Concrete Polishing

What is polished concrete?

Polished concrete is a slab that has been ground flat with diamond tooling, hardened, and then polished in finer and finer steps until it shines. It is not a coating. The concrete itself becomes the finished floor, and a protective guard goes on at the end to help it resist stains.

With polished concrete, the slab you already have is the floor. That is the whole appeal: a hard, bright surface made from material that is already in the building, with no new flooring to buy and nothing laid on top.

What finishes can you get with polished concrete?

You choose two things: how much of the stone inside the concrete shows, and how much the floor shines.

• Cream. A light grind that keeps the smooth top layer of the slab, with little or no stone showing.
• Salt and pepper. A little deeper, so fine sand and small specks of stone show through.
• Exposed aggregate. A heavy grind down into the larger stones, for a look close to terrazzo (the speckled stone floors in older schools and banks).

The shine runs from a soft satin to a high gloss that reflects the lights overhead, and we polish to whichever level you pick. Color can be added to the concrete too, if you want something other than natural gray. Every slab is a little different, because the stone and sand in it came from wherever it was poured, so we look at yours before we promise a finish.

Where does polished concrete make sense?

Indoors, on a sound slab, anywhere the floor works hard and needs to stay easy to clean: warehouses, shops and garages, showrooms and retail floors, offices, restaurants, churches, and gyms. For businesses it sits alongside the rest of our commercial flooring work, and we can quote a building that needs polished concrete in one area and a different floor in the next.

In a home, it belongs where someone wants the concrete look: a basement, a barndominium, a slab-on-grade house, a shop, or a garage. If you love that look, we will polish it. If what you want underfoot is warmth, softness, and quiet, our pick is still a WPC luxury vinyl plank over that same slab. We would rather tell you that up front.

Can you polish an old concrete floor?

Usually, yes. A lot of good slabs are sitting under old epoxy, paint, sealer, tile, or glue. We grind the old coating or adhesive off, fill the control joints (the straight cuts in a slab that give it a place to crack neatly), repair cracks, and patch chipped spots. Then we polish it. One honest note: the patches and filled joints come out gray, so they will show in the finished floor rather than disappear into it.

What is on the slab and what shape it is in decide the work, which is why we come look before we quote.

Do you do concrete grinding without polishing?

Yes. Sometimes a slab only needs to be ground: flattened before a new floor goes down, or stripped of an old coating so the next one bonds. We take those jobs on their own. Diamond grinding is also where every epoxy floor we install starts.

Polished concrete or epoxy?

It depends on the space, so ask us. The difference is simple to state. Polishing refines the concrete itself, and epoxy is a coating that goes on top of it. Epoxy is where solid colors, metallic pours, and decorative flake come from. Polished concrete keeps the look of the concrete, from a clean cream to exposed stone. We install both, so we can walk you through them for your floor with no reason to push one over the other.

What to expect from a concrete polishing job

1. Estimate. We come look at the slab: what is on it, the joints and cracks, and how it is holding up. You get the price and the timeline with the estimate, because the size of the floor and the condition of the slab decide both.
2. Grinding. Diamond tooling takes off whatever is on the surface and flattens the slab. We grind wet or dry, depending on the slab and the building.
3. Repair and hardening. Joints get filled, cracks and chipped spots get repaired, and a densifier (a liquid that soaks in and hardens the surface) goes into the concrete.
4. Polishing. Finer and finer diamonds bring the floor up to the shine you picked, and the guard goes on last.

Our crew is certified in concrete polishing by Concrete Polishing Solutions, the Norris, Tennessee company that builds the grinders and diamond tooling. That certification covered every step on this list, from stripping an old coating to the final polish.

How do you take care of a polished concrete floor?

Dust mop it often and clean it with a neutral floor cleaner. Grit tracked in on shoes is what dulls the shine over time, so keeping it off the floor does most of the work. Every floor we polish comes with care instructions. For a busy floor, or for anyone who would rather not think about it, we also offer maintenance that brings the shine back when traffic wears it down.

Can you polish outdoor concrete?

No, and we will not sell you on it. A polished finish does not hold up outdoors. It will start chipping away. Patios, driveways, and porches are the wrong place for it. Polishing is an indoor floor.

If you are getting prices on polished concrete anywhere from Athens to Maryville, get ours. The estimate is free: request an estimate or stop by the showroom in Madisonville.