POLISHED CONCRETE FLOORS

Source:www.stonediamondtool.com Date:2019/9/3 Read:315

Polished Concrete Floors are no different. Polishing all your  Home, Office, Facilities, Schools, Institutions, Manufacturing Plants and Outside Porch and Patio Venues have floors in common. While type and amount may vary, every location has a floor of some kind. Daily maintenance keeps all floors looking their best. The topic for today is talking about polished concrete floors. Some facility managers and building service contractors have been told that polished concrete floors only water is needed to maintain their shine and beauty. This myth abounds. All water has mineral properties, some cities are worse than others, so let's talk about any shiny surface to start.

Cleaning Products - Any cleaner that is intended to strip grease, wax, etc., will lessen the shine of the flooring. So, cleaning crews, janitors, and maids should use the most neutral cleaner possible, whether mopping or autoscrubbing, and preferably one that is rinse-free. While autoscrubbing simplifies cleaning larger areas of polished concrete; the biggest mistake made with this type of cleaning is the type of cleaning pad used. It can't be that heavy of a brush or too coarse in structure and still help maintain shine. Check with your supplier if you are unsure about which grade pad to use for your floor buffer.

Most managers agree: “All you need is a standard plastic brush,” says Jonathan Palecko, regional sales manager at National Chemical Laboratories, Philadelphia. “You don’t need anything fancy. [A standard brush] will get into all of the pores and crevices of the concrete. That’s all you need.” If you have a decorative type concrete floor, or an unusal finish then we may need to review the specifics of your location.

Harsh Pad Use - Why use a brush or red pad that is too harsh? Over time the shine will go away right? Polished concrete has a different goal with the floor shine. The whole idea is unlike many other types of flooring, the job isn’t to shine a finish on the flooring, but to shine the actual concrete itself. There is that big difference. Beyond daily mopping or autoscrubbing, there will be some heavier maintenance necessary as well. For most public spaces, the floors should be polished with a crystalizer or a restorer-type hardener. These types of interval treatments are pretty much determined by the amount of traffic on the floor; and general rule of thumb is that interval needs to be weekly or bi-weekly.

The truth is that polished concrete will need a little more care over time to keep it beautiful. If heavy wear patterns start to appear in high-traffic areas, a restoration paste can help even things out a little; but at some point, however, the floor will need to be diamond-honed or polished with stronger brushes or diamond pads. Just be sure to add this additional cost to your annual budget.

The cleaning industry at large keeps the floors of America looking beautiful. If you are unsure about that process then you need to call us right now. The success of polished concrete cleaning protocols rests on whether there has been adequate training and whether the training is followed. Distributors should set up systems that encourage end users to read product labels carefully and follow the manufacturer’s instructions if you have a current staff that is responsible to keep your polished concrete floor clean and looking beautiful.

It is important that if you have polished concrete flooring, keeping that shine goes beyond regular care. Proper light diffusion can help train customers to be able to see when a floor needs something beyond ordinary, daily maintenance. Do you want a high gloss, one in which the reflection of a light bulb is clear and crisp, or just a brightness. Although that’s usually the expectation with high-grade marble or other stone floors, it’s unusual with polished concrete. If facility owners want it, however, they can get it.

Even if the optimal look for the facility is much softer, where the light will diffuse nicely on the floor, it’s the end user’s job to be able to look at the floors and see whether they’re ready for more maintenance. Your local distributors and manufacturers should be able to help end users learn the look of their polished concrete. Desired looks to achieve may require 10 to 12 steps to really bring the floor back into it's full beauty. Any one of those options will involve diamond honing or polishing.