Why Having Concrete Polished is Best Left to The Pros

Are you regretting having your concrete floors polished by someone other than a professional in Burnaby? You’re not alone. Thanks to the proliferation of DIY tutorials and online guides, everyone believes that they too can polish concrete like a professional. Unfortunately, more often than not, unskilled labour leads to lacklustre results.

The good news is that polished concrete isn’t permanent, and even a bad polishing job can be fixed—provided you get the right help. Here's why it's best to leave concrete polishing to the pros, and what you can do if your DIY attempt didn’t go as planned.

The Concrete Polishing Process

Concrete polishing seems straightforward enough, but it’s a multi-step process that requires precision and the right tools.

It all starts with the surface preparation. The floors need to be deep cleaned, including all surface blemishes and the removal of any previous coatings or sealants. The floor must also be relatively level, and smooth, and any existing cracks or pits must be repaired.

Once the prep work has been completed, the grinding begins. Using progressively finer metal-bonded diamond grits, the surface of the concrete is gradually ground down. After the first phase of grinding is complete a chemical hardener is usually applied to help fill in any gaps and deliver a more consistent finish. Once the hardener has dried, the grinding starts again, this time using progressively higher girt levels until the desired shine level is achieved.

Finally, the polished concrete is sealed to protect it from wear and tear, ensuring that the finish lasts.

How Concrete Polishing Goes Bad

Sounds simple? Not quite. If you don’t properly clean and prep the concrete, the polish won’t adhere evenly, leading to areas that look patchy or dull and not at all aesthetically pleasing. The same goes for repairing visible damage and grinding properly. Failing at any of these steps will not only impact the integrity of your polished concrete, but it also won’t look very nice.

Another problem is that polishing concrete requires specialized (and expensive) equipment. Many DIYers try to cut corners by using less effective tools, which as you can imagine, deliver inferior results.

And finally, there’s application. A lot of techniques go into achieving a quality concrete polish. If you don’t have the experience, it’s easy to over, under, or inconsistently polish your concrete floors leading to areas that at slippery, too rough, or an unsightly phenomenon known as “waves”.

Ways You Can Have Your Poorly Polished Concrete Floors Fixed in Burnaby

If you’ve already tried polishing your concrete floors yourself and the results are less than ideal, don’t worry. There are ways to fix the problem, and professional contractors in Burnaby can help.

If the main issue is unevenness or dullness, a professional can re-grind and then re-polish the floor using the right equipment and technique. For minor imperfections that don’t warrant full re-polishing, concrete staining is another option. A professional can apply a stain to the concrete which can help mask flaws.

In cases where you’ve damaged the concrete subfloor from overgrinding, you might still be able to avoid major repairs with an epoxy or polyurethane coating. These coatings give a glossy finish that mimics polished concrete. They also offer additional protection against future damage.

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