Polished concrete and grind and sealed concrete floors are great flooring solutions and they can look almost identical. Due to their similar appearances, many consumers are unaware of the differences between polished concrete and grind/sealed concrete floors. The cost is the biggest difference between sealed and polished concrete. Polished concrete demands greater labor and costs more than grind and sealed concrete. Additionally, grind and seal concrete offers a customizable finish with varying gloss levels, while polished concrete provides a high-gloss, reflective surface with superior durability and minimal maintenance.
Grind and Seal
Grind and sealed concrete is exactly like its name. It involves grinding the surface of the concrete to remove any imperfections, stains, or coatings, and then applying a sealer to protect the surface and give it a matte finish.
The features of grind and seal concrete include:
- Easy Maintenance
- Easy to clean
- Affordable (depending on the condition of the concrete)
- Stain Resistant
- Shiny
- Faster Installation
- Protection against grease, oil spills, stains, and animal urine
- Depending on the traffic level, your surface may need to be resealed
Polished Concrete
Polished concrete is the mechanical process of honing and polishing the surface of an existing concrete slab using engineered floor grinders fitted with industrial diamond abrasives. During this process, the concrete is ground, honed, and polished using finer grits of diamond abrasives until the floor reaches the desired level of shine. With polished concrete, there are three levels of finish/shine:
- Cream Finish: Simply polished with diamond pads to enhance the floor’s natural color.
- Salt and Pepper: As the name suggests, exposing the more refined grains of aggregates gives the surface a speckled or salt-and-pepper look.
- Full Aggregate: The concrete surface is heavily grounded to expose the aggregates in the concrete.
The features of polished concrete include:
- Long-term durability
- Benefits of densifying, hardening, and dust-proofing
- Concrete polishing is more labor-intensive
- Costs more than grind/seal
- This system is recommended in high-volume spaces because it has a scratch-resistant finish and requires minimal maintenance
- Lasting for decades when properly maintained
- Looks beautiful
When you need ultimate longevity and an easy-to-clean surface we highly recommend polished concrete since it leaves you with an absolutely gorgeous floor just by using the existing concrete itself. The reason our polished concrete system has such longevity is that we do not place a chemical on top of the concrete that creates a wear layer. We are actually refining the actual concrete itself to produce a long-lasting shine.
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