Concrete Polishing Pads
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When you think of a concrete floor, the image of a run down garage or a bland warehouse floor come to mind. But between paint and stain and polishing, a concrete floor can shine so wonderfully that anyone seeing it might mistake it for marble of some other fine stone. The trick is not in the quality of the concrete or in the talent in polishing the concrete so it is a smooth clean surface. That is part of it but the real wizardry around how to make a concrete floor just shine lies in how you clean and polish it. Those are the skills worth building because using them you can transform a room and make it really special.
As with any surface, the key to achieving a high shine polish on a concrete floor is to start with a perfectly clean surface. The starting point is to sweet and vacuum the concrete surface thoroughly. You cannot be fussy enough about this step. When you put the polish down, you do not want any form of residue to get between the pads you are using to polish the concrete and the floor. So go over the floor several times to be sure you get any form of dust, dirt or any small particles of litter up before starting the polishing process.
Now follow up with a thorough washing of the floor with a good reliable cleanser. If you are working with an unfinished surface, you can use a harsher cleanser that utilizes ammonia to get up the dirt. If you are polishing a concrete surface that has already been sealed, stained or professionally polished and you want to be sure you don’t remove the existing treatment, use a milder cleanser that is specifically designed for treated concrete floors.
The initial polishing of a concrete surface calls for the use of a machine that works very much like a mechanized sander. The pads you will use are a fine grain concrete polishing composite that are designed specifically to grind down the rougher elements of a concrete surface until you have realized a smooth and shiny result. The machines can generally be rented or you can contract to have the initial polishing procedure done for you.
This initial polishing process takes several passes using finer and finer pads so that eventually the grinding is done and the pads are shining and refining the finished process. If you do rent your polishing machine to do the job yourself, you can usually get some good advice and the right kinds of pads from your vendor. But be patient with the steps and don’t rush the process because you want the best outcome for your investment.
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When the polishing is done you can use a commercial polish similar to furniture wax to finish the job. By the time the final polish is done, you should have a shine that really sparkles so much so that you would swear that you did not start from concrete. And when you get that level of shine, you will have been successful in your polishing efforts.
