Polished Concrete Floors....Why so little discussion here?

[mmhouse]

I just wondered why there is almost no discussion here of polished concrete floors. Is it because it's not a DIY project? Are they impractical for residential garages because of cost or some other reason?

At first glance polished concrete would seem to be attractive and less prone to damage than most other flooring options. Why aren't there more people interested in it?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

It's an awesome alternative. It offers the least amount of maintenance. A little tricky for a DIY, don't you think.

This is coming from a supplier of polishing materials.

 

[nate379]

Maybe there are more ways to do it that I know of, but my Dad did his with a power trowel. He just did several extra passes.

It's a killer if there is snow under your feet. A few people have busted there *** on it because they didn't know.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

It's a killer if there is snow under your feet. A few people have busted there *** on it because they didn't know.

You can add a sealer with some shark-skin to combat the slippery. Epoxy's not much better with wet boots, especially when new.

 

[SoCal Garage]

It exhibits the material in its best light, and looks beautiful with the aggregate showing through. I have considered it as I have not seen one epoxy to date that has not started to peel; the plastic flooring worries me in the event of a fire; tile is my second choice.

 

[Jack Olsen]

What's a per/sf cost for getting it done? Say: 500 sf.

 

[nate379]

Free if you do it at the time of pouring if you are running the trowel. After the fact no idea. The floor in my Dad's shop looks just like the floors at Lowe's, Walmart, Costco, etc.

 

[Justanoldguy]

Here in New Zealand.
About NZ$50 to NZ$70 per sq/metre.
That must be about US$3 to US$4 per sq/ft.
Interesting to see real US price now.

 

[jbs]

What's a per/sf cost for getting it done? Say: 500 sf.

x2. Wondering what the ballpark cost is. I love the look and considered it, but didn't really look into it figuring it would be too expensive. I'd be willing to rent a polisher and try it myself. I'm patient and wouldn't mind if it didn't look perfect. I haven't found much on how to do it though.

 

[AlphaGarage]

I have considered it as I have not seen one epoxy to date that has not started to peel; the plastic flooring worries me in the event of a fire; tile is my second choice.

Just look around on this forum, there are many, many, many epoxied floors that haven't peeled. And a few more than that.

 

[mmhouse]

I would also be interested in knowing the cost of having a professional polish a concrete floor.

As far as being a DIY project, it seems that if people can grind their own floors they could polish them. Isn't it essentially just grinding with finer and finer media?

 

[383 240z]

I had they guys putting the pad in my shop run the power trowel over it and it left me a great surface they did not charge any extra for it (I was passing them cold beers after the work was done) and I love it oil spills just wipe up, but it is slicker than owl snot if you have snow on your boots. keith

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I would also be interested in knowing the cost of having a professional polish a concrete floor.

As far as being a DIY project, it seems that if people can grind their own floors they could polish them. Isn't it essentially just grinding with finer and finer media?

Yes, exactly.

 

[79stang514]

I work in a factory and we have four different types of floor. Some of them are in production areas, some in the warehouses, and some in the different shop areas. I am a fork truck mechanic and we have epoxy in our shop. It is ready to be redone after about five years. We try very hard to look after the floor and most people say it looks like a showroom, and not an actual working shop. Unfortunately, some very heavy stuff sometimes gets dragged across it, such as a 3000lb battery on a pallet with nails sticking out of it.
We also have some sealed floors in different areas, as well as some polished. I believe the polishing was developed for factory use, mainly for fork truck traffic areas. We use only non marking tires, but believe me, they make the sealed floors look like **** every day. We have a dedicated guy just to sweep and then run a sweeper/scrubber over them EVERY day. I know he curses the sealed floors. They are also VERY slippery when wet.
Most of our factory is now going to the polished, anywhere they have the budget for it. It looks very good and is very easy to keep clean. I know I'm going to talk to my boss about redoing the shop floor and having it polished.
The only reason we don't have the entire plant polished is because of the cost. When I talked to my boss about polishing instead of sealing, she said that the polishing wasn't even in the same ballpark as sealing, but in the long term, I believe it would be way ahead.
I am just about to start building a 28X32 garage, and I'm going to do anything I can to try to have the money to get the floors polished. I'll do it once, and forget it. I'll never have to worry about peeling, and if I remember correctly, it actually makes the floor stronger.

 

[cowboyjosh]

In high school I remember a guy slipping on the polished concrete shop floor, literally busted his skull, broke his leg, and dislocated his shoulder when he slipped after walking in with snow on his shoes; put him in the hospital for a week. The school building was like 8 or 9 years at the time, all the floors in the rest of the building were Terrazzo; his family tried to go after the VERY SMALL school district, who's insurance did pay out some, but they also went after the GC who built the building and the outfit who did the floors, which included the anti-slip component. For this reason alone, I can't get on board with polished concrete floors.

My garage floor is epoxy, and if I had the money I would do a Terrazzo floor if Terrazzo also was't so slick when wet; and if I were living in my dream home in my dream neighborhood; which I am not so I didn't want to invest $10.00 + PSF on Terrazzo for my garage.

 

[Justanoldguy]

How is Terazzo not as dangerous as polished concrete?

 

[MPH]

Free if you do it at the time of pouring if you are running the trowel. After the fact no idea. The floor in my Dad's shop looks just like the floors at Lowe's, Walmart, Costco, etc.

Nate, are you sure that you are not talking about a very nice burn finish? I have never heard of a process that would allow you to get a true polished concrete with a power trowel during your finishing steps of your flat work.

I just finish a 40X50 shop, which we put a very fine burn finish on the flat work with power trowels and boy is it smooth and nice but even with all that work, I would not call it a true polish.

I called around a few months back and asked a couple of locals about polishing the floor and though I do not remember exactly what the cost quote was, I can tell you it wasn't cheap to have it done.

I would be interested in if anybody knows a process that allows you to truly polish your flat work surface during your troweling process.

 

[cowboyjosh]

How is Terazzo not as dangerous as polished concrete?

IT is if you wax the **** out of Terrazzo; also the anti slip compounds in Terrazzo in my experience seem to be a little more effective then with just polished concrete. The polished concrete I am talking about that a fella got hurt was so shiny and slick you could almost see yourself in it, it had that much of a shine.

 

[Justanoldguy]

Ground and polished is a truely beautiful sight compared to float finished.

 

[Underdog]

Ground and polished is a truely beautiful sight compared to float finished.

Local Lowe's just had their floors polished this summer. You can see where they cut out the bad chips and filled them with some kind of concrete then ground or polished the whole floor. This they did at night after closing. I checked out the company's truck which was parked during the day in the parking lot. It was a large box truck heavy duty from some company in North Carolina very low key markings on it like they didn't want to stand out, probably so every tom or **** wouldn't be calling to do their 300 sq. ft. garage.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Local Lowe's just had their floors polished this summer. You can see where they cut out the bad chips and filled them with some kind of concrete then ground or polished the whole floor. This they did at night after closing. I checked out the company's truck which was parked during the day in the parking lot. It was a large box truck heavy duty from some company in North Carolina very low key markings on it like they didn't want to stand out, probably so every tom or **** wouldn't be calling to do their 300 sq. ft. garage.

I think the floors are a maintenance issue because I too have noticed at Home Depot and Lowes in both Colorado and Arizona that every so often they are working on the floors; also I noticed that acid stained floors with a gloss like finish at stores like Whole Foods also have their floors worked on every year or two; I guess it shows there really isn't a maintenance free flooring solution.

 

[imavanner2]

I just had a 2000sf floor put down was a a last min deal I could not pass up the guys power trowel it and no I am on here looking to see what my next step would be. From what im reading I guess i should have told him just a broom finish is all i needed it would have been better for me and quicker for them as it took them from 5 till 1am to finsh the floor.

WHAT are my options on thes 2 day old floor. No cure and seal was put down.
Its a hobby garage storage in one have shop in the other with a bath room.

I did post when the building was going up back in March.

Chris

 

[MPH]

What's a per/sf cost for getting it done? Say: 500 sf.

Here in New Zealand.
About NZ$50 to NZ$70 per sq/metre.
That must be about US$3 to US$4 per sq/ft.
Interesting to see real US price now.

Where I am from, oldguy is pretty close. $4 plus a square foot was my quote and that does not include any staining or sealer. With a 2000 square foot garage, that get pretty expensive.

MPH

 

[imavanner2]

for that kind of $$$ I would go vct or RD.

 

[brassspike]

I had a guy out this Friday to look at my 28x38. It was power troweled smooth. I was going with epoxy and do it myself but I guess they did not have the color I wanted. I didn't get a reply back anyway, so I guess that was why.
I had this guy do an estimate for both. I'll post the prices when thay come in this week. That should give something to go by.
Bill

 

[popcorn-guy]

You can add a sealer with some shark-skin to combat the slippery. Epoxy's not much better with wet boots, especially when new.

Scotty, perhaps you could distinguish the difference between burnishing and polishing. As you know I'm interested in the burnishing aspect of it and perhaps others would at least like to know what it looks like and how it is accomplished. Having had to run buffers in the past it does not concern me to have to regain my touch with one and others may be in the same boat.

If you happen to have photos of the two completed processes, posting them would be beneficial.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

First:
Imavanner: You can spray on a densifier or densifier with waterproofer and call it good.

Second:
Popcorn-guy:
Polishing: A combination of grinding and polishing using ascending levels of grit laden stones/pads, closes pores, increases resistance to chemicals and creates a polished finish.
Burnishing: Post-polish, running a micro-fiber pad on a floor buffer, taking the polished floor to a high sheen. This increases the shine, cleanability and the floors ability to resist stains.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I think the floors are a maintenance issue because I too have noticed at Home Depot and Lowes in both Colorado and Arizona that every so often they are working on the floors; also I noticed that acid stained floors with a gloss like finish at stores like Whole Foods also have their floors worked on every year or two; I guess it shows there really isn't a maintenance free flooring solution.

Cowboy:

You should have seen the dust (older stores) before they decided to do something about it.

First, both chains tried epoxy, I was involved with THD when this happened.
I did a sample in a broom closet!! at the NJ HQ's and they loved it.

After 8 or 9 stores worth of epoxy, mostly in the kitchen and carpet areas, they started having maintenance issues with the epoxy, scratched, peeling around the edges, etc...

Later as polishing had become main-stream they all started doing it and it's been that way since.

A little burnishing and buffing every year or two is a lot less expensive and time consuming then repairing a scratched peeling epoxy coated floor.

Of course the "garage sector" doesn't have the traffic that these retailers experience every day.

 

[Falcon67]

Had mine polished when it was poured. The guy just ran the hell out of the power trowel. Smooth, shiny. After several week cure - etched with pool acid, dried and epoxied. Yes, it's slick - you could spray it with WD-40 and people would want to know where you kept the Zamboni.

 

[popcorn-guy]

First:
Imavanner: You can spray on a densifier or densifier with waterproofer and call it good.

Second:
Popcorn-guy:
Polishing: A combination of grinding and polishing using ascending levels of grit laden stones/pads, closes pores, increases resistance to chemicals and creates a polished finish.
Burnishing: Post-polish, running a micro-fiber pad on a floor buffer, taking the polished floor to a high sheen. This increases the shine, cleanability and the floors ability to resist stains.

Scotty, then I take it that after densifing/waterproofing and perhaps applying any of the other products that burnishing will not provide any benefit?? If one uses a burnishing pad will it provide any sheen at all? I'm attempting to get a handle on this process.

Thanks for responding. If there is a benefit to putting a burnishing pad down on the concrete w/o polishing, what does it look like. That's why I requested any photos that might show the difference.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Cowboy:

You should have seen the dust (older stores) before they decided to do something about it.

First, both chains tried epoxy, I was involved with THD when this happened.
I did a sample in a broom closet!! at the NJ HQ's and they loved it.

After 8 or 9 stores worth of epoxy, mostly in the kitchen and carpet areas, they started having maintenance issues with the epoxy, scratched, peeling around the edges, etc...

Later as polishing had become main-stream they all started doing it and it's been that way since.

A little burnishing and buffing every year or two is a lot less expensive and time consuming then repairing a scratched peeling epoxy coated floor.

Of course the "garage sector" doesn't have the traffic that these retailers experience every day.

Yep, I agree with the epoxy and the wear and tear in a warehouse setting, not to mention some of the lifting was caused by moisture or concrete defects and poor prep. I was a project manager for a commercial warehouse builder and they did several HUGE *** warehouses with epoxy finished floors, sure it was light, and bright and looked clean, but because the space was so big and their were Crown type lift trucks with forks running around all day, they spent a fortune annually to keep the floors in pristine condition. Some of the epoxy failed because as I already mentioned prepping such a large space is a PITA and therefore some things get overlooked that wouldn't in a garage setting. On the other hand I see many of car dealers that have their service bays finished in epoxy, some are well maintained and look good, others haven't been maintained for years and look like ****.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Scotty, then I take it that after densifing/waterproofing and perhaps applying any of the other products that burnishing will not provide any benefit?? If one uses a burnishing pad will it provide any sheen at all? I'm attempting to get a handle on this process.

Thanks for responding. If there is a benefit to putting a burnishing pad down on the concrete w/o polishing, what does it look like. That's why I requested any photos that might show the difference.

Popcorn:

It sounds like you want a polished floor without polishing.

Densifier makes the concrete harder as soft concrete does not polish well.
Burnisher is like adding wax to a freshly painted car, it protects the surface and increases the sheen.

If you have a smooth floor already the burnishing will help. Go to your local rental house and ask for micro-fiber pad used for burnishing or buffing. It will fit right onto a buffing head. This head then locks onto the floor buffer.

We are in the process of making some mock-ups to show the differences.
Unfortunately, they are not completed yet.

Hope this helps.

 

[kiwi craig]

after much review I elected to go this way, my floor gets used hard with maitenance on 3 race quads with stand, lifters and catored tool boxes etc. Finish is great and durable. used a sealer product and it keeps dust etc down to zero. One day to grind 650 sq feet, two days to do the sealer coats. contractor did the whole lot for $2 per sq ft all up including joint grind outs and refills and spot repairs as well.

 

[imavanner2]

pics? 2 a sf sounds alot when you have 200sf to do.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Many companies lease trucks. It's easier to downsize when jobs are scarce.

 

[z28toz06]

most garage floors here are polished. I find them dangerous and a ***** to put epoxy on. I did a broom finish on mine and then epoxied it. It is very sweepable, and gives you some traction, even when wet.

 

[Foxer]

Working in the concrete field (mixer driver) i have made quite a few friends in the business so i have called on a few favors. I just poured a 30x40 floor in my new pole barn. We poured the floor and power trowled in a lithium densifier and made a few extra passes over it to get it as smooth as possible to possibly cut down on some grinding time. A friend of mine owns a polishing business and will be on it after a 30 day cure. I think my expectations are set a little high but we will see.

 

[sippirat]

hi guys, i don't speak up much on this site but i have taken a lot from it during my garage build. i just found this thread tonight so i thought i would share some pics of my polished bath floor in my garage. it's only a 5x5 so i used a 4" wet grinder with diamond pads. i started out with 50 grit then 80, 150, 300, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000. i then cleaned it really good and gave it 4 coats of sealer.the coats dry fast with in floor heat! the whole process took 9 hours. for a diy project i am pleased with the results. but to do the whole 30x40 floor i would definitely rent the big equipment.

Not the best pictures with a cell phone and the glare of a spot light! the first 3 are just wet before sealer and last pic shows the true color of the sealed floor.

 

[Thedroid]

I've seen the true grind and polish using a small decorative aggregate mix that looked awesome. All of the aggregate was 1/2in or smaller. The grond it flat and sealed it so you could see all of the different colors of rock. Truly classy, and looked real expensive.

As far as epoxy floor goes, I've worked with an industrial epoxy floor that was nearly indestructable. They came in with a scarifier and took off the top 3/8 of concrete leaving a really rough surface, they poured a layer of clear two part epoxy sqeegied it and threw colored quartz sand on top. They let it dry swept up the loose sand and repeated the process several times till it was built up to the original grade. You could choose slick as snot or 100% non slip depending on the final coat. No peeling, cracking, or any problems. Could handle anything from big rigs to forklifts to chemicals, and I want to say had a 10yr warranty. I thought it was really trick looking also.

 

[shawnspeed]

Just had my 24x32 done by some guys that work for a comercial industrial concrete contractor , and they refered to the fine finished surface as "burnt", and they poured, screeded,& floated the concrete, then let it set till just firm enough to hold their weight, & trowled it W/ the power trowel with big paddles, on the large surface , by hand around the edges, waited 45min, repeat ,wait another 45 to an hour , removed the big paddles,power troweled again ,then hand trowled entire floor and was done...was told to use an acrylic sealer/cure to help keep the oil out...but I have to get some heat in it before I can do that, but the floor is beautiful, very smooth , easy to sweep, and after I hook up the raidant heat ...warm....