Polished concrete floors have become an increasingly popular flooring choice due to their durability and low maintenance needs, yet many still misunderstand what this involves.
Substitution eliminates the need for topical coatings, cleaners and adhesives; cutting maintenance time and costs while providing a safer facility for employees and customers.
Aesthetics
Polished concrete slabs Melbourne offers interior designers an ideal canvas to unleash their visual creativity. Its reflective surface reflects light, creating a bright environment while cutting energy costs by decreasing artificial lighting needs.
Concrete offers an eye-catching aesthetic for those seeking something bolder. Dyeing or staining concrete to match any design scheme, and polishing to different degrees of sheen from no gloss at all to mirror-like shine are among many available options for creating an eye-catching appearance.
Bravo suggests ensuring all parties involved in a concrete polishing project agree on their desired level of sheen and aggregate exposure when choosing a contractor to complete it. Different sheen levels require different processes and equipment, which in turn impacts cost. Furthermore, certain acidic or heavily pigmented liquids can stain mechanically polished polished concrete even at its highest sheen, necessitating protective sealers; yet concrete remains highly resistant to staining when compared with other hard flooring options like tile.
Durability
Polished concrete flooring is highly resilient, lasting long with minimal upkeep requirements and offering more cost-effectiveness than alternatives like polished floorboards or quality floor tiling.
Concrete used to produce polished floors must be poured and finished to an exacting standard in order to facilitate the grinding and polishing process. Builders should be aware of this requirement prior to pouring, and ideally design concrete for this specific finish type.
Polishing concrete uses diamond-bonded abrasives to achieve gloss and smoothness at desired levels, grinding through series of increasingly finer grits until reaching desired gloss levels and smoothness levels. Grit selection impacts overall look, clarity reflections stone exposure durability of finished surface. Three distinct polished finishes exist for polished concrete: matte (light polishing), satin (mid polishing) and honed which creates low sheen with penetrating sealers needed. Cost will depend upon sheen level desired design patterns area size
Energy Efficiency
Concrete has the unique capability of reflecting light, thus decreasing lighting needs while simultaneously improving ambient illumination by as much as 30%, leading to reduced costs and helping businesses obtain LEED certifications.
Concrete flooring is an environmentally-friendly choice that’s eco-friendly as well as long-term and requires little or no maintenance costs. Furthermore, its use does not release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere – another important environmental benefit!
Stains may also be applied to concrete that chemically interact with cured concrete, producing antiqued or variegated looks. Once applied to the surface, these stains won’t peel, chip, or fade; you can control how much aggregate exposure there is by selecting either burnished, honed, or matte finishes (this determines price per square meter rate) while keeping its sheen with mopping with water or eco-friendly cleaning solutions.
Safety
An expertly polished concrete floor creates an inherently non-slip surface, improving safety measures and helping to prevent slips, trips and falls that could potentially result in serious injury.
Polishing concrete floors increases their density and fills any pores that typically shed dust, thus decreasing the need for floor dusting, which helps prevent contamination of products as well as improving air quality in warehouse environments.
Polished concrete floors reflect light to increase ambient lighting throughout a facility, decreasing energy costs while creating an inviting and clean appearance in any room. This benefit is especially prominent in auto showrooms where smooth floors allow cars to be displayed at their best.