Polished Concrete

Lackluster is not always what you're stuck with when your floors are made of concrete. Check out this primer on polishing concrete flooring from the Concrete Network, a great source for all things concrete. If the concrete is already in place, it can be polished to all levels of smoothness, from a very high gloss to a kind of "honed" texture.

If it is not yet poured, pigments can be added to give the flooring some color throughout the material. Just look at the photos below to see what concrete can do...

-regina

Comments (8)

Some people are a little ignorant here. First to the guy that said concrete flooring transfers 100% of the sound is completely false. First off any concrete floor above ground such as in an apartment building, have sound dampening mats underneath them. This goes for any type of flooring material. To everyone that says they dont like it because its cold and too hard to stand on, have you ever stood on tile, natural stone..etc that is used EVERYWHERE?? Whats the difference?
Sealed concrete is not "polished concrete" Polished concrete is achieved by mechanicaly grinding and polishing the concrete with diamond tooling to a mirrored finish. Sealed concrete is just that...sealed concrete, not polished. Polished concrete (besides granite and maybe terrazzo) is one of the most durable and longest lasting flooring materials available...this also is determined on how skilled the installer is.

Freestylmx and other experts.. need bit of your help guys.
I have been able to grind/ hone/ polish my concrete floor pretty fine, and now the surface shines like a mirror. However I dont know what to seal it with. Any epoxy or acrylic sealant pretty much defeats the purpose as they take away the smoothness of the surface. I have been told that wax polish even with 2 to 3 layer cannot really protect the surface against abrasion. So what are my options? Help.

Hi Sajidd,

If you don't want the concrete to be darkened by the sealer, nor leave any sealer on the surface which will abrade and deteriorate over time, you can use "Miracle 511 Porous Plus" which can be purchased at tile stores and is a penetrating sealer and will protect against both oil and water intrusion. Further protection can be had by a coat or two of wax, but that is not absolutely necessary. It's around $70. - 80 dollars a quart, but it goes a long way on properly polished concrete, which it sounds like you already have.

I hope this helps. If you need more information or help, contact me. http://robertrowendesign.com

I have the same problem as Stacy. The rubber pad that I used for my rug on my concrete floors has stuck because of my radiant heating. Anyone know how to clean this mess up? It looks like I need to scrape it off somehow, but will this disturb the finish?

To Rachel and Stacy,

It depends on how your concrete was finished to begin with, and on the composition of your pad. To be safe, start with a hair dryer and a plastic scraper. If residue remains, try GooGone. Both of these methods likely won't hurt anything.

If you need more help, you can contact me through my website. http://robertrowendesign.com

Theres a great site called metrocrete about stained and polished floors. Lots of info

The best sealer to use for concrete is a water based penetrating sealer like "Universal Stone Sealer" by Brightstone.
If one wants the wet look go with a water based Stone Color Enhancer.
To give it a little shine use Bees Wax or carnauba wax polish.

The most important thing is sealing it to prevent stains.

I also have the same problem as Rachel and Stacy: to keep my area rugs from slipping, I used these rubber foam non-slip grip pads but they seem to have "melted" into my polished concrete floor and now it's a nasty, messy stain! Reminds me a bit of the dark, old gum stains you see on city sideways. I tried to scrape off most of it but it seems to have become one with the floor. I will try Robert's suggestion of using the hair dryer and will update if it works!