Polished Concrete
Polished concrete combines elegance, style and durability, making it the 21st century design aesthetic of choice for commercial, domestic and retail spaces. The gorgeous mirror-like lustre of the concrete polished floor is the product of sophisticated preparation, cleaning and polishing process which creates a beautiful surface sheen. This unique flooring product not only looks good, it also provides a range of environmental benefits, and ongoing maintenance is surprisingly light touch.
Polished Concrete Finishes
HTC Superfloor™ is the revolutionary flooring concept with a technique that makes concrete more than just strong and hard-wearing. The technique is as simple as it is ingenious. HTC’s machines and diamond tools grind and polish concrete floors to remove the surface paste and expose the stronger concrete and aggregate beneath. The result of this process is a stronger, more durable, shiny and beautiful floor. The environment and your bottom line both benefit too.
HTC Superfloor™ is available as four different concepts. Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. This means you can choose between a floor with a matt surface finish or a high gloss finish with less to more of the aggregate showing through.
Is polished concrete for you?
As a flooring option polished concrete is becoming incredibly popular and seriously fashionable. We love concrete but want to make sure it is right for you and your project, whether a 20m2 residential extension or a 10,000m2 office or warehouse.
Durability: Polished concrete is extremely tough and resilient and can withstand high pressure and traffic in warehouses and homes.
Easy to maintain: polished concrete is porous so needs to be sealed every 2-5 years depending on traffic etc otherwise general mopping or cleaning with a scrubber drier utilising an HTC Twister polishing pad will keep it looking lovely
Eco-Friendly: No new material is introduced to the building, the concrete is a component of the build. Since no new material is introduced the carbon footprint for the finish is zero as opposed to tiles, wood or vinyl.
Versatile: if you have a paste finish it can be further ground back to expose aggregate in years to come or another flooring option can be introduced at some point in the future without expensive and awkward modifications.
Long lasting: properly densified and sealed a polished concrete floor will last the life of the building, even in commercial applications if maintained correctly.
Design Options: the possibilities for a polished concrete floor are endless: from aggregate colours and sizes, stains, pigments, dry shake toppings, even glow in the dark pellets can be included in the slab. Grinding to expose aggregate or not, polish levels, each polished concrete floor is unique.
Drawbacks:
Hardness: polished concrete is very hard, drop anything on it and it will probably break.
Cold: without underfloor heating in a residential or office environment it will be very hard to keep warm.
Variation: polished concrete floors have a degree of movement and variation. They do not produce a homogenous finish. Every polished concrete floor will be different and unique in terms of stones and colour variation. If you want a perfectly homogenous finish then a resin topping may be a better option.
Colour: concrete isn’t grey unless you ask for it to be. A paste finish power floated floor will have dark grey, beige and lighter areas, it is very industrial and not for everyone. Think warehouse floors and you will be close. Dry Shakes can be power floated into the concrete as it is being installed to give you the colour you desire on a paste finish or stains can be applied during the polishing process if aggregate exposure is required.
Expense: a polished concrete floor won’t save you money over a premium tile or wood floor, they are all roughly the same cost but remember it will last the lifetime of the the building and it will be unique to you!
Existing concrete slabs
Not all existing concrete can be polished. The concrete needs to be hard and dense, made up of an aggregate, cement and water, a tamped slab may not be dense enough, also a screed of sand and cement will not produce a polished concrete floor. We can test a concrete slabs’ suitability for polishing using a MOHS hardness test.
We can arrange to have a slab installed for you and then polish the new slab or polish your existing concrete slab (if it is hard and dense enough) using Werkmaster Ultrafloor and HTC Superfloor processes both of which produce an incredibly durable and beautiful polished concrete floor.
We have contractors who can install and power float from 20m2 to 10,000m2 which we can then polish to the finish and shine of your choice.
HTC Superfloor™ Bronze
Bronze is the concept with the least number of grinding and polishing stages. This concept does not involve exposing the construction concrete. Instead, the top layer of the surface paste is polished but not removed. This process creates a stronger surface paste with a shiny finish. The initial concrete must be very flat and level
HTC Superfloor™ Silver
The Silver concept is a version of Platinum. Using this concept, you grind as deep into the concrete as with Platinum, but do not polish it. The ballast is exposed as with Platinum. Silver is therefore excellent if you want a floor with a matt surface finish.
HTC Superfloor™ Gold
Using the Gold concept, you do not grind as deep into the concrete as with Platinum. This means that less ballast is exposed. Just like the other concepts, Gold then involves polishing the floor with HTC Twister™ to achieve a gloss that is almost as brilliant as a Platinum finish. Gold produces a floor with excellent resistance to marks from truck wheels, etc. HTC Superfloor™ Gold is ideal for concrete floors that are already even and level.
HTC Superfloor™ Platinum
Platinum produces the glossiest finish and is the concept we normally recommend to our customers. It involves more grinding stages than the other concepts. The result is an unbeatably durable floor. Truck wheels and substances leave no marks on the glossy surface and light reflects gently off the floor.
