Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Basic Methods of Concrete Polishing

By Mikkan Drane

Polished concrete is a generic term in floor styling that easily gives you pictures of a variety of decorative shiny concrete flooring possibilities. Instead of laying over the concrete slab another coating of some sort, say vinyl, tiles, or carpet, concrete polishing allows you to leave the concrete exposed as the final floor finish as itself. And that does not mean you will have that gray colored finish, nothing like that. In fact, you will have something that is so much more.

With the concrete polish floor styling option, you get to choose from a wide range of colors and finishes, matching exactly what you would want for your places' floor. It features an affordable make that is energy efficient, low maintenance and dust free. There are actually three popular methods that you can adopt in concrete polishing. These are steel trowelling, burnishing or honing.

A steel trowelled finish is a concrete polishing process that can be achieved by hand or with a power trowelling machine. Whichever you will use depends mostly on the area to be processed. Trowelling marks are one of the downsides on this option however, if advised, can be fixed and or avoided. It gives off the typical natural grey concrete look, but can be upgraded to a lighter color by incorporating an amount of off white cement.

Burnishing is an option that can be done right after the trowelling process. When the concrete floor has reached that polished glossy appearance, alternative burnishing materials like floor waxes, liquid polishes, and resin based coatings can be applied for the look you are after for.

The honing process, which is the third method in the concrete polishing list, is the toughest or better yet, the one with the most required depth in the process. Through honing, one is required to grind the concrete surface with abrasives. Besides the smooth surface that it produces, aggravates should start to appear at some point adding up to the end aesthetic result.

With a little bit of creativity and a know how in mixing up all the said processes, a delightful, appreciated concrete polished output will be achieved. Include in desired color combination and desired pattern to input and you'll have the polished concrete you can brag to your friends.

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