Staff writer
Scott Schultz of Lehigh was working as a mechanic when he decided he wanted to strike out on his own.
It took him a couple of years to find something, and when he did, he settled on restoring concrete surfaces.
He said he found the idea online and spent several months talking to others in the business before launching his own business, SS Concrete Solutions, in July 2014.
He trained for two days with a company in Florida that supplies the acrylic modified cement he uses to overlay hard surfaces.
“We make concrete look nice,” Schultz said.
They overlay basement floors, driveways, garages, patios, pool decks, and even countertops with material that is the thickness of a dime.
Surfaces are prepared as necessary, such as sealing cracks, taking out and replacing chunks of bad concrete, vacuuming inside surfaces, and power-washing outside surfaces.
Interior floors can be made to look like tile, wood, or marble, and patterns, highlight colors, and rough or smooth textures can be added. Existing countertops can be given the look of marble or granite without the threat of breaking or chipping.
Surfaces are sealed with an acrylic enamel sealer that makes them resistant to salt, staining, mold, or mildew deterioration.
Shultz has done several projects in Marion County including a basement floor, garage floor, and countertop, and more outside the county.
In October, Shultz built a 50-by-80-foot metal building near his home on the northeast edge of Lehigh. It has heated floors and includes an office, a recreation room, and an auto mechanics shop. He intends to showcase his products in the shop and let several mechanics use it.
He quit his mechanic’s job at the end of 2014 but still does mechanic work on the side.
“There are times I think I should have stuck it out a little longer, but I couldn’t have put all my effort into this with a full-time job,” he said. “I kinda got a little bit ahead of myself with this shop. There have been ups and downs, like canceled jobs, but we’re back moving in the right direction again. We are getting busier and busier every year.”
He said he sometimes works with others who are in the same business.
“We help each other out,” he said. “I enjoy it and enjoy talking about it.”
Schultz has a website and can be reached at (620) 381-1456.