What is Polished Concrete?

Polished Concrete Melbourne

For many years, flooring options competed with each other to be more ornate, more attractive, and more opulent than the next. However, with the rise of energy efficient, sustainable building, polished concrete has quickly become a popular choice in many renovated and old style buildings.

How Concrete is Polished

Polished concrete is a concrete surface that has been chemically treated with a densifier before being ground down with fine tools that remove any of the grit and roughness that typifies most concrete. Gritting tools are usually progressive with diamond grinding wheels and polishing pads. The polishing is not considered complete with anything less than 400 grit, but most polished concrete will be pushed to at least 800 grit and sometimes as high as 1500 or 3000 grit.

After polishing, many concrete floors are then treated with stains and dyes to add color and style to the flooring. Other options for finished concrete include banding, borders, radial lines or grids.

The Benefits of Polished Concrete

Polished concrete has become popular because it is a flooring method that is sustainable with low energy use and no new materials needed for completion. Rather than retrofitting or changing the materials used for the floor, the existing concrete slab foundation is stripped down and polished for use as a flooring.

A polished concrete floor is far easier to maintain than a traditional flooring and easier to clean. It can also be made non-slip very easily with a basic chemical treatment and it reduces a lot of allergy and dust problems that affect wood and carpet floorings. It also does not support and result in mold growth unless a culture base is added to the floor.

Additionally, many builders and designers recommend polished concrete as a way to reduce the need for internal lighting. The highly reflective surface enhances the natural light sources already in the room and cuts down on the need for saturated lighting. No scientific evidence has been gathered to back up this claim, however.

New vs. Retrofitted Floors

There are two kinds of polished concrete flooring. New floors generally take less work to polish because they don’t need to be prepped or cleaned before polishing. However, the slab will need to have an aggregate made of black basalt or river stone (most commonly), and it needs to be finished to a high degree to meet most building standards. Most builders need to know as quickly as possible whether polishing will be done to ensure the quality of the finished floor.

Retrofitted floors will need to be sanded down or cut to present a polishing surface that an aggregate can be added to. Alternately, a second slab of at least 5 centimeters can be added atop the old concrete for polishing.

Polished concrete is quickly becoming a highly popular, very effective means of adding modern style to a building without utilizing energy hungry building materials. Always review the foundation and building materials in a floor before opting for a polished surface, to ensure it will work effectively.

For more information and a no obligation free quote call Bob now on 0434 515 892