Packing the ute, rods on the rack, hook up the boat, get going…don’t look back.

Sliding into Airlie Beach as the sun rises after a long 14 hour stretch in the car. Rolling over that first hill after Cannonvale, seeing that Turquoise ocean confronting me for immediate stress relief.

Seemingly floating on down the main road past the wannabe Surfers Paradise vomit, then drifting through a small rainforest mountain until I hit Shute Harbour and feel like I’m jelly sinking into my car seat.

I reverse in the boat, throw the dogs and wifey in the back, turn the key and the last 14 hours in the car seem meaningless. A quick full throttle stretch across to South Molle and I’m in Coconut Cove, a 2500sqm crystal clear cove, about 2 meters deep without another single human being in sight. My happy place. I fall backwards into the water and shed a tear. A tear that all my hard work was worth it. That it means something…..

Only in my dreams can I separate myself. But unfortunately, when the world revolves around money like it does, it allows inspiration to primarily come from monetary reward, which removes passion. Without passion, human beings cannot reach their full potential, because it’s always guided to another point of value, opposed to true inspiration.

Daydream with me for a second. A brief second where money doesn’t come into the equation. A problem arises which is a mutated form of a virus spreading throughout the world. The biggest problem we are faced with, is trying to solve the problem.

The smartest people on earth are simply looking at the problem and trying to solve it, without thinking of the cost. The hospitals and nurses first voice isn’t “we need more respirators”. The Scientist working on vaccine research aren’t limited to a budget value on their research.

Don’t tell me for a second that once all this shit reared it ugly head, the media and food supply conglomerates didn’t subtly wink at each other and ride that money train all the way down to hell where the evil fucks belong. Don’t even get me started on the big Pharma companies, fuck you.

Fear monger. Public sheep will follow suit. Advert click baits. Grocery shelves empty. Stocks up 300%. Fuck you cunts hey.

But I guess it’s hard to climb back out of hole once you’ve dug it so deep. Scratching and clawing I fear the human race will never reach it’s full potential because they……..simply can’t afford it.

But I also don’t have the answers for a better system. I’m just a bush kid trying to double step the city dance. Fit into your society, no matter how much my entire being screams to run back to Coconut Cove.

What a shame.

I will play your game with my hands bound. Defiant against your regime, yet fully aware I need to play the game to survive in it. I will walk into your garden, but at no stage will you take away my dreams. It is where my mind can exist without the need for money. It will always make me smile. It will always allow me to do something different than everyone else. Something unique that very few acheive.

To be myself.

I want to cover a few topics here in a very blunt and direct nature, offering explanations on why these things occur and where it leaves us as professional installers with often, a very tough decision to make.

First I’ll cover cracking and the patching “repairs” of said cracks. Followed by a few things that only pop up from time to time, but need a little technical coverage because on the rare occasion when they do pop up, they can be confusing and hard to manage.

Maybe other professionals in the industry might be able to use this blog format to pinpoint what is happening on their project, or at least I can direct any clients of mine towards this blog to review some technical information from a 20+ year veteran.

So without further adieu and a 0% blood alcohol reading, lets get started.

There is no point making something look amazing if it’s not going to hold together. – Me (all the time).

We do some awesome designs and quality of work. I know I say that about myelf being a little pretentious, but I am just ask quick to point out a negative as I am to verbally uplift my own workmanship.

We do however run into tough decisions from time to time that clients sometimes don’t fully understand. There is a point where we need to leave well enough alone. To fiddle, is to lessen the structural integrity of the product, and lessing that integrity will lead to problems in the future that shouldn’t need to arrise. I’m not talking about the warranty periods that we’re responsible for, I’m talking about the long term integrity of your product install.

Take for instance the cracking issue, there is nothing that can be done to stop concrete from cracking, apart from removing the actual concrete and replacing it with new concrete…..which will most likely crack somewhere else then….because….it’s concrete ffs.

Rising damp. We hate to see this as much as you do. It sucks. All that hard work put in. But to play with the surface to try and rectify a small colour clouding issue, and run the risk of having your product not last 10 – 15 years like it should. To try and fix something that is just going to come back again next time it rains…it’s just madness.

If something does need to be done, there is a limit to how much can be done. Scuff grinding and re-coating a section that was showing an obvious miscolouration, is sometimes worth the effort in the attempt to bend over backwards to keep a customer happy. Re-doing that same process a second time to the same concrete, is most often not worth the risk for the reward that will be achieved, as further degredation to the product is only going to bring forward failures at a later date for the client.

Our goal should be giving our clients a structurally strong, hard wearing coating to their concrete that is intended to last 10-15 years at least with simple maintenance, and then worrying how pretty it looks.

If 95% of that floor looks great with 100% structural integrity, the job is complete. Perfection lies in more important areas than a shade of colour from a certain angle.

Sometimes, a stand needs to be made to ensure the client has a long lasting finish, even in the face of criticism from them.

After all, there is no point making something look amazing if i’ts not going to hold together.