Polished Concrete Surfaces

Polished concrete surfaces create a stunning look with expressive quality.

Polished concrete provides a green solution to modern commercial and residential buildings, with a long list of advantages over most other flooring types.

Installing a polished concrete floor is not much different from installing or restoring a cement terrazzo floor. But while the installation processes are almost identical, concrete - like any material - has its own unique properties and challenges. Every concrete floor should be evaluated, treated and treated accordingly in order to achieve the best possible results.

When it comes to selecting the level of finish for your concrete floors, the choices are almost endless. You can choose between a low sheen and a high polish.

The aggregate look can range from a lightly exposed polished cream to a fully exposed terrazzo look.

There are many colors and design options to choose from.

Selecting the level of finish that suits your needs will determine the amount of work to be done in the soil. A higher level of gloss, more overall exposure, or the addition of color will require more steps, diamond tooling and other products to achieve a premium finish. Having a better understanding of what polished concrete is, the options available, and how each process works will help you set your level of expectation. You will then be able to assess and choose your restoration contractor wisely with greater confidence. Concrete has different sizes of aggregates mixed as part of its ingredients. Some rooms are large and some are small. During the concrete pouring process, as the concrete slab hardens, the larger aggregates will settle down and the smaller ones will settle toward the upper surface. The contractor will then sand the floor to expose different qualities of aggregate. As you grind deeper into the concrete slab, you will expose larger pieces of aggregate that are more uniform in size. There are four types of aggregate exposure level considered standard in the polished concrete industry. Allows you to categorize them as A, B, C and D.

A “cream finish”: the cut depth of the surface is very low and shows little or no exposure of the aggregates.

B “Salt & Pepper Finish”: Surface cut depth is approximately one-sixteenth of an inch and exposes finer to small aggregate. Depending on the flatness of the ground, this could also expose random batches of smaller aggregates, usually on high points of the ground.

C “Average Aggregate Exposure”: The cut depth of the surface is approximately one-eighth of an inch and exposes medium sized aggregates. If large aggregates are exposed, they usually appear randomly on high points in the ground.

D “Large Aggregate Exposure”: The cut depth of the surface is approximately one-quarter inch and exposes large aggregates with a more uniform consistency in aggregate size.

The other main aspect of polished concrete is the level of gloss.

Selecting the gloss level of your concrete floors will also determine the amount of work to be done in the floor. Higher shine requires more steps, diamond tooling, and other products to achieve a uniform, natural, and deep shine on your concrete floor.

The three most common gloss levels that homeowners choose to meet their needs are referred to as satin finish, also referred to as “polished finish,” semi-polished finish, and polished finish.

Polishing a concrete surface is no different from polishing other premium and finer materials such as marble, granite or terrazzo. They all need to be polished with diamond abrasives to achieve a natural mechanical polish over the entire surface of the material.

However, polishing each different material to achieve the desired level of gloss will require a slight change in techniques, products and tooling for each material. For example, since concrete is softer than most other types of natural stone and needs to be hardened with a chemical called “Concrete DensifierHardener” so that it can be polished with diamond abrasives. To achieve a quality shine on the concrete surface, concrete also requires much higher crushing pressure. To get the pressure needed, the concrete sander needs to be much heavier - around 700 to 1,100 pounds, compared to the 180 to 600 pound floor machines used to grind and polish marble or terrazzo.

Besides the difference in weight of the machine, polishing concrete is equivalent to polishing other types of natural stone. Obtaining a natural shine on the surface of the material is achieved through the use of diamond abrasives.

Depending on the condition of the material you are working with, selecting the diamond abrasive grit number at the start and end of the grinding process will determine the natural level of shine you will end up with. In other words, the higher the number of diamond grits you use, the smoother and shinier the material will be.

General grit counts on diamond abrasives for polished concrete start around 30 grit metal bond diamond for more aggressive grinding to expose aggregate and go up to # 3000 grit resin based diamond abrasives for achieve higher reflective shine and clarity.

To achieve a satin finish with a polished look on concrete floors, the grinding process will stop at 400 grit resin based diamond abrasives. This number of grits will produce a very low gloss finish on your material. When you look directly at the ground, you won't see any shine on the surface. If you look at the surface from a distance of about 30 feet or more, the floor will show a low sheen and may show a slight reflection from the ceiling lights.

To obtain a Semi-Polished Finish on concrete floors, the grinding process will typically stop at #800 grit resin bond diamond abrasives. This grit number will produce a much higher sheen level than the satin finish. When you look directly down at the floor, you will see a glossier finish. If you look at the surface from a distance, the floor will clearly reflect the surroundings and the overhead lights.

To achieve a polished finish on concrete floors, the grinding process will simply need to go up to 3000 resin-based diamond abrasives. This number of grains will produce a mirror-like reflection from a distance. The surrounding reflections and colors will be more defined, with clear reflections from the ceiling lights.

Concrete Quality

The quality of an existing concrete slab will determine the final appearance of this finished concrete floor.

Almost all structurally sound concrete slabs can be repaired and polished. The appearance of the end result will vary from floor to floor.

However, floors that have been damaged and extensively repaired are not suitable for polishing. For these types of floors, the best option would be to install a self-leveling cementitious topical layer over the existing concrete slabs.

These self-leveling cementitious fillers are suitable for residential, commercial and industrial floors. These trims can cover an existing floor with a layer three-eighths to two inches thick. The new surface can be polished and colored like any other concrete floor. As a design option, you can also incorporate decorative aggregates, shells and glass chips into your concrete during the pouring process. These will be on display later with the polishing process.

To find out more or if you have any questions about any other aspect of waxed concrete floors, call us at 631 821-5619

At Old Stone Restoration & Installation Corp., we are happy to answer any questions that you may have.

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We service the tri-state area and provide free assessments for most Long Island sites.

Whether it's a garage floor that you want to polish or any commercial or public building that requires polished concrete on its floors, we are at Old Stone Restoration Installation Corp., have the knowledge, experience and the ability to help you install and maintain your next waxed concrete project with confidence.

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