Best Concrete Finish

[jordan369]

Hello,

I am having a new garage installed and I have been given an option for the finish on the floor. The concrete guy said it can be a broom finish or smooth as glass or anything in between. I plan on coating the finished concrete with a poly-urea product after it cures. I wanted to get some thoughts from other garage guys.

Thanks, Mike

 

[bagpipegoatee]

I would definitely go with the smooth finish. Much less work to deal with, and you don't have to deal with exposed aggregate if you ever do want it real smooth.

 

[dcs Inc]

Mike, if they are power finishing, have them use their float blades and finish as tight as they can without burning the surface. (glazing)

If hand troweling, have them trowel it smooth, removing all trowel marks. No burnishing

the biggest thing it to not have them place it at a high slump (water content) and to not bless the surface with any water during finishing. No bull floating bleed water.

 

[thegarageguy]

agree with Gene, also make sure he does not add a cure and seal....good luck

 

[jordan369]

Thanks for the tips. Will pass them along to the concrete guy.

Mike

 

[Ultimate Floors by Rhino]

Broom finish burns through my diamond blades faster lol. If your coating it like your other garage then just a normal finish is fine since it will be ground anyways.

 

[dcs Inc]

A tightly burnished floor is a slower grind and different tooling. I just helped one my up and coming installers grind a 3300 sq. ft. pool deck today. It had some of that newlook **** on it and was starting to peel. I normally use a 30/40 grit to open a slab but because of the paint, I dropped down to a 16 grit and was really fast.
AJ, I have several different suppliers that handle a bunch of hard/soft bonds and many different grits, even in 7" cup grinders. gene

 

[stealman]

agree with Gene, also make sure he does not add a cure and seal....good luck

Why no cure and seal?

 

[dcs Inc]

Wet blanket cure is the best way to slow the hydration of concrete. Cure and seal will do so also but needs to be ground off. If doing the proper surface prep by shotblasting or spiral grinding then it doesn't make a difference because you will remove the cure and seal. If going with the diy acid etching the acid wont cut the cure n seal and will create bonding issues.

 

[Herb67SS]

Have a friend that let a "barn builder" broom finish his floor, worst mistake he made. The only way to sweep that floor is with a pressure washer. Broom finishes are great for dairy or other animal barns where traction on a constantly wet slippery muddy floor is needed. Other than that, i think it's a way to do a cheap, poor finish on a concrete floor.

 

[dcs Inc]

It does cut out a finishing step.... (sometimes a couple of them). A good coat of CSS, concentrated solvent acrylic 53% solids sealer would do wonders in making it easier to keep clean. There are good and bad broom textured finishes. You still have to screed, level and bullfloat. If it's really open and deep with small aggragate showing, then that was a quick (cheap) finish.