Passing Concrete Polishing?

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Passing Concrete Polishing?

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Not too long ago, I was called by this person who wanted to inquire about concrete polishing. He seemed welcome to the idea, but had reservations just the same. He wasn’t sure if the concrete at his home was fit for polishing.

I felt the need to address this. Are all concrete floors fit for polishing? The short answer would be yes, but I believe that a more descriptive answer is needed.

Okay, so this is the basic information. Concrete polishing is a process by which the surface of your concrete is cured, thereby hardening it, as well as providing a sleek, clean finish. To this end, most contractors treat the floor with a process called coarse grinding first.

You can polish the majority of concrete foundations out there, but there are a few cases that need to be mentioned. The first and most often case is when the concrete has been cracked here and there. It would be fixable, but then the “bandages”, so to speak, would be visible. The result would be polished concrete that is not as elegant as it could have been.

Very porous concrete, on the other hand, just isn’t recommended for polishing. There are too many holes, and the polish will just disappear too quickly. When laying down new concrete, make sure to have your contractor apply it non-porously.

Ah, and since we’re in the process of talking about polished concrete, I should also note that when your concrete is new, you shouldn’t be in a hurry to polish it. Allow a one month grace period for it to cure. After that, you can polish at-will.

So there. Almost all concrete can be polished. The only exceptions would be those that are not properly placed to begin with, and those that are too new to be touched.

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