How Do I Get Polished Concrete?

How Do I Get Polished Concrete? Polished concrete is hugely popular at the moment. Simply put, polished concrete looks amazing, suitable for a wide range of applications, over underfloor heating and completely unique to your installation. Incredibly hard wearing and needs the lowest maintenance of any premium floor surface.

You would think getting concrete flooring would be straight forward, pick a look you like and go to any polishing company and place your order. It should be that simple, but it isn’t yet. The UK market needs to grow and produce decent education for clients, architects and dare I say it; the majority of the polishing industry that are dipping a toe into the water.

At the moment there are a handful of decent professional concrete polishing companies which specialise in our art/craft. The rest are part timers who are desperate to enter the market with hired equipment and very basic knowledge from free courses.

But how do you get polished concrete?

Well that basically depends which scenario you fit into, you are either pouring a new floor as part of extension or new build home, you are looking to cover an existing floor to get the polished concrete look or you have an old concrete floor you would like to spruce up.

Scenario 1: You are pouring a new slab for a new build or extension.

How do I get polished concrete — Have a new concrete floor slab laid

Choice A:
Have a concrete slab professionally laid over your insulation and underfloor heating pipes to a thickness of 100mm. Ensure the floor is well laid, flat and smooth with all tool marks, gouges, tamp marks or ripples removed. We can provide a concrete specification to work to.

This is how polished concrete is normally done, but getting decent concrete layers and a suitable mix is tough to find (we do not lay ready-mix concrete slabs).

Choice B:

Have a concrete overlay applied to an existing concrete floor — A CARRcrete concrete overlay gives you more control over design

Have a pourable self levelling screed applied over the insulation and underfloor heating to a thickness of 55-75mm, creating a smooth and flat surface over which a concrete overlay can be applied to provide the wearing layer to the floor. Overlay products are manufactured with ingredients and colour pigments that allow far greater control over the finished look of the concrete. If you have a particular requirement, a certain colour, particular aggregate or cloudy shading then a overlay such as our PROtop and PROtop Loft.

This provides you with the highest quality finish and a more durable surface than standard concrete.

Scenario 2: You are wanting to cover an existing floor.

CARRcrete micro concrete is only 2-3mm in thickness — CARRcrete Micro concrete is only 2-3mm in thickness

You can apply a CARRcrete PROtop Micro Topping Concrete over an existing floor as long as it is sound and stable and not susceptible to damp or movement. So if you have tiled floors laid onto a solid floor, you can remove the tiles and apply the over original floor.

Not suitable for timber floors

Scenario 3: You have an old concrete floor you would like to spruce up.

How do I get polished concrete? Grind an existing concrete floor down — You can always grind down an existing concrete floor

If you have an existing concrete floor, which you maybe found under tiles or linoleum, this can be ground and polished to an acceptable standard, it adds no extra height to your floor and is the most environmentally friendly solution.

The quality of the finish is dependant on the quality of the concrete.