Concrete polishing HELP

[Russ T.]

My brother in law just priced a 2k ft.² building on his property for concrete polishing.

Quote was $7800 without a stain. It would take the company 5 days.

He's a very handy and hard working guy and wondering if he might even buy a Werkmaster.

I told him I'd never heard of such a thing but would throw it out here.

I own a Cimex. Could he buy some heads for it?

Should we be doing this???

Thanks!

 

[Mikey P]

@Cameron DeMille

 

[dealtimeman]

does he want it perfect?

do you and he have time to be doing this?

can you see yourself offering this service to more of your or his clients?

how level or not level is the floor?

any large cracks or lifted areas of concrete ( any seams higher that rest of floor)?

all questions you need to answer before attempting this. but at 4 bucks a foot it might be a good learning experience for y'all.

is there a jondon or interlink/aramsco around you?

 

[Mikey P]

I dont think the carpet cimex is capable of polishing concrete

 

[dealtimeman]

not heavy enough in my opinion but there are different versions of the cimdx for grinding and polishing concrete.

 

[Russ T.]

Closest Interlink is in Omaha, Jon Don is in Chicago...

Thanks for any advice...

 

[dealtimeman]

how far?

where can you get a rental?

 

[Cameron DeMille]

I have very briefly used a Werkmaster. I have a local friend that invested heavily in a used Werkmaster. I have talked to many people that have used a Werkmaster and traditional planetary machine. From the information I have gathered over the years and the impression I got when running the machine, I would never, ever buy a Werkmaster.

1. Tooling is incredibly expensive, like pure insanity. It uses 8 heads. Spend $12K on a machine? You can easily spend that in tooling
2. It's light. They try and make up for the lack of weight with speed. It doesn't work IMO

However, they do very well in some instances, like getting nice and close to the wall, they are easy to run and maneuver

I have a Cimex that I converted to 220v and I have used it for grinding stone and concrete. It will do small jobs, like up to 1500. If someone wanted to pursue concrete polishing as a business, I would not recommend the Cimex.

I sell a line of equipment from Italy called Samich. They have a newer machine called the Mito. It's a planetary system, but with the ability to insert a pin and lock out the main head, so that only the 3 individual heads spin, but do not orbit. This allows for very aggressive grinding for coating and thinset removal. If he is looking to invest in equipment to pursue this line of work, I would consider one of these. These allow you to take on a little bit more with a smaller machine. Also Terrco is a staple in the concrete industry.

Concrete is finicky, and IMO no, you should not be doing this as your first job. First jobs should be smaller, that way if something goes wrong or doesn't work out well, you're limited to the square footage of the job. In this case, it can end up costing you big time. The only thing consistent about concrete is that it is inconsistent.

Dave Gelinas, the brother of Rick Gelinas, who owns Exellent Supply is very well versed in concrete polishing. He uses, or used a Cimex for a long time.

There is also a Fcaebook page for concrete refinishing where you might be able to get some good info, I don't have as much experience with it as I do stone: https://www.facebook.com/groups/351233708409767/450698638463273/?notif_t=group_activity