4 Reasons to Mechanically Polish Your Concrete and Terrazzo Floors

February 13, 2018

Concrete Polishing

If You’re Still Waxing or Coating Your Concrete or Terrazzo Floors, You’re Doing It Wrong.

Stop wasting time waxing or coating your floors, have them mechanically polished ONE TIME and never worry about them again. If one application for the rest of your concrete or terrazzo floor’s life isn't enough to entice you, here are 4 more reasons to get your concrete floors mechanically polished.

Reason 1: Cost Effective

You only have to mechanically polish your concrete or terrazzo floor once to reap the savings benefits for the remainder of your floor’s life. Waxing and chemical coatings have to be applied often and the price you pay isn’t just for the application and the labor to apply them. There’s the added cost of lost productivity as well. If you have to recoat your office floor every 5 to 10 years that means moving furniture, displacing workers, and keeping everyone out of the area until the floors are ready to be walked on again. With mechanically polished floors, there is nothing sitting on the surface of your floor that needs to dry or setup; you can walk on it immediately, move your furniture back in and never do it again.

Reason 2: Longevity

Once your concrete or terrazzo floor has been polished, the lifespan increases significantly. Essentially, it lasts forever. This is because your floor is now more durable due to the reduced size of the pores in the concrete from the multi-step polishing process. Because no wax or chemicals have been applied to the floor, the floor is able to breathe and maintain its strength and beauty. If you don’t have concrete floors now and are getting ready to replace them for the second or third time in 15 years, consider mechanically polished concrete or terrazzo floors this time around and never worry about replacing them again.

Reason 3: Easy Maintenance

Maintaining mechanically polished concrete or terrazzo floors is a breeze. Eliminating the manual polishing, waxing and chemical treatments means all you need to do to keep your floors looking brand new is to use a dust mop. This will keep the floor clean and remove the dirt and dust that collects on it. Along with dust mopping, you may choose to do some light scrubbing with with a cleaner made for mechanically polished floors to clean up any spills or tracked in mud.

Reason 4: Better for Your Employees and the Environment

Going green has become almost a requirement in the workplace, at schools, at collegiate and government institutions, and in manufacturing facilities. One way to go green, that isn’t often considered, is with your floors. Concrete and terrazzo floors are already made of natural materials, however if they aren’t polished, they are releasing harmful gases into your building. Concrete needs to breathe and when it can’t breathe due to a coating, it begins fighting the application until it eventually wears down enough that it needs to be replaced. This process causes gases to release into the air and potentially causing harm to your employees, students, or visitors. Mechanical polishing is chemical free, which means that the floor will not release gases into the air for the remainder of their installation. If you’re ready to ditch the wax or chemicals, contact us today to learn how much you can save when you switch to mechanically polished floors.

Please note: Mechanically polished concrete floors are not recommended if the floor will be exposed to acids, oils, or corrosive materials on a regular basis.

8 Ways to Upgrade Your Concrete Floor

There are so many ways to upgrade your concrete floor from polishing to coating to engraving or staining. We love helping our clients pick out the right fit for what they are looking to accomplish. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming to choose what to do with your concrete flooring. Here are 8 ways you can upgrade your concrete to protect and/or enhance it with a little explanation about each technique. We hope this helps when deciding what to do with your next project!

Mechanical Polishing

Mechanical polished concrete is a process that takes abrasives (diamonds) and mechanically places scratches in the concrete. This scratching process uses finer grit abrasives to remove and replace the scratches with smaller and smaller micro scratches.

The objective is to refine the floor and take away the small scratches so that you see a reflection in the floor. This process can be achieved with older concrete, new concrete and/or coated concrete.

This process is considered to be the maximum refinement method, and can be considered the best long-term solution for polished concrete.

Topical Polishing

Topical polishing is similar to the mechanically polished floor, but the course of action is shorter, and it leaves the floor at less than maximum refinement.

Most of the time the topically processed progression ends at a 200- or 400- grit step. These grits leave peaks on the top of the scratches that have zero lateral support. A topical sealer is then added and is placed into the gaps left by the scratching process. As the sealer settles and dries, it gives the appearance of being completely polished and is referred to as “polished concrete.”

This process is a much cheaper alternative to the mechanical process. The “topical polish” is exactly the same thing as putting on a coating. This method can be done with a burnisher, a floor scrubber and even a swing machine.

Decorative Epoxy Coatings

Epoxy floor coatings are hard wearing and durable solutions for both commercial and residential flooring. These floor coatings can be applied over concrete floors to provide a high performance and an attractive surface.

New technology now offers you the ability to choose almost any color. Metallic additives create a gorgeous surface and multiple colors can be randomly applied together revealing a swirling effect that is very unique and attractive.

Decorative Overlays

Overlays are a great option for concrete floors that are damaged or distressed. They are extremely durable and attractive. Overlays typically consist of a cementitious product, but some may be a combination of polyurethane and cement. They can be stained, mechanically polished, coated or stamped with any pattern you can imagine. Overlays are a great way to make an old concrete floor look brand new.

Dyes and Stains

The skies the limit when it comes to colorants. Multiple colors and patterns add to the beauty of your polished floor. There are a multitude of application techniques to add interesting effects when applying dyes and stains.

Engraving

We can incorporate engraving into your polishing process to provide borders and logos. Engraving can turn ordinary concrete surfaces into slate, tile, stone, brick and much more.

Hardeners and Sealers

Hardeners/densifiers are products that penetrate into the concrete surface and react with the Portland cement and fills the micro-pores. This reaction creates a very dense surface that helps with ease of cleaning, abrasion, dusting, staining, and overall wear of your concrete surface. These products do not change the appearance of the surface but can generate a sheen after burnishing and actually becomes harder the more you use the surface.

Sealers are an option for some floors. Depending on your needs it may provide a shiny surface that is easy to clean. All sealers will need to be reapplied at some point depending on wear and tear.

Final Notes

Performance Concrete Polishing is focused on providing services that are related to concrete surfaces. These services are appropriate for new and existing concrete. The majority of services we offer are oriented to improving the aesthetic appearance of these surfaces. Decorative concrete services are the hallmark of this company, and we’d love to help you out with your next project!