Polished Concrete is the process that changes the surface of a concrete slab using grinding and applying chemicals, then moving through several stages of polishing to achieve a high-quality shine to the surface.
These processes utilise coarse diamond tooling through to very fine metal bond grinding tools to achieve the degree of exposure of the stone (aggregate), if the customer requires that, and a flat and smooth surface.
It is quite common when the stone is exposed to grout the surface to fill bug-holes and porosity in the surface to make the final shine isn’t degraded by dirt ingress.
The concrete is treated with concrete hardening and densifying chemicals during the process. These make the concrete much harder and help to close over very fine porosity.
Concrete can be stained during the process to create a look specific to customer wants, and designs or company logos added to a floor.
Then using hybrid and resin diamond polishing pads, the floor is polished with ever finer polishing pads to achieve the polish that is wanted. Often a penetrating seal or ‘guard’ is applied and then buffed using diamond buffing pads. This reduces the penetration of stains. This a penetrating sealer that goes into the concrete, not a coating on top of the concrete.
Note that true polished concrete floor are quite different to putting on a sealer or topical coating to create a shine.
While no two floors will ever be the same, nor any two concrete slabs are the same, and the degree of polish or exposure of the stone (aggregate) may not be exactly what the customer envisaged, it will always be a unique floor and will have its own attractive character.
Here are some of the key benefits that a Polished Concrete floor will give:
- Polished concrete is very hard; it resists abrasion
- The hardener also means that there extremely low dust from the concrete
- You will love the degree of floor flatness FF. Wheeling trollies or any wheeled item on polished concrete is just so different, so smooth
- It is highly resistant to water damage
- Light reflected off polished concrete brightens rooms and warehouses, etc.
- It is very easy to clean and sweep polished concrete
- Because there is no topical coating, there is no coating to age or peel off
- Polished concrete will last for as long as the concrete is there
To achieve a true polished concrete only professional quality equipment should be used. The process also demands that the worker is patient and works each step to achieve the goal.
The process is broadly as follows
- Start with coarse metal bond diamonds 30-40# then progress to 60-80# metal bond. Often this first step will be done with 2 to 6 passes. It’s better to do more passes from different directions with a faster travel speed to further improve the flatness than try and do it in just 1 or 2 passes.
- Then grout the floor using SuprSheen Grout Solution, and stain if required.
- Now using 50# Copper Bond Hybrid pads, complete a pass and ensure all scratches are removed, then do 2 passes with 100#
- Apply the first application of hardener. (You can do this anytime that works best for the concrete after 200# if it works or before 100# pads).
- Then use Copper Bond Skina Pads 200#, 400#
- Then use Resin Bond Skina Pads 800#, 1500# and 3000# (you can stop wherever the required level of shine is achieved). Generally, two passes of each grade are required.
- In most cases one or more applications of the SuprSheen Guard is applied very thinly if the concrete is ‘thirsty’ after 400#.
- Apply penetrating SuprSheen Guard as thinly as possible and buff.
The result will be a durable, easy to maintain, and attractive floor. Expertise is only attained through experience, and this why the more jobs you do, the more likely you can predict the best strategy to use next, and how the floor looks when finished.