IVAN IMERMAN, International Building Supply CEO, shares why polished concrete is a good flooring choice when it comes to maintenance and how to ensure proper densification.
The growing trend of using polished concrete floors as a design element for retail and residential flooring has become the norm – polished concrete is now the most popular flooring system in the world.
It is used in major chain stores, individual retail outlets, restaurants, box stores and homes. Many of these facilities have switched their concept of flooring from tile, carpet or wood to polished concrete.
Polished concrete is not restricted to indoor floors. It can be used on external floors as well. It can also be retrofitted to turn old floors into new durable floors.
Polished concrete floors are more hygienic, easier to maintain and a lot more durable than tiles, carpet and timber. In addition, polished concrete floors’ maintenance costs are the lowest. Concrete floors can also assist in producing the correct slip coefficiency.
INCREASING CONCRETE FLOORS’ DURABILITY
The old system of applying sealers onto concrete is obsolete. The new technology today is called densification. Densification is a system of chemically modifying and hardening the existing concrete floor.
Not all densifiers work well. By looking at the floors of certain large retail facilities, it is possible to see how lower grade densifiers perform over five or 10 years – not well. A properly densified (hardened) floor will be harder than any other material and much more durable, enabling it to last indefinitely when maintained correctly.
The best densification system is chemically modified potassium. This type of densifier chemically modifies the concrete to produce a hard durable surface and with added unique extra chemicals it can be stain proof as well.
When polishing concrete, it is important also to have flat floors. The flatter the floor, the higher the reflection. Using a professional polished concreter with experience and the correct equipment will produce the best results.
