If you don’t want to change your concrete floor and getting a new floor is not in your budget then getting a concrete polishing just might do the trick for you. Concrete polishing is like sanding wood, but for your floor. Once the upper rough surface is “sanded”, the near surface appears from underneath.
Concrete polishing gives your concrete floor a glossy, mirror-like finish and you can choose different colors and designs for that polish.
But polishing concrete floors is not everyone’s cup of tea. Brookhaven Epoxy Floor’s expert team shares some insight as to how concrete floors are polished.
Five Essential Tools Required for Concrete Polishing
Before fighting any battle, you need to have your weapons. And these tools are your weapons to get that concrete floor right:
- Grinders and polishers: They are needed to evenly granulate down the concrete slab and for the smoothing of the surface.
- Diamond tools: For grinding and polishing, there are two types of pads tools. Metal-bonded diamonds are for grinding and polishing whereas resin-bonded diamonds are for polishing the surface.
- Industrial floor vacuum: An essential tool used to eject all the dust and residue left over.
- Hardening and compacting chemicals: The hardener chemicals are used to make the concrete hard and unbreakable, which makes it easy to get polished. Compacting agents are used to adjust the density, to make the floor water-resistant and long-lasting.
- Enhancement of the floor with dyes, coloring agents and stains: Colored aggregate, integral color, glass/crystal beads, metal fragments, etc. enhance the final layout of the floor.
Methods of Concrete Polishing
Concrete polishing can be done by using different methods, given below:
- Dry polishing: In this method, a vacuum system is attached to the polishers, which allows all the dust to be ejected directly so it clears the mess along with the process. It is faster and more convenient and eco-friendly. The dry method is commonly used for floor polishing.
- Wet polishing: In the wet process, during the grinding process, it uses water to cool the diamond abrasives. Hence, it eliminates grinding dust and water helps to reduce the friction. The water used throughout the process produces a huge amount of slurry, which causes difficulties in cleaning and disposal.
Basic Steps for Concrete Polishing
No matter if you’re DIY-ing your concrete floors or you’re calling an expert to get the job done, you should know the basic steps for the concrete polishing task so no one can scam you:
- A surface is prepared by heavy-duty grinders equipped with diamond-segmented abrasives tools. They are used to grind down concrete surfaces till you reach the desired degree of smoothness and shine.
- By using diamond abrasives of 16 to 20 grit, they’ll remove the coatings.
- Next step is to fill all the joints and cracks (if any) by using semi-rigid fillers and epoxies.
- Once done with sealing, grind the surface with the metal-bonded diamond abrasives varying from 30 to 40 grit.
- Now, grind the surface with the metal-bonded diamond abrasives of 80 grit.
- Follow by grinding it with the metal-bonded diamond abrasives of 150 grit.
- After this sequence of grinding, apply the chemical hardener to make the concrete hard.
- A series of polishing will again take place; start polishing with resin-bonded diamond. The grit used can range from 100 to 200.
- Now polishing is done with resin-bonded diamond from 400 to 800 grit.
- The final finishing is performed by using resin-bonded diamond varying from 400 to 800 grit.
- Lastly, applying a stain guard is optional. It helps in protecting the polished surface and makes it easier to maintain.
- Concrete polishing is done! Time to decorate your concrete floor!
When it comes to styling, concrete flooring comes in a massive variety of styles, colors and texture effects. So, if you have a plan to add a concrete floor in your home, get your creative juices flowing and choose a modern concrete floor. Concrete floors are an all-rounder when it comes to style, durability and functionality.
