Concrete Polishing: Not Only for Basements
When concrete floors are mentioned, it’s a common picture to imagine either a look of the basement, the garage and a few of the outer exposed parts within homes and establishments. Because this is where concrete floor were known to be used for, but not for long. Everyone had realized the versatility of concrete floors, opening it to a variety of things to work with.
Because it is extremely flexible, interior designers and decorators alike have gotten the liking on including these concrete floor design options as part of their plans on both commercial and private floor designing. It doesn’t end there. Homeowners themselves are including these concrete floor design options done on their concrete floors.
The idea of concrete flooring being a simple gray slab will no longer be common because its versatility had brought it to new levels of appreciation. Both in small and huge establishments are gaining a liking on the design possibilities that can be adopted on concrete floors. From coffee places, restaurants, hotel lobbies, and even in offices and private homes, concrete polished floor is becoming very favored.
You can choose from staining, painting, and dying coloring options for your concrete floor. This way you’re free to design and color your concrete floor with choices that would compliment the look and feel of the room around it. With the inputs you’re giving it, you’re already personalizing its design making the results quite satisfying.
Concrete floors are also popular for its health benefits. It is actually naturally hypoallergenic making it quite an alternative for carpeting floor options. Because it is easy to clean and maintain, you’re guaranteed that allergens are removed effortlessly.
The feel of your room or place after having your floor decorated and style will depend upon the choice of color and concrete floor option. It may look majestic, classy, extravagant, bold, and many other appearance matching your character. By making sure you had the time to really manage and think about the design, you will be able to place a bit of your quality on the results of the concrete decoration output.
Tips: Creating a Beautiful Entry Way
Patios, driveways, and pathways had long used concrete just the way it is, a simple gray concrete floor. Lately however, these concrete floors have become the target of interior designers, giving it a fresh new look. The unlimited designs possible for it bedazzles these interior designers that concrete polishing and redesigning became one of their favorite subjects to consider in their works.
Driveways, patios and pathways are all entryways that are bound to endure more traffic than any other rooms within the house. So although youd specifically want it to look great, it should have qualities that make it easy to clean, to maintain and must be durable enough for its purpose. Thats where concrete polishing comes in.
There are a number of options that you can choose to do for your concrete floors’ designing needs. You have there the acid staining which is a combination of water, hydrochloric acid and metallic salts compound. The acid stain reacts on the lime found on the concrete thus creating the colorful and beautiful design that still imitates the natural look of the concrete floor.
There a stenciling option too which is a concrete designing technique that gives the artist more freedom to create his stunning designs directly on the floor using the color combination of his will. This however, would require more work for the artist’s part, but it surely does give justice to the phrase, a work of art.
The decorative engraving option on the other hand is a concrete engraving design mostly done on old concretes. Its a means of dressing it up, carving a whole new design on an existing concrete, followed by necessary coloring and styling, and voila! A whole new concrete look. This makes a great alternative solution for redecorating in renovation needs.
Dyes or pigment augmentation are often included during the concrete installation so you have to usually decide whether you would want this for your patio before or during the concretes installation process. If in case the concrete had already been installed but you still wish to dye your floor, then you can choose a staining process for it.
Concrete polishing still stands out to be the most common solution in creating lovely pathways and interior designs for concrete floors. It is the most convenient, cost effective flooring option everyone wants. Its easy to maintain, and the unlimited design and style possibilities makes it the best looking floor option in town.
Concrete Polish’ Slip Resistance
Just by looking at a concrete polish’ finish, you’ll instantly have that question whether you’ll slide off because it might seem too smooth and shiny to walk to. Especially if what you have on is an stiletto, or a shoes with no rubber traction to it. Being an owner of an establishment meant to be visited by customers, or inside the house with toddlers, slippery floors should be avoided.
Signs like “slippery when wet” won’t necessarily prevent a slipping accident. When kids starts running around and no one is able to control them, they are bound to slip or fall anytime. So are these women wearing stiletto footwear, and men with their no traction soles. Its unavoidable, but can easily be prevented.
Slip resistance is a feature significant to these highly adored concrete polished floors. Slip resistant is term which relates to the measure of a surfaces ability to reduce or prevent the risk of slipping on both wet and dry conditions. Because of the increasing popularity of the concrete polished finish, the issue about its slip resistance becomes a highlight on its must have attributes.
There are a few aspects that contribute to the impact of these slipping risks. This includes the pavements surface finish, the sealer used, and the chosen texture. With the right combination of these three characters, you will be able to achieve the final surface roughness that you desire for your concrete polished pavement or floor.
The key to keeping a concrete polished floor safe and slip free is actually very simple. Besides making sure you have combined all three aspects the right way, all you are asked to do to keep the slip resistance of the floor is to make sure it does not have contaminants on it at all times.
These contaminants are usually the often cause of floors becoming slippery, especially when wet. So all in all, as long as you follow the simple steps, and keeping the concrete polished floor clean, gives you the safety and non slippery feature you want to achieve.
Basic Methods of Concrete Polishing
Just by hearing the term polished concrete already gives you that picturesque variety of decorative shiny concrete flooring possibilities. Polished concrete is the generic term for that said floor styling everyone had been adoring lately. Without the need for any other coating of vinyl, carpet or tiles, concrete polishing allows you the ability to expose the concrete floor as it is, but only more stylish.
There are three methods to use on concrete polishing: honing, burnishing, or trowelling. Depending on the design and pattern that you want for your floor, these three options will give you the sought of style that you always wanted. This offered concrete polishing option carries qualities like being energy efficient, dust free and requires low maintenance.
A steel trowelled finish is a concrete polishing process that can be achieved by hand or with a power trowelling machine. Whichever you will use depends mostly on the area to be processed. Trowelling marks are one of the downsides on this option however, if advised, can be fixed and or avoided. It gives off the typical natural grey concrete look, but can be upgraded to a lighter color by incorporating an amount of off white cement.
Burnishing is an option that can be done right after the trowelling process. When the concrete floor has reached that polished glossy appearance, alternative burnishing materials like floor waxes, liquid polishes, and resin based coatings can be applied for the look you are after for.
The honing process, which is the third method in the concrete polishing list, is the toughest or better yet, the one with the most required depth in the process. Through honing, one is required to grind the concrete surface with abrasives. Besides the smooth surface that it produces, aggravates should start to appear at some point adding up to the end aesthetic result.
With a little bit of creativity and a know how in mixing up all the said processes, a delightful, appreciated concrete polished output will be achieved. Include in desired color combination and desired pattern to input and you’ll have the polished concrete you can brag to your friends.