Tips for Keeping Polished Concrete Floors Looking Perfect
There’s many reasons why polished concrete flooring has found its way into shops, offices, homes and luxury developments across the UK. Quite apart from the range of custom finishes available, the high-gloss WOW factor, and its amazing durability, there’s the added allure of hands-off maintenance. In this blog our flooring specialists offer tips for the best way to clean polished concrete floors.
How Can I Keep the ‘Just Polished’ Look?
That’s the first question many of our clients ask at handover, and who can blame them? The sheen of a newly polished floor is stunning, and the good news is that it’s pretty easy to maintain. The vital factor in any polished concrete cleaning regime is keeping the surface dust-free. Dust, or the absence of it, plays a key role in sheen retention.
Dust contains tiny particles of grit that can create minute scratches on your polished flooring. In the short term this isn’t a problem, but over time the scratches accumulate. This causes the polished sheen to dull. Which is why it’s important to keep concrete polished flooring free of dust with regular sweeping or vacuuming.
Polished Concrete Flooring Maintenance
Here’s our 3-step guide to cleaning your polished concrete floor:
- Sweep or Hoover Daily. This is particularly important for polished concrete kitchen floors, or concrete flooring with a high footfall.
- Mop the Floor. Use warm water with a pH-neutral detergent to clean the floor. We would recommend using a micro-fibre mop for the best results. Apply clean water after initial cleaning to remove soap residue.
- Let Your Floor Dry Naturally. Simply open the windows and let nature do its work.
What could be simpler? The trick is to create a routine of daily sweeping and regular mopping – every two days.
Stain Management
Concrete is a porous material which means that it’s susceptible to staining. A sealant applied as part of the polishing process reduces the risk of staining, but it cannot eliminate it completely. Our advice to clients is always to deal with spillages quickly. The major culprits are liquids with a high pH such as: wine, fruit juice, vinegar, orange juice, black coffee or tomato juice.
If you have a spillage simply wipe it up with kitchen paper straight away. Then clean the area around it with warm soap and water, rinse and allow to dry naturally.
Sealant Replacement
The sealant which protects the surface of your concrete polished floor will wear over time. Dependent on the volume of traffic your flooring experiences, we would recommend professional sealant replacement every 2-4 years. DirectStone uses HTC Superfloor™ polishing machines to remove the worn sealant and re-polish, leaving your floor looking as good as new.
Working With DirectStone
We create, restore and maintain beautiful polished concrete flooring throughout the UK mainly in London, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. If you think that your concrete flooring needs re-sealing, or you’d like us to take a look at polished concrete that has lost its sheen, call or message us and we’ll respond promptly. We provide free, no obligation quotes on every job.
To speak to one of our flooring specialists about the best way to clean or maintain your polished concrete flooring, call 01525 20863920
