What is Polished Concrete?
Polished concrete is when your existing concrete floor is ground down using diamond polishing pads that create a smooth and shiny surface.
We are actually refining the actual concrete itself to produce a long-lasting shine. The end result of our polished concrete system is an extremely easy-to-clean surface and a bright shine.
Polished Concrete has three stages of installation; Grinding, Honing, and Polishing. The grinding stage is to remove surface imperfections such as glues, old sealers, old epoxies, etc. The grinding process also exposes the desired aggregate appearance in the concrete surface.
The deeper the surface is ground, it exposes more stone. The less it is ground, the more fine sands remain visual on the concrete surface. The natural placement of concrete will always cause uneven exposure appearances.
The honing stage is the second part of the concrete polishing process that uses finer diamond abrasives to remove the visual scratch pattern left from the initial heavy grinding. Honing is typically performed in three to four different sequential passes until the scratches are no longer visual from a standing point of view. Once all visual scratches are removed from the concrete floor, the concrete polishing fine diamonds can proceed.
The final steps of concrete polishing are then performed, again with three to four sequential fine abrasives to create a matte to high gloss polished concrete appearance. The number of passes will dictate the final gloss level of the surface.
Polished Concrete comes in 3 types of finishes
- 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.
What is Epoxy/Poly Concrete Coating?
When investing in a concrete coating for your garage floor you want something high-quality that will last. Concrete coatings are a polyurea and polyaspartic coating that are paired with a vinyl chip blend with an endless amount of color combinations to give your floor a flawless finish.
Concrete coatings are a coating that bonds to the moisture in your concrete garage floors to create a protective barrier that prevents scratches, stains, and other threats to your garage floor. It is a multi-step process that starts with grinding the concrete surface. Then we repair the concrete surface by filling in all of the cracks, pitting, and/or hollow spots with a fast-acting, self-leveling, concrete mender. After filling in any cracks, pitting, or hollow spots, the areas of repair will receive a light grind to smooth everything over. Then we start with our base coat, then our mid coat which is our flakes, and finally a top coat.
In our mind, all types of flooring have pros and cons and require maintenance. When choosing which floor is right for you, that is always something to remember. No floor will last an eternity and all floors will need to be maintained.
Polished concrete has ultimate longevity and an easy-to-clean surface. It leaves you with an absolutely gorgeous floor just by using the existing concrete itself.
Polished concrete flooring is extremely strong and resilient and is able to withstand the pressure from very heavy foot traffic and equipment. It is very difficult to damage and is nearly impossible to chip or scratch.
A properly installed, sealed, and maintained polished concrete floor can be expected to last the longest of all flooring options.
Polished concrete flooring is relatively easy to maintain. You just have to sweep daily to prevent dirt accumulation. You should also swiffer or mop it weekly to remove smudging, scuffs, and to help restore gloss and shine.
The cons of polished concrete is that the surface itself is concrete so it is hard. It typically is also cold since it’s concrete.
Some people don’t like polished concrete floors because they are not exactly the same all around the floor. It is done using the existing concrete and honing/ grinding that surface to find your desired aggregate level. The stone coloring and sizing are different all over the floor surface.
Concrete floor coatings are easier to clean than a floor left uncoated because they are less likely to accumulate dirt, and it’s also much easier to wipe up any spills when you have a garage floor coating.
Concrete coatings come in many different colors and styles. They are gorgeous and seamless and look shiny and brand new every time they are cleaned.
They require easy maintenance such as sweeping daily and weekly mopping. They don’t last as long as polished concrete though and typically have a lifespan of up to 15 years.