Wright Chat

We are searching for the above referenced paint. Can you provide this paint or advise me of a supplier? Thank you.

The color you are looking for, also known as "Cherokee Red", is in the Pittsburgh Paints "Fallingwater Inspired" colors collection, number 6432-7. Here is a link to their brochure:



http://www.ppg.com/ppgaf/pittsburgh/PDF ... Colors.pdf

If you are looking to paint or touch up FLW concrete floors, Coronado paints sells a product which is a very good match for cherokee red; it is called "Tile Red." It is a product designed for concrete and I have used it many times with very good success. Otherwise you have a major project resurfacing the concrete with the appropriate colorant and sealer which is availabole as a system.

So are you recommending this other product over the Pittsburgh paint or is this product a stain? Not sure if this is a colored sealer or what?



The real question for me is: What do I do with an original red concrete FLW floor that has never been painted? It has some residual carpet glue on it, and I want to restore it. A small section of it has been painted, so I thought of stripping the paint and trying to match it to the rest of the floor. Any specific suggestions are warmly welcomed.

Doug

Doug,



L. M. Scofield (out of Atlanta) is a company that produces a product system which is used to create a colored concrete floor such as the ones found in FLW buildings. I have built buildings using their concrete system. The first step utilizes a product called Lithochrome Color Hardener. This material is trowled into the top 1/8 of the concrete. After the concrete cures, you use the second part of thhe system(the name escapes me) which is a waxlike liquid. You buff this into the floor using a floor buffer to seal the concrete. This is a very good system as we used it in restaurants with very good success. It comes in a red and matches the Cherokee red very closely. A similar process may have been used like this for Wright's floors. We found that after much use the floors developed a patina which was very attractive.



Back to your problem. You can first try stripping the paint and glue etc. I am not an expert on this but you may be able to use the second part of Scofields system to rejuvinate the original color as it is not exactly a solid color; it has some transluscence. When we first started using this product, we met with Scofields rep and he was very helpful. I would contact them to see if this idea might work. Refinishing the floor requires removing the top layer and is a huge undertaking and quite expensive. Another alternative is the Coronado - Tile Red - paint. Its consistency is between a stain and a paint. It is half a shade lighter than the Cherokee red but a close match. It can be used as a stop gap measure or as the final finish. The previous owner used the Coronado paint on the floors after investigating resurfacing. I recall that even finding a contractor willing to resurface was quite a task. I have continued to use the paint where needed and it holds up well. Much of this house has very large area rugs so the exposed painted surfaces are minimal. Good luck.

Doug,



PS - I just wanted to add that these floors are also created by actually tinting the entire load of concrete on the truck. This may be a better way (although more expensive) because the top 1/8 of a towled surface can break down in spots and expose the untreated concrete. However, this seems to occur only on exterior applications from my experience.

By the way, the Sikkens web site is very interesting. They date back to 1792.

Thanks Richard I will look into this. I have lots of questions for them, so I know this will be a great place to start. I have to excavate the entire floor someday in order to replace the radiant heat. This is a daunting task that I am not sure I will ever be able to afford, but it is on my radar screen. I could use a paint, or your paint/stain product as a short term solution. It really is a shame to have to paint it since I love the patina of the original floor. And it would just be so much work to strip the paint from the sections that have been painted and then try to match it all. Decisions decisions.

I should think there would be Taliesin Folk or Conservancy consultants who could give me a specific formula if I were start anew and mix the color into the concrete as it was poured in. Where is your house?

Doug:



I would suggest that permanent painting only be done as a last resort. Original finishes, as you stated, have a beautiful patina. In an ideal world you would touch up your finish so that it fixes that which is problemmatic for you, with a product that is reversable. Email me and I will be happy to offer some pro bono advice on this. pharding@hardingdotcom. Good luck.

I'd love to have the specific information about the system of colorant and sealer that "owner" mentioned in an earlier post. I'm wondering if it's similar to the process used in the past by Wright house owners of taking the Colorundum powder, mixing it with water, and painting it onto the finished floor prior to waxing, in order to revitalize the color.

Any more information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks