Polished Concrete | Concrete Grinding

What is Polished Concrete?

Polished concrete is a long lasting, extremely durable, hard wearing, sustainable flooring option that has become an ever increasingly popular go to for look and benefits. A polished concrete floor can be achieved on old or new concrete. The process involves heavy grinding equipment which mechanically grinds with rough abrasive diamond grit disks to clean up floor and get it as level as possible. It then works its way up to finer grit diamond and resin disks until it reaches a satin or high gloss look depending upon the desired results. A polished floor can be finished off all the way up to a 3000 grit. A densifying liquid is applied in the application to harden the concrete and a polish guard is also applied then burnished with equipment to enhance the gloss look and help preserve the finish.

Why choose Polished Concrete?

This fast growing, long lasting floor is now the go to option for many contractors, commercial spaces, business owners and even some residential spaces as well. The durability and longevity of these floors is a very attractive feature. The life span of a polished concrete floor can be over 100+ years as compared to a tile floor which has claims of 10-20 years. They are hard wearing and extremely durable and will not chip, flake or dent which is one of the reasons they have low costs to maintain. Cleaning a polished concrete floor is quite simple with just clean water, a neutral based cleaner or there are other low cost products on the market to keep these floors looking their best and they never need to be waxed or coated. Other benefits include low allergens, dust mites and they do not support mold growth. Polished concrete is considered a green floor and LEED approved. The low maintenance of these floors means low costs and savings in the budget.

Grind and Seal

The Affordable Alternative

Polished concrete upfront costs are high as the process is labor intensive and requires many steps but creates low maintenance costs in the end. An affordable option which is less labor intensive and mimics the look of Polished Concrete is a Grind and Seal. Like with Polished Concrete, the process starts off with mechanically grinding the floor with abrasive diamond tooling to get the floor clean of any residue or contaminants. The grind and seal process differs in that it doesn’t gradually incline in finer grit diamonds, instead it grinds the floor with a course pass and then a finer grit pass to give it a smooth appearance. After that the floor receives a coat of sealer which mimics the look of a polished concrete floor. As with polished concrete, there are decorative options of staining the floor before the sealer goes on whether it is a monolithic color, a design, a logo or just about anything as the possibilities are endless. This process is faster as the steps involved from start to finish are much less. There are similar benefits with a grind and seal such as low allergen, dust mites, and cleaning a continuous floor with no grout lines.

Floor Prep

A Clean Slate

All of our floor systems require a clean concrete surface to allow for the highest quality installation available. By using the latest equipment and most efficient methods we can transform the most difficult slabs. We also offer full floor prep services including, VCT removal, old glue and adhesive removal, and other types of removal to bring your concrete slab back to its original condition so that we can then install one of our flooring systems or for another contractor to perform their work. We can work with difficult time frames, or specific job site conditions that can be challenging and meet and exceed expectations.