Creating a Polished Stone Effect on Concrete Floor

A concrete floor is often looked upon as being unfinished and ugly. You can put a rug on top of it, but underneath is still the dull gray of the concrete poking from the sides. Here are some ways that can turn that dull gray into a beautifully polished concrete floor.

Before Laying the Concrete

To make it easy to polish concrete, it's better to do it while the concrete is waiting to be poured. This process involves adding color or stain to the mix. When you pour the concrete, the color will be changed. There are other additives you can add in order to make it receptive to a high gloss shine. This type of shine makes the concrete appear as though it were wet.

Professional Concrete Floor Polishing Services

When you want that professional polished look it is always advised to go to the professionals. Prices are reasonable, especially for those with a small area to polish.

There are several steps a professional service takes to polish a concrete floor. First, they wash and clean the surface with heavy duty chemicals. Then they use fine diamond grit sandpaper and high powered commercial sanders to do away with the texture in the concrete. This can take a long time to complete, in order to make the surface completely flat. Once the surface is flat and there is a shine to it they will either stain it, paint it or use acid on the concrete. A coat or two of polyurethane is applied to keep the polish safe.

Polishing the Concrete Floor Yourself

This is no easy task ask you will most likely have to rent several pieces of equipment including:

  • Floor buffer
  • Professional floor grinder

Aside from the rental equipment you will need:

  • Fine diamond sandpaper (these are discs or segments for the grinder)
  • Polyurethane
  • Power washer
  • Concrete stain
  • Hand grinder

The first thing you have to do is install the diamond grit paper to the grinding system. Use the grinder to make the floor as flat as possible. The diamonds that are in the paper will create a very flat, smooth surface with a nice sheen to it. You will most likely need to use a larger grit paper and work your way down to a very fine one. Corners are more difficult, and for this job you will need the hand sander. Once the grinding is finished, power wash the floor and let it dry. Grind it more if you need to, but if you don't then continue on. Apply one to two coats of concrete stain. Let it dry completely until you get your desired color. When it's dry put a top coat of polyurethane on it to seal the color.