alexb2000
Well-known member
I just bought an aircraft hangar. The building is a 2017, but it had a renter in it that got oil stains all over the floor, lots of tire marks, scrapes, scuffs, rust stains, etc. That and the concrete work is just OK, plenty of small ups and downs, some minor cracking, some places that were not well troweled, etc.
Anyway, I got some quotes which ranged from $2-4 a foot. The building is ~9,000 sq. ft. so $18-36K to polish. I didn't really care about getting a show quality floor rather just a clean non-dusting, light reflecting, well sealed floor, that would work well in a shop. I was shooting for a Home Depot quality floor. Keep in mind the process I'm doing is not apples to apples with a ground floor. I'm not getting down into the aggregate or deep enough to remove every stain or blemish, just opening up the troweled surface, densifying it, polishing, and sealing.
Anyway, I had a floor cleaner and some basic tools, I bought a ride on burnisher for $3K. My materials cost is about $2500 including diamond pads, burnishing pads, densifyer and sealer. I am using Convergent chemical products and Gorila Diamond Pads.
https://www.concretetreatments.com/United-States/EN/
http://www.etcpads.com/products/diamond-pads/
So the process that I went through..
1. Steam cleaned, used Chomp on the oil stains, Whink rust remover, degreased and steam cleaned again.
2. Started with 200 and then 400 grit pads I wet ground the floor. I kept it wet because I didn't have a vacuum system and the dust would have been terrible.
3. Cleaned it using the floor machine, more pressure washing, etc. Lots of nasty concrete dust. The slurry was about 1/4" deep after each step.
4. Densified using pump sprayer and micro-fiber mop
5. Then dry burnished with 800,1500,3000 grit diamond pads.
6. Between steps I blew out all the dust with a gas yard blower and cleaned it using the floor machine. The dust in the higher grits isn't nearly as bad as the lower grits.
7. Then I put 3 coats of sealer on. I like the Convergent sealer because it doesn't build up on the surface, never has to be stripped, etc. So maintenance should be easy.
8. I went over the floor with a boar hair burnishing pad between each coat of sealer.
Anyway, enough typing, here are the before and after pictures.
BTW- In a smaller space this could be done very reasonably IMO with a $500 walk behind burnisher, which you can use to keep it maintained later.
Anyway, I got some quotes which ranged from $2-4 a foot. The building is ~9,000 sq. ft. so $18-36K to polish. I didn't really care about getting a show quality floor rather just a clean non-dusting, light reflecting, well sealed floor, that would work well in a shop. I was shooting for a Home Depot quality floor. Keep in mind the process I'm doing is not apples to apples with a ground floor. I'm not getting down into the aggregate or deep enough to remove every stain or blemish, just opening up the troweled surface, densifying it, polishing, and sealing.
Anyway, I had a floor cleaner and some basic tools, I bought a ride on burnisher for $3K. My materials cost is about $2500 including diamond pads, burnishing pads, densifyer and sealer. I am using Convergent chemical products and Gorila Diamond Pads.
https://www.concretetreatments.com/United-States/EN/
http://www.etcpads.com/products/diamond-pads/
So the process that I went through..
1. Steam cleaned, used Chomp on the oil stains, Whink rust remover, degreased and steam cleaned again.
2. Started with 200 and then 400 grit pads I wet ground the floor. I kept it wet because I didn't have a vacuum system and the dust would have been terrible.
3. Cleaned it using the floor machine, more pressure washing, etc. Lots of nasty concrete dust. The slurry was about 1/4" deep after each step.
4. Densified using pump sprayer and micro-fiber mop
5. Then dry burnished with 800,1500,3000 grit diamond pads.
6. Between steps I blew out all the dust with a gas yard blower and cleaned it using the floor machine. The dust in the higher grits isn't nearly as bad as the lower grits.
7. Then I put 3 coats of sealer on. I like the Convergent sealer because it doesn't build up on the surface, never has to be stripped, etc. So maintenance should be easy.
8. I went over the floor with a boar hair burnishing pad between each coat of sealer.
Anyway, enough typing, here are the before and after pictures.
BTW- In a smaller space this could be done very reasonably IMO with a $500 walk behind burnisher, which you can use to keep it maintained later.
