When it comes to polishing finished concrete, generally there are two options: mechanical or chemical. If you want to get the shinest surface with the least amount of effort, opt for mechanical polishing. Diamond polishing is one of the most common methods used to get a shiny glass-like surface.
There are some common methods used to get a sheen in concrete. These include using mechanical means like a wet polishing process using a special grinder, applying a sealer, or adding an epoxy coating.
To achieve a high-gloss finish on concrete, you can either polish the surface with the appropriate diamond tooling or you can use a quality high-gloss concrete sealer.
Concrete goes from a dull, rough surface to a shiny, smooth, polished surface through a series of grinding steps. This grinding is done with a series of diamond impregnated floor pads. These pads contain millions of microscopic diamonds that are used to grind the concrete and make it smoother.
As we noted earlier, concrete sealers produce a very smooth surface on top of the concrete once it has fully cured, which gives your driveway valuable resistance to water, oil, and stains.
Screeds
Screeds come in a variety of sizes and can be a specific tool (also called straight edges or bump cutters), or can be simple flat pieces of dimensional lumber. The purpose of a screed is to smooth concrete after it has been moved into place by scraping away any excess from the slab surface.
The Sparkle Grain Finish system is an eye-catching, black (or white) sparkle which is an iridescent black sil-car abbrasive (or white oxide) grit concrete additive that provides a mirror like sparkle that is dramatic both day and night.
To make the sparkle even more prominent, he recommends integrally coloring the concrete mix. A metallic aggregate from Pacific Palette Concrete Products that comes in black and white, Sparkle Grain is recommended where you want a decorative, hard, nonslip surface.
Acrylic is best for decorative, high-gloss, and color-enhancing applications. Concrete floors in basements, garages, and shops take a lot of abuse over time. Either water-based or solvent-based acrylic will provide a high degree of protection, but solvent-based usually lasts longer.
Sealing concrete is a necessity: It keeps your floors clean, glossy and stain-resistant. Regularly applying a protective coating is vital to preventing chips, cracks and dirt buildup.
Low-luster acrylic latex paint is designed for high durability that resists peeling, fading and other damage while hiding imperfections. The best concrete paint for patios will feature an enamel finish that resists mold and mildew growth.
A glossy concrete sealer finish has a higher percentage of solid content than the one with a matte finish, making its overall film or coating to be much thicker. The thicker content of this finish then makes its surface appear to be shiny as if it is wet all the time.
A wet look sealer, as the name implies, is a concrete and masonry coating designed to make surfaces appear as though they are wet. Treated surfaces will have a slightly darker look, some color enhancement, and a glossy finish.
Concrete was tested for compressive strength and flexural strength. The results showed that with the increase of glass powder up to 20% strength increases and beyond that it decreases.
Bleach. If your concrete is dull and sprouting weeds or mold, bleach is your best option for cleaning and brightening concrete.
Keeping your floors dust-free is as simple as a nightly sweep with a microfibre mop. If you don't have one of these, a cotton or soft bristled broom will also do the job. Then, once a week, go over the area with a damp mop. This will remove any residual dust and really get your floors shining again.
Spray a mixture of hot water and oxygen bleach onto the concrete. Follow the mixing instructions on the oxygen bleach for best results. The oxygen bleach helps whiten the concrete and is not as toxic as chlorine bleach.
In addition to sequestering carbon, an advantage to adding baking soda is a faster-setting concrete mix that can allow formwork to be removed earlier, reducing the time required to complete a structure, says Admir Masic, the study's lead researcher and an associate professor in MIT's department of civil and ...
Diamond polishing is one of the most common methods used to get a shiny glass-like surface. It uses industrial diamonds to smooth, grind, and ultimately polish the surface. The grit you use determines the level of sheen you'll get on your floors. The finer the abrasive grit, the better.
Although the terms cement and concrete often are used interchangeably, cement is actually an ingredient of concrete. Concrete is a mixture of aggregates and paste. The aggregates are sand and gravel or crushed stone; the paste is water and portland cement.
Grind with a 150-grit metal-bonded diamond (or finer, if desired). Apply a chemical hardener to densify the concrete. Polish with a 100- or 200-grit resin-bond diamond, or a combination of the two. Polish with a 400-grit resin-bond diamond.