Concrete Polishing for my house....

[terryf350]

PICS as the bottom: Concrete Polishing for my house....

Hi everyone,
Been following the floor portion of the garage journal for awhile. want to do the entry/livingroom/dining room/den/kitchen bathroom of my house. I will carpet the master bedroom and guest bedroom.

I got a quote i would like everyone to look at:

1 remove carpet
2 Diamond grind concrete to polished finish (grits 35-3000)
3 Fill cracks and holes
4 apply concrete densifier
5 apply color stain
6 Burnish lithiuum guard for stain protection

730 sq/ft

$3650 or $5/sq feet.

Are they doing what I need? Good price?

This is in southern california.

Thanks,
Terry

 

[Edger]

They are definitely doing what you need. Don't know about the price, sounds cheap for the small area so might be great. What are they doing about the edges and corners, will they be polished to the wall or will there be an area they cannot do?

 

[terryf350]

Polished to the wall. Thanks for that feedback. So the burnish lithium guard for stain protection is what I need to keep stains out of the concrete in the kitchen for instance?
I am a little afraid, but also really looking forward to it.
Terry

 

[Edger]

There is great debate in the industry about guard or no guard. A guard will help a lot towards repelling staining products, but not leaving those foods on the floor for long is essential. Some say the guard is not as strong as the polished concrete so it will scratch and dull (only slightly) faster making the polished concrete more durable. I think you need to renew the guard each year, talk to your installer.

 

[thegarageguy]

seems cheap....see their past work in person, call references, get a few more quotes....good luck

 

[terryf350]

So I am clearing out all the rooms, including one bathroom and pulling all the kitchen cabinets. Cant wait. They are pretty well known out here.
Terry

 

[hardhat]

Lots of competition in soco that's why the price isn't high. If they're well known go for it.

 

[Elite Crete Australia]

This is a really competitive price. If they are carrying out all that you've listed then you are getting a good deal. Here in Australia, the industry gets away with a lot more short cuts than what you do in North America. I can't tell you how many ground and topical coated floors I've seen that were sold as polished concrete. Before you agree to anything, take The Garage Guys advice and checkout references and past completed projects.

 

[terryf350]

The job begins...

First grind:

http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu177/seejohnnyrun/Unnamed2.jpg

http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu177/seejohnnyrun/Unnamed10.jpg

Lets hope this works.
Terry

 

[PinkLinc]

I had basically the same thing done in Phoenix. 400 sq. ft. for $1500 cash out the door. Seems like a good price considering they had 2 guys on the job for a total of about 18 hours each over a 2 day stretch. I pulled all the carpet and took up the carpet strips myself so that probably saved me some money. I've had mine done for about a month now and I love it.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Looks good so far but be prepared for inconsistency. Biggest issue with grind/polish due to the unknowns in the concrete. More cream, less cream, ugly aggregate, nice aggregate, etc....

 

[terryf350]

I had a contractor all lined up to start today. Thursday he sends an email...******* on a bigger job, understand if you go with someone else. I had to practically beg the guy to give me a quote and commit to a date. Called a guy I had chatted with this summer who was busy as can be. Sent me a quote in a few hours. Chatted with me on the phone. He had a crew at my house Monday 7 AM. 3 guys. Big equipment. I had to pull carpet, padding and baseboards myself last minute! Am excited to see it done. Had a bunch of adhesives etc on the floor that are all cleaned up now and it looks like the old tile will not leave a pattern as there was a tar paper backing glued down. Looks like the tack strip patches will be very small...but you never know and of course the aggregate...who knows. Did find a couple of small cracks and an area that doesnt look to good...but that will be the character in the concrete..I hope. Rooms seem very echooie with no furniture or rugs or carpet.

Terry

 

[Elite Crete Australia]

I had a contractor all lined up to start today. Thursday he sends an email...******* on a bigger job, understand if you go with someone else. I had to practically beg the guy to give me a quote and commit to a date. Called a guy I had chatted with this summer who was busy as can be. Sent me a quote in a few hours. Chatted with me on the phone. He had a crew at my house Monday 7 AM. 3 guys. Big equipment. I had to pull carpet, padding and baseboards myself last minute! Am excited to see it done. Had a bunch of adhesives etc on the floor that are all cleaned up now and it looks like the old tile will not leave a pattern as there was a tar paper backing glued down. Looks like the tack strip patches will be very small...but you never know and of course the aggregate...who knows. Did find a couple of small cracks and an area that doesnt look to good...but that will be the character in the concrete..I hope. Rooms seem very echooie with no furniture or rugs or carpet.

Terry

Is this second crew the one that agreed on $5 a sq/ft or was that the original guys that bailed out on you?

Looking forward to seeing the end result. Keep us updated.

 

[dcs Inc]

A 3000 grit takes at least 8 passes.... often 10-12. After the 400 grit they are only taking the existing scratches down and not removing any more concrete. At this point, have them clean, wet the concrete and take an inspection of the aggregate showing. You want a consistant agg showing everywhere including up to the wall.

If you are wanting a pic of the different levels of finish I can find one for you. I have one some where. 3000 is a mirror.

 

[terryf350]

Pictures....

Here are the pics. It came out pretty good. There was some uneveness in the floor that show up. There was some patterning where there was some tile in the entryway and kitchen.

I do like the cracks etc that showed up. The patches hardly show from the carpet tacks. I think they should have made some more passes with the last few grinds maybe. It still has a little grittiness to the floor but looks cool.

Terry