hockey Case Study
CASE STUDY
Bauer Hockey's Winning Floors
In January 2015, ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey announced plans to open a chain of “Own the Moment” retail stores, with the first opening in the Boston suburb of Burlington by late summer.
The company expects its retail operations to grow its overall business and be profitable within 18 to 24 months. With the first store serving as the prototype for 8-10 additional stores in key markets, construction had to be done right.
The 20,000-square-foot stores will include indoor ice rinks, so customers can try on and test ice skates and equipment under the guidance of highly trained associates.
Using TRU Self-Leveling Underlayment
Bauer was looking for a natural high shine polished concrete floor, however the space consisted of an old beat up concrete slab with many trenches through out the floor from past and present tenants floor use. Industrial Concrete Services (ICS) of Gorham, Maine, along with CTS/ Rapid Set Cement, presented TRU Self-Leveling Underlayment to be installed over 11,500 square feet of floor space with multi colors and polished at the Burlington store. ICS and CTS Cement teamed up to develop this project.
CTS representatives Mark Connelly, Ben Graham and Jose Ruiz traveled to the job site to build test patches, set expectations and provide training to the contractor’s crew. With the floor samples and the selected colors green lighted, the project was approved for a very aggressive construction schedule prior to the fixtures showing up.
As part of the training, the CTS reps in conjunction with AH Harris, the distributor of the CTS/Rapid Set Underlayment flooring, helped in the pouring and application process of the overlayment and later on the polishing of the materials which included the retail space floors and all walkways through out, leading to the ice rink. The work included 5 separate pours and two different colors to create the aisles plus a broadcast river stone aggregate used to produce a terrazzo-like floor appearance. The process was challenging as all fast paced construction projects, as the crew had to work around other trades who also needed the floor space to perform their work.
For an old cooler area that needed to be leveled with the rest of the floor, the underlayment used was 300 bags of Rapid Set LevelFlor®. The cement-based self-leveling underlayment is durable in both wet and dry environments. It’s also an excellent choice for new floor projects, and for projects that require long flow life and working time. LevelFlor rapidly levels, maintains workability for 30 minutes and produces a flat, strong surface with high bond strength. You can cover it with finished flooring in about six to 16 hours at 70° F, depending on the floor type.
For the polishable underlayment, they used Rapid Set TRU® Self-Leveling. The cement-based, self-leveling topping and resurface (which can also be used as an underlayment) is crack-resistant and durable. The one-component system won’t deteriorate in damp conditions and is ideal for projects that require long flow life and working time while achieving high early strength, vary important for polishing the material.
Like LevelFlor, TRU rapidly levels, maintains workability for 30 minutes and produces a smooth, strong surface with high bond strength. It is ready for foot traffic in two to three hours and for coatings or polishing in about 12 hours.
The topping also cures to a light off-white color that’s ideal for stained, dyed or integrally colored floors. Plus, TRU grinds and polishes well, making it an excellent choice for this project.
Collaborative Effort
The collaborative effort between contractor, supplier and distributor resulted in expertly trained workers who are ready to take on more polished concrete overlay work. “This project was a great team effort, and ICS is now one of my best contractors in the Northeast,” says Connelly.
Bauer Hockey was also happy with the results, and plans to specify the Rapid Set® TRU system for all of its stores.
Here is the new store!
