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Polished concrete is a process of progressive mechanical grinding, honing, densifying and polishing a concrete surface. This is done to achieve an aesthetically pleasing, highly durable, light-reflective finish.
One of the major issues that I have noticed in the decorative concrete industry is that most contractors in our business do not seem to have any respect for each other. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part this statement is true across the board.
The terms “polishing” and burnishing” are sometimes used interchangeably in the decorative concrete industry to describe two very different processes.
Once upon a time, there was a polished concrete job that was easy. It started out with a new, flawless install, a clean, even slab ready to grind. The client closed the building for a few days, providing ample, uninterrupted time to do the job. There were no hurdles. There were no surprises. Everything went according to plan.
There was plenty of flooring to do before Alfalfa’s Market, a new natural foods store, could open on Earth Day in a former Whole Foods space in Boulder, Colo.
Picture the elementary school you attended. The floors were probably concrete covered by institutional-style vinyl tile or commercial-grade carpet. In a word, boring.
At Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, speed alone isn’t the magnet that draws stock-car racing fans to the track’s major racing events.
The owners and designers of a new Harley-Davidson dealership near Boston are revved up about the unconventional, highly varied appearance of the renovated building’s polished concrete floor.
When Concord Aviation Property LLC wanted a polished aggregate surface for president Jack Roush’s private hangar at the Concord Regional Airport in Concord, N.C., they ultimately called upon the services of Eric Wayne Inc., a full- service commercial and residential concrete contractor with offices located in Davidson, N.C.
In Southern California, grinding and polishing concrete that was placed 20 or 30 years ago is fairly common. However, burnishing concrete that’s more than a century old is a rare task for any contractor.
Densifiers are an underutilized, misunderstood and overlooked key to producing a beautiful and durable polished concrete floor.
