Concrete is not just a raw material that is just barely suitable for use as a structure or base for other finishing materials.
Today, concrete is integrated into the interior design for its aesthetic, practical, and energetic characteristics. Whether raw or polished, natural in color or stained, concrete can now be one of the finest materials.
The Advantages Of Exposed Concrete
Exposed concrete can be an extremely wear-resistant surface with minimal maintenance. It is mainly used in the polished form in industrial and commercial places, but it is becoming more and more popular in residential lofts, garages, basements, floors of single-story residences (without basement), and outdoor terraces. For the existing concrete slabs, we recover a material that is already present and which only needs to be developed.
Polish An Existing Concrete Floor
Polishing a concrete floor with an automatic floor polisher (เครื่อง ขัด พื้น อัตโนมัติ which is the term in Thai) is like sanding wood, but the sand is replaced here by fine diamonds. The grinding of the concrete (or roughing) is done first in three passes, where we change the size of the diamonds each time, going from the coarsest to the finest. The surface obtained is clean and straight with a light sanded texture. For a garage or basement floor, you can stop at this stage and stain the concrete. Then add a hardener (lithium or other), which will harden the surface until abrasion resistance.
This hardened surface can then be polished with walk behind scrubber driers (เครื่อง ขัด พื้น เดิน ตาม which is the term in Thai) by three other passages of increasingly fine diamonds until a shiny surface like a polished granite is obtained.
Concrete Sealing
It is a mechanical polishing that makes concrete shiny. The sealer is only used to waterproof the concrete to protect it from stains. Sealants are generally odorless and water-based with silane or siloxane. You can use a sealer that will form a surface film or a sealant that will penetrate concrete without forming any surface film. The surface sealer better protects the concrete against stains from acidic foods such as citrus, vinegar, or wine.
