Secrets to good polished concrete

Polished concrete secrets

Technology is rapidly changing the world we live in and along with it the building industry.

Today we are going to talk about how we make polished concrete reach that expected level of shine and brilliance that people have when they think “Thats what I had in mind for my floors, its like glass”. Thou I am not going to give away all the little tricks of the trade here, I will cover a basic outline and a few little tweaks to make your next project move towards perfection.

1. Increase the strength of your concrete. If I gave you a piece of chalk and a stone, which would polish more ? Its a no brainer. So it is with your concrete. Pour substandard, rain damaged concrete, don’t expect good results. A minimum of 25MPA is a must. We are doing our floors at around 30MPA.

2. Get the best concrete contractor to place the floor. The attitude of “its being ground, no need to worry” will result in less than ideal finished look. If your placer has this attitude then find someone else to place your concrete. Their attention to detail is the key. Edge finishing and overall flatness of the placer are some of the key elements to a better polished concrete floor.

3. Spend time with your polisher in going through stone selection and/or finish required.

4. Ask for a water proof stain resistant polished finish. This will result in a long term floor that will not stain. Areas like kitchens are subjected to all sorts of fats and oils. Eating places can have liquid spills. Although polished concrete typically comes with water based stain guards, they are generally poor in performance compared to high end polish protection. We can now produced a true polished system that you can pour a red wine on and have no fear of staining your beautiful floors. Our custom floors have a unique blend of chemicals that we have perfected for NZGrinders.

5. Ask for the concrete to be finished to 3000. This closes the pores on concrete surface and will always give the best finish. 800 is ok and it does save in costs, but if your budget can meet it, then 3000 grit will always be a better finish. The type of shine and longevity is subjected to the diamond polished finish. The higher the polishing the more clear the stones will be. The polish that seals the pores can be dulled or shined depending on the customers requirements.

6. Be prepared to pay for what the service and product is worth. Go hunting for the cheapest deal and you may get a contractor that is looking to cut corners. I know personally that I will stay at a job for as long as it takes to make it right but I am not always the cheapest. Though the negotiation of price is fun, the bottom line is your paying for a expert service with quality machinery and products.

7. Get a contractor with good grinding equipment. Always over looked. Not only is it about the skill of your contractor but equally its all about the machine that grinds your floor. Good equipment will make your floor flat and bring out the best in the floor. Bad shoddy grinders will grind the floor far from flat. We use HTC 4 head for exposed grinding and HTC 3 head for salt and pepper finishes.

8. Make sure the floor is laid and ground flat. Have you ever seen the reflection of hills in a calm flat lake. Looks impressive.  A good concrete layer and grinding expert will get you exactly this.

9.  The chemical blend of the concrete. There are additives used in the concrete that have an adverse effect of your finish result. These are constantly changing so ask us what to use and what not to use at the time of pour.

There are many other little tricks to making a polished floor exceptional. I will add these over time, so be sure to check back.

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