Concrete Polishing Progress

[Jeremy N]

In light of my recent depressing thread I thought I'd try to brighten up my day by sharing the progress of a polishing job I'm working on.

This is my first, so it is somewhat of an experiment.

I have to come back in a week to finish.


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[jmo]

Looking good so far. Looks like you have a pretty good floor to polish.

 

[Jeremy N]

Looking good so far. Looks like you have a pretty good floor to polish.

Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing. I am thankful that I was given a fairly flat floor to start with. Once I got through the epoxy/oil based sealer it has been a little smoother.

 

[Jeremy N]

Does anyone have any idea if cobbs impregnator is good for sealing polished concrete?

 

[floorguy]

what type of seal are you looking for???

all else fails, try a spot, then drip some oil on it....

anyway, look for a lithium based sealer if you just want it to "fill" the small pores...(penetrating versus topical)

did you use a densifier????

 

[Jeremy N]

what type of seal are you looking for???

all else fails, try a spot, then drip some oil on it....

anyway, look for a lithium based sealer if you just want it to "fill" the small pores...(penetrating versus topical)

did you use a densifier????

I will be using densifier. I wanted to throw down some sealer and then burnish. What do you think?

 

[Jeremy N]

One thing I noticed last night was that I had some light and dark spots on the floor. After closely inspecting I realized it was really hight and low spots. I had the floor almost flat but there was obviously more aggregate exposure on the high spots. The low spots looked like not much at all was removed. Will this hurt anything other than the look?

I can see not how that first cut is the most important. There is a learning curve for sure. I'm not sure how to better see when the floor is flat other than putting a straight edge on it. Any tips?

 

[J Scott W]

One thing I noticed last night was that I had some light and dark spots on the floor. After closely inspecting I realized it was really hight and low spots. I had the floor almost flat but there was obviously more aggregate exposure on the high spots. The low spots looked like not much at all was removed. Will this hurt anything other than the look?

I can see not how that first cut is the most important. There is a learning curve for sure. I'm not sure how to better see when the floor is flat other than putting a straight edge on it. Any tips?

You can check for flatness with a laser level. They can be obtained starting at under $50 to several hundred depending upon how much you will use it.. This will do the whole floor at once while a straight edge might only be 3' at a time.

Exposing more aggregate won't harm the integrity of the floor, just high high a gloss you get.

Hydro-Force has a top quality lithium based densifier and a good concrete sealer.
http://interlinksupply.com/index.php?item_num=CH50GL Densifier
http://interlinksupply.com/index.php?item_num=CH05GL concrete sealer for polished / densified concrete

I also have a 4 page brochure on concrete maintenance including densifiers and sealers. You can get it online from Interlink supply or send me an email. scottw@bridgewatercorp.net

 

[floorguy]

here is the thing with concrete.....

ITS NOT LEVEL....

you have high and low waves....

the few jobs i did years ago...i used a flexible diamond instead of the rigid type...

wont hurt the integrity but will change how some of the sealers look....

 

[juniorc82]

If im not mistaken don't you have to etch concrete before a sealer can go down so it will bond properly?

 

[Jeremy N]

If im not mistaken don't you have to etch concrete before a sealer can go down so it will bond properly?

You are thinking about concrete staining or epoxy of some sort. I am grinding and polishing, which is a different process.