Concrete Grinding and Polishing http://www.clcweb.com/
Thanks to recent advances from Lavina Concrete Polishers and Superabrasive, Inc. concrete grinding mchines and concrete polishing pads, you can now grind and polish concrete floor surfaces, whether new or old, to a high-gloss finish that never needs waxes or coatings. Offering superior durability and ease of maintenance, polished concrete has become a popular flooring surface in warehouses, retail spaces, schools, and other high-traffic facilities Many people are choosing polished concrete floors because they are so durable and stand up better under heavy traffic than conventional tile or laminate floor coverings. Concrete can be colored or stained to give it a great look, or you can add colored aggregate or other material to the concrete mix that will show through when the floor is polished. More and more home owners and business owners are choosing polished concrete floors.
Grinding concrete and then polishing concrete is a multi-step process that can be completed by a single machine like the Lavina 25 concrete grinder and polisher. The process starts with very hard diamond grinding pads in grinding sequences using finer and finer grits until you get the desired finish on the concrete floor, followed by a second process to stain and seal the floor to the desired color and shine.
To help you get started, here are the basics.
The Lavina 25 concrete grinder or other concrete grinding machine is first used with diamond-segmented abrasives to grind down concrete surfaces to the desired degree of shine and smoothness. As when sanding wood, you gradually progress from coarser-grit to finer-grit abrasives. This is usually a 6 to 10 step process. The result can be a glossy, mirror-like finish, or a dull sheen, depending on your desired finish.
You can polish concrete using wet or dry methods. Although each has its advantages, dry polishing is the method most commonly used, but Superabrasive makes both dry pads or wet concrete grinding and polishing pads for the Lavina 25. The advantage of wet polishing with water is concrete dust elimination, and longer life for polishing pads provided by the water that acts as a lubricant. The water is messy and must be cleaned from the floor. Using the dry method with a special vacuum system like the Lavina Dustcontrol DC3800c costs a little more initially, but can save you time and money on the long run.
Equipment and Supplies
The concrete grinder and polisher is the main player of any polishing project. Look for a machine like the Livina 25 with a planetary drive system -- a large primary polishing head (ranging from 17 to 36 inches in diameter) fitted with smaller disks that hold the diamond abrasives. When the machine is operating, the satellite heads rotate in the opposite direction of the primary head to eliminate linear grinding marks in the floor.
You will also need a Handheld Polisher, like the Diaco 218 hand polisher to work along edges or in tight spots where a large walk-behind floor polisher can't maneuver. The edges along the walls can be reduced to only about one half inch if a Lavina 25 machine is used, but you will have to do a little hand grinding in corners and along edges with any larger polisher used.
Diamond Polishing Pads like the SuperAbrasive brand offered by Diaco Innovations in various grit levels, ranging from about 6 to 3500 are used to grid and polish concrete. Coarse diamond metal bonded pads are used for first few steps of grinding in grits ranging from about 6 to 220, and finer diamond segments embedded in a resin matrix for honing and final polishing from 100 to 3500 grit. Use ever-finer grits of polishing disks (a process called lapping) until the floor has the desired sheen. For an extremely high-gloss finish, a final grit of 1500 or finer may be used. Experienced polishing crews know when to switch to the next-finer grit by observing the floor surface and the amount of material being removed.
A dust collection system is need to capture the dust generated from grinding of the concrete surface. Choose a concrete grinding machine that has its own vacuum system that will collect the dust from the polisher, such as the Lavina 25 concrete polisher with attached Lavina DustControl DC3800 vacuum. This will keep the worksite clean and the air quality safe.
Penetrating Chemical Hardener
During the final polishing step, some contractors spread a commercial polishing compound onto the surface to give the floor a bit more sheen. These compounds also help clean any residue remaining on the surface from the polishing process and leave a dirt-resistant finish. During the polishing process an internal impregnating sealer is applied. The sealer sinks into the concrete and is invisible to the naked eye. It not only seals and protects the concrete from the inside out, it also hardens the concrete.
To purchase concrete polishing and grinding machines, supplies or parts at the best possible prices, contact Diaco Innovations at 706-283-9872.
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