Residential

	Before	During	Dyed
Polished	Polished & Sealed	Final Polish	Fire Station
	Before	Ground	Polished
Room Before	Room Ground	Room Ground	Room Polished
Old Rough Floor Before	Old Rough Floor Before	Old Floor Ground	Old Floor Ground
Old Floor Dyed & Polished	Old Floor Dyed & Polished

Retail

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Industrial

This was a really old abused floor that ended up with a clean easy to maintain finish.

Packaging Plant

Concrete Polishing

Heavy-duty polishing machines equipped with progressively finer grits of diamond-impregnated segments or disks (akin to sandpaper) are used to gradually grind down surfaces to the desired degree of shine and smoothness. The process begins with the use of coarse diamond segments bonded in a metallic matrix. These segments are coarse enough to remove minor pits, blemishes, stains, or  coatings from the floor in preparation for final polishing. Depending on the condition of the concrete, this initial rough grinding is generally a three- to four-step process.
 The next steps involve fine grinding of the concrete surface using diamond abrasives embedded in a plastic or resin matrix. Contractors use ever-finer grits of polishing disks (a process called “lapping”) until the floor has the desired sheen. For an extremely high-gloss finish, a final grit of 1500 or finer may be used. Experienced polishing crews know when to switch to the next-finer grit by observing the floor surface and the amount of material being removed.

Applications for Polished Concrete

Because polishing is a multi-step process, customers can choose the level of sheen—from satin to high-gloss—that meets their maintenance and aesthetic requirements. This versatility makes polished concrete an ideal flooring material for a variety of applications. Polishing contractors say their primary customers include:
• Large warehouses and warehouse outlets
• Retail stores
• Hotels and restaurants
• Office buildings
• Auto showrooms
• Private residences

Ease of maintenance is the key reason many warehouses and retail facilities are opting for polished concrete. Not only are polished floors easy to clean, requiring only occasional damp mopping, they hold up well to heavy forklift and foot traffic. They also eliminate the need for messy waxes or coatings—as well as the associated labor, time, and expense to apply them. What’s more, the glossy surface resists the marks of forklift truck tires and staining from oil and chemical spills.

The high light reflectivity of polished concrete is another important benefit, especially for office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and other public facilities that want to project a bright, clean, professional image. Some customers simply want a look that’s unique. Polishing can give concrete a higher degree of shine—similar to polished marble or granite—than can be achieved with a high-gloss coating. This makes polished concrete a particularly good alternative for homeowners or businesses that can’t afford marble or granite floors but want the same brilliant, mirror-like finish. To replicate the color of stone, Contractors will sometimes apply stain to the concrete during the polishing process or polish concrete that has been integrally colored. It’s also possible to produce a terrazzo look by grinding through the top few millimeters of the concrete surface to expose the aggregate.