Friday, February 27, 2009

Polished Concrete; The New Flooring

By John Jameson

Concrete polishing is a new type of flooring opted by not only business owners by homeowners as well. You may not imagine concrete to be the most fitting material to make your floors aesthetically pleasing, but new technology now has the capacity to make concrete floors look beautiful, shiny and look quite similar to polished stone. If your building or homes foundation is concrete, then polished concrete would be a very practical and cost-efficient choice for flooring.

Polished concrete give consumers and option over linoleum, tiles, marble, wood, etc. and gives consumers a much cheaper incentive and provides the same results that come with a numerous amount of benefits too. Polished concrete does not need a lot of upkeep, virtually no coating nor waxing, which may be quite costly. In addition to that, polished concrete can be customized according to individual preferences. Designs, patterns and colors may be incorporated to fit the style of your home, building, establishment or facility.

Today, polishing equipment and techniques have gone through advancement and polishing contractors have now developed ways to make concrete floors look charming and appealing and this is by process of grinding concrete. This process is similar to sanding wood. Polishing machines have discs attached to them and these discs have been embedded with coarse diamond grits which can be comparable to sandpaper. These polishing machines rub and gnash against concrete surfaces to the appropriate smoothness. At this grinding process you may also add design patterns to your floor to achieve a more unique design concept. Also, there is the option of concrete acid staining which is simply the addition of color to your concrete floor.

New floors normally dont need any special kind of preparation to be able to achieve a beautiful and expensive looking finish. However, you must wait at least 28 days before being able to do any polishing on them. Existing floors however, need some kind of preparation. They have to be removed of dirt, grease, blemishes, stains, coating etc. Extremely wavy concrete or porous ones may not be advisable to be polished. Experienced contractors can generally let you know whether your floor would be advisable for polishing.

Polished concrete has multiple benefits. It has a low maintenance appeal because it is easy to clean, and is generally dirt-resistant. Cleaning this type of floor would only require a sweeping and mopping. Another benefit is that you can also do-it-yourself. You can get yourself a polishing machine (there are hand-held kinds available) and polish away yourself. Polished concrete also does not need waxes or coatings that can be quite expensive and bothersome. Finally, floors are not the only things you can polish, also countertops. You may opt for polished concrete instead of marble or granite and still achieve an expensive and beautiful, glossy finish with a considerably smaller budget. - 15615

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