Hardening the surface

Polished concrete floors usually have the surface hardened with a chemical before the second, third or fourth grinding pass. The chemical soaks into the floor and causes a chemical reaction that hardens the floor to produce a high shine when the polishing is finished and to increase the wear resistance of the floor. This process is often repeated at different stages to obtain the best possible finish.

Filling holes (grouting)

After the first concrete grinding pass, removing the top layer of concrete paste – millions of tiny air holes will be exposed. If these are not filled before the hardening process then the final polished concrete floor will show these unsightly imperfections. The holes can be filled with an acrylic tile adhesive type of product mixed with grinding dust and cement powder which is hand scraped across the floor using a trowel. Other rubberized adhesives can be sprayed ahead of the grinder, or the floor can be wet with water and the adhesive splashed across the floor so that the diamonds mix it into the holes with the grinding dust on the third or fourth pass. We have incorporated this process with the densifying step to save at least one pass.