Concrete Polishing

[Namocsid]

I originally posted this as part of my garage construction thread over in the gallery section, but I think it's applicable here too.

Originally I was leaning highly towards epoxy... but after all the possible problems with it, I took the plunge and had the floor polished. Not looking back on this one, it turned out great!

The contractor that did my floor: http://www.preferred-builders.net/ they're out of central NC, but apparently do quite a bit of work all over the southeast. I'd recommend considering this as an option if you're currently considering epoxy.

Well, I decided to have the floor done. Originally I was leaning towards epoxy, but you can't weld on it, and I really didn't want to have to use welding blankets every time I want to drag the welder out.

So I had the concrete polished. It took 2 guys from preferred concrete polishing about 12 hours to polish the garage, then they filled in the saw joints in the slab.

All in all, it looks great! I can't believe how smooth it is. Also, the floor had several uneven spots from when the slab was poured (which was obvious when I was watering it during the curing stage). Those are all gone now. Because of the unevenness of the floor, and the minor amount of bullfloating that the concrete sub did during the pour, you can see a fair amount of aggregate in the floor finish, but I rather like it.

Now the pics! :

During: This makes an incredible mess and generates a lot of concrete dust slurry when they're polishing/sanding with 50 and 100 grit "pads"

Finished:
notice the reflection of the lift. It's decently glossy, and not slippery at all, even when wet.

And a close-up showing some of the finished product with no and some aggregate showing:

I'm really pleased with it. It turned out awesome, and I get all the benefits of epoxy (spill resistant, no hot tire pick up, super durable) and I can weld on it. And It won't flake off! All for virtually the same price as epoxy professionally installed...

 

[PAToyota]

I originally went with the epoxy - and learned the hard way about its failings... Eventually I'll likely go this route. Just have to get some other things out of the way first.

Looks good!

 

[tubeman]

Looks really great! I want to do the same. What was the per foot cost approximately?

 

[Namocsid]

I elected to go with an 800grit final polish, which ended up being slightly less than $5/sq ft. Other options from this contractor would have been a 400 or 1500 grit, subtracting or adding about $1/sq ft respectively. Having the concrete stained also would have added $1/sq ft.

My space is about 650 sq ft of floor area. Larger spaces will be cheaper per sq. foot, smaller spaces more expensive. YMMV

 

[Steve in Mi]

Namocsid, Looking at this from another direction, $5. /sq.ft. seems alot to pay to patch up a botched cement job. Botched is not your word for it but one I'm using to group the problems you mention in your build thread. I hope that your cement sub. contractor is paying a portion of the fix. I say "patched" because your photo shows the stone is not evenly dispursed - pretty obvious to those that work cement that something went very wrong and grinding was an attempt to level/straighten it out. I'm glad you are pleased with it.

 

[5wndwcpe]

I elected to go with an 800grit final polish, which ended up being slightly less than $5/sq ft. Other options from this contractor would have been a 400 or 1500 grit, subtracting or adding about $1/sq ft respectively. Having the concrete stained also would have added $1/sq ft.

My space is about 650 sq ft of floor area. Larger spaces will be cheaper per sq. foot, smaller spaces more expensive. YMMV

Oh my God. And to think I was considering this.

 

[Namocsid]

Namocsid, Looking at this from another direction, $5. /sq.ft. seems alot to pay to patch up a botched cement job. Botched is not your word for it but one I'm using to group the problems you mention in your build thread. I hope that your cement sub. contractor is paying a portion of the fix. I say "patched" because your photo shows the stone is not evenly dispursed - pretty obvious to those that work cement that something went very wrong and grinding was an attempt to level/straighten it out. I'm glad you are pleased with it.

Well, I don't want to derail this thread with a discussion of if there were problems with my slab pour or not. There were some high and low spots in the final slab which were not noticeable, but when curing the slab some places would puddle a bit, and others would not. This was the first (and last, afaik) concrete job that this sub will do for my general contractor.

As far as price goes, I don't think it's terribly unreasonable. It is comparable with having an epoxy floor properly prepped and installed. If i bought the POR-15 Floor Armor kit and did it myself I'd be in for half of what I spent. And this should last forever.


I do want to share my experiences and results on a less-common floor finish with the board. Yes, it is expensive, and I certainly understand if not everyone is interested in this type of finish. I do think that there are folks out there that might want the benefits and long term durability that this finish provides, and understand that the cost vs. benefits over the long run is worth the investment.

 

[5wndwcpe]

Namocsid, I do not wish to give the wrong impression as I fully appreciate you sharing your experience with us, it's just that I was wrongly under the impression that concrete polishing was around $2.50 a sq. ft. and was a little shocked at what it truly costs. The long term durability cannot be argued and I hope it serves you well.

 

[Namocsid]

Namocsid, I do not wish to give the wrong impression as I fully appreciate you sharing your experience with us, it's just that I was wrongly under the impression that concrete polishing was around $2.50 a sq. ft. and was a little shocked at what it truly costs. The long term durability cannot be argued and I hope it serves you well.

Well, you can get it under $2 per sq. ft.... if you have a large enough space. I don't have a huge garage, but I imagine some of the members with 30x60's would fare much better on the price per sq. foot point than I. Thanks for the follow up.

 

[Franz©]

I really can't put my finger on why, but the word TERAZZO comes to mind here.
Given that that flooring method has fallen into disfavor with archetects due to cost, there are a lot of TERAZZO grinders sitting in back rooms of tile & marble contractors across AmeriKa. Based on the men I've seen running them over the years, it doesn't take a lot of brainpower to do the job either.

 

[PAToyota]

Actually, as an architect, I can tell you that a lot of us still try to spec terazzo... It is the owners that don't want the initial cost - even when you attempt to point out to them that they're in for more money and maintenance costs over the lifespan of the floor with that "cheap" VCT they want to use...

 

[Franz©]

All I can tell you is stay in Pa, because up here in NY all the expert building owners KNOW terazzo floors are bad news. They cause echos, and things dropped on terazzo tend to break. Terazzo is very difficult to care for too, and carpeting requires less maintainence.
I haven't seen a terazzo job here in 15 years, and if one started tomorrow the tileworkers would need to bring guys back from retirement or haul in workers from out of state. It was really enjoyable watching those old boys work a floor though, even though I didn't understand Italian and couldn't get answers to my questions.

 

[PAToyota]

Oh, I said that we try to spec it... But same as in NY, the owners know better...

 

[JBL]

For what it is worth I went through the epoxy floor coating program 2x! First time we went the "do it yourself" way and spent days on the prep of a virgin floor. When that failed we hired the manufacturer of the product to stip and re-install the epoxy. That lasted about 18 months before it began to lift and blister. After working through that we had the floor polished. The floor has a marble type of look to it and is pretty simple to clean. We don't have to worry about the paint lifting, blistering or gouging and the surface should last for a long time. Not cheap on the buy in, but in the end it will be more cost effective.

http://artisticsurf.com/

There are a few pics of my garage on their web page if you are interested!

 

[Piper]

This doesn't seem to be rocket science. Do rental places rent the machinery to polish concrete floors? I've done a ton of hardwood refinish, repair. Has anyone done this themselves?

Piper

 

[JBL]

I doubt the equipment is available on the rental market. For the 1200sf I have it took them the better part of a week to complete and it was some hard work. Of course, part of the trouble with my floor was removal of the **** epoxy. It is well worth the cost.

 

[rt66jt]

Oh, I said that we try to spec it... But same as in NY, the owners know better...

I'm with ya, customers come in asking for advice, and by the time they leave they know more than I do (must all be friends of Franz).

 

[kamkuda]

Neat option. It looks really good!