Concrete Floor Polishing

November 9, 2016
5:28 pm

Polishing a Granite Rock Using Concrete Floor Polishing Techniques

Concrete floor polishing has a short history in the U.S. Some say it was introduced here in 1999. But concrete itself has been around for thousands of years.

Without a doubt, concrete is the most widely used, man-made material used in construction. Archaeologist can date its use to about 6500 BC. Several thousand years later (from 300 BC to 476 AD), the Romans used concrete to build the Coliseum, the Pantheon, and the Roman aqueducts. The fact that these structures still stand give credit to the ingenuity of the Romans and the strength of the concrete they used.

A polished concrete floor used in a military warehouse.

Concrete flooring itself had its beginnings around 1400-1200 BC. Concrete flooring is extremely hard and durable. That’s the reason it is the floor of choice for most industries. But it no longer has to remain the boring gray, dusty floor of by-gone days. Concrete floor polishing changed that.

With expertise, heavy floor grinding equipment, and the chemical densifiers and stains used today, concrete floor polishing can replicate the look of polished stone.

Granite rock polished to 1500 grit.

But what about polishing a plain old granite rock? That can be done, too! With a little modification, the same technique to polish concrete can be used to polish a rock.

To do the polishing, we selected a large flat granite rock we had onsite at our business location. The only modification made was to stabilize the rock to keep it from moving as we used the grinder. Starting with a 16 grit diamond grinder to level the high spots and to repair imperfections, grinding of the rock progressed through ever-finer grits of polishing disks until the rock developed the desired sheen.

Applying a densifier to the granite rock surface at the completion of the grinding completed the polishing. And those are the same steps we take to polish a concrete floor.