A number of people are getting excited about concrete polishing. They say this is the future in flooring, as it relies on the sole premise that concrete is probably in your flooring anyway. But is it really worth it? Is concrete polishing the future of floor design?
To start, I want to go through the various claims concrete fans have over its competitors. The most popular ones are as follows: Polished concrete is beautiful, tough, affordable and available to all. It is my intent to go over each one, but I will leave the interpretation of my thoughts up to the readers.
The first notion that I will dispel is the claim that polished concrete is pleasing to the eye. It does have a very good, sleek, look, but to me, it is not for everyone. As beauty has been said to lie in the eye of the beholder, I believe that this criterion is not really worth arguing about.
Let's move on to something that actually does hold weight. This will be the attested durability of concrete. And to a very good extent, this claim is true. You do not need to be an expert in interior design; common concrete is punished in the streets all the time.
Next comes the cost. Is it really as affordable as it claims to be? Since you do not need materials in the optimal case, then the most important payment is the one you hand to the floor contractor. Its relative cheapness depends on this person, so you better choose wisely. And to the do-it-yourself person, then I will say this; the machine is expensive, and the diamonds used for the actual polishing are even more so.
Finally, there's the issue of availability. They claim that concrete is available as the foundation of your floor in the majority of cases; however, a major drawback for concrete polishing is not mentioned. Simply put, not all concrete is fit for a good polish. Polished concrete is a good choice, granted your concrete is polishable to begin with.