Benefits of a Concrete Polishing Service
A concrete polishing service can make any space look open and inviting. Businesses, warehouses, and offices have noticed the many benefits of polished concrete, which is why polished concrete has become more popular than ever!
Polished concrete has seen numerous applications in:
Office buildings
Retail spaces
Hotels
Auto showrooms
Restaurants
Malls
Outlet stores
Warehouses
Manufacturing & Industrial Facilities
Big-box stores
And more!
The Concrete Polishing Process
Many people don’t know that concrete is desirable in retail, office, and industrial spaces. They usually assume concrete is naturally drab and dull.
Little do they know, the secret lies just beneath the surface of the concrete. By cutting into the cap of the slab and polishing using the proper steps, a professional polisher can make the ordinary look extraordinary. The steps taken on a polish install can bring out the beauty hidden in existing or newly poured concrete.
The most noticeable aspect from a concrete polishing service is the beautiful luster the concrete takes on once its surface is ground and refined—the concrete gains a reflective property, which is desirable in many business and retail spaces.
This reflective quality is known as Distinction of Image (DOI). It refers to the grade of gloss in the polished concrete, determined by how shiny it is, how apparent the reflection is, and the level of haze around the flooring. A higher DOI can be more desirable, as it makes an area feel more open.
These benefits include:
1. The Floor Is Beautiful
One of the benefits of a concrete polishing service is that it dramatically enhances new or existing concrete by increasing the reflectance, or the shine of the concrete, producing a brilliant marble-like luster.
This feature is immediately noticeable, and it gives an indoor space a professional, open look. Polished concrete is desirable in many retail areas because it provides a polished, refined look with minimal maintenance costs.
2. The Floor Is Strengthened
Concrete grinding, densification, and polishing increase the wear resistance of concrete surfaces. The refinement of the floor makes it virtually impossible to scratch; it also tightens the pores in the concrete adding stain protective properties. These improvements can be enhanced by adding penetrating stain protecting products.
With proper maintenance and upkeep, the floor can have a lengthy lifespan. Maintenance also keeps the floor durable, even if it has been years since installation.
3. Concrete Becomes Healthier
Concrete polishing and grinding can help correct slabs that were not poured correctly or have other problems such as waviness or other imperfections.
4. The Floor Can Breathe
The number one cause of concrete coatings failure is hydrostatic pressure building up under the layer. Polished concrete breathes, allowing moisture to escape while not allowing salts or efflorescence to form and increasing surface spill resistance.
This flow is necessary to ensure that the polished concrete lasts for a long time. Unlike unpolished concrete, it will not crack due to interior moisture buildup. The release of hydrostatic pressure ensures that a polished concrete surface lasts a long time and continues to look amazing.
5. Installation is Cost-Effective
Generally, installation costs for polished concrete are less than the cost of other concrete coating systems, but that’s not where the savings end.
Concrete coating systems can potentially fail due to delamination, cracking, fading, staining, yellowing, and wear through, resulting in upkeep. The actual value of a polished concrete floor comes from its strength, beauty, and long-term floor maintenance savings.
The cost-effective aspect of polished concrete installation comes from the durability of the floor. These floors are easy to maintain and have a high lifespan, making them useful for various commercial, retail, and industrial situations.
6. It’s Environmentally Friendly
Odorless, non-flammable, and non-toxic, installing and refining concrete flooring is eco-friendly! Maintaining properly polished concrete is simple as passing over the floor with a damp or dry mop. Passive Energy solutions are a conservative component of polished concrete. Polished floors help increase lighting of the room they are in. Polished concrete also keep buildings warm in the winter and cool in the summer, decreasing a building’s overall energy consumption.
7. Appearance and Aesthetics
The polished look of polished concrete can give any facility a professional appearance. Polished concrete is unmatched by other flooring options such as ceramic tile or carpeting. The difference in appearance alone may be enough to entice facility managers with the idea of polished concrete floors. The polished sheen of concrete floors can reflect light that increases the brightness and ‘openness’ of any space – increasing natural lighting within your building.
8. Slip-resistant Surface
A polished slab can serve as a slip-resistant surface. This helps to reduce the risk of injury for those who work in industrial or commercial buildings where polished floors are typical. It also helps prevent injuries such as slips and falls that typically occur at home (when polishing is not standard).
9. Easier to Clean
Polished concrete is much easier to clean than other flooring surfaces. There’s no need for abrasive cleaners; soap and water will do! Because polished concrete is much smoother than other flooring surfaces, it becomes less likely that dirt and debris will stick to polished concrete.
10. New DOI Guidelines
DOI or Distinction of Image (DOI): A measure of how a reflective image will appear on a reflective surface. There are several measurements taken to determine the steps taken by the concrete polish installer. Knowing these measurements and understanding how to meet them is a critical component in the future for large polished installations.
Benefits of Polished Concrete Services
There are many benefits to a concrete polishing service when it comes to your flooring: such as cosmetic, mechanical, and environmental benefits. Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in history. This has made it very popular over the years. Here is why:
Appearance
One of the more common cosmetic advantages is a stone-like appearance that can imitate granite and sandstone. Polished concrete floors offer a unique visual interest over traditional flooring types because they reflect light differently depending on which angle you view it from.
Economical
Concrete polishing is also economical as most anywhere between 20 to 80% of material is recycled after ground up for reuse in construction projects.
Modern Aesthetic
The polished surfaces give buildings’ interiors an updated look that people find appealing and modern. At the same time, chemical resistance ensures that spilled chemicals such as gasoline or antifreeze will not affect its surface and ruin the appearance or value of the building. The reflective properties of polished concrete creates a bright environment even with dim lighting, which will require less electricity in the future.
Easy to Maintain
Finally, polished concrete floors are easy to maintain since they do not require any unique treatments or coatings to retain their brightness and resistance to wear and tear.
The Concrete Polishing Process
The process of polishing concrete flooring is not complicated, but it does require a specific skill to produce the desired result. Polishing concrete floors use increasingly fine abrasive discs to grind away at the floor surface until it becomes smooth and reflective. Here are the steps in more detail:
1) Surface Prep
Before concrete can be polished, it must be thoroughly cleaned with appropriate detergents or solvents and the resulting residue removed so that no contaminants will interfere with the polishing process. Concrete floors stained or containing mineral deposits, oil stains, and other types of dirt cannot be polished unless these issues are resolved beforehand.
2) Grind & Remove Haze or Coatings
After surface preparation has been completed, one of two processes can occur. If no coatings have been applied to the surface, then a diamond grinding disc is used to grind away any peaks and high spots on the concrete floor. If there are existing coatings on the floor (such as paint, epoxy, or another type of sealer), these must be chemically removed with an appropriate solvent before grinding can occur.
3) Polish & Buff Floor
After the concrete has been ground down, it gets polished by a machine to create a smooth flat finish. Polishing is much like sanding wood to remove roughness and bring out its natural beauty; however, polishing concrete does not affect color like wood does. Therefore polishing, the concrete may receive one or more passes over its surface with a high-speed buffer, giving it a shine and polish.
4) Sealing
Sealing the Concrete Floor After the floor has been polished, it is ready for an appropriate finish coating, such as water-based urethane or epoxy.
Why It’s Important to Polish Concrete Flooring
It is essential to have a concrete polishing service because it makes your floors more aesthetically pleasing and easier to clean. If you are looking for a way to heighten your home’s value, you should consider polishing the concrete in front of your house or your garage. Shiny polished concrete floor can genuinely turn heads and make an impression on anyone visiting for the first time.
Decrease in Worker Fatigue
A secondary benefit of having polished concrete floors reduces worker fatigue due to their increased slip resistance. When employees do less slipping and falling while working around machinery, it decreases accidents which means fewer workers’ compensation claims for employers.
Contact Pro Concrete Design
If you’re looking for a quality concrete polishing service then look no further than Pro Concrete Design. We offer quality commercial and polished industrial concrete and resin flooring to our clients.
Our Project Managers have over 30 years combined experience encompassing polished concrete, sealed and decorative concrete, resin floor installation, resin coating systems, and decorative resinous flooring systems. We have been driving our business throughout the Midwest since we opened in 2005.
We have invested in the best equipment to increase productivity and decrease the time spent on the job site. We want to make sure you’ll be walking on your newly polished floor as soon as possible!
We would love to bring our superior craft to your polished concrete project. If you have any questions or are interested in our services, please call us at 913-302-0660 or email us. We look forward to helping bring your polished concrete project to life!