been in the industry 20 years. this is a great video showing how much work and equipment you need for a "small" job. Resin burn sucks. glad you showed how the edges look from concrete placement and how its not the Polishing guy not doing it right. Great job.
@@j4209-y5o I don't get how he could be lying about 20 years. I'm in the industry and know multiple guys in their 30+ years. Two of them retired last year.
Jason,as a floor installer looking to find other aspects of work ,I personally appreciate that you show all of the steps! I appreciate your videos tons man!
I work for a concrete polishing company and love it. One day I hope to be able to own my own business. Your videos helped ease my mind before I started my job so I wanted to say thank you for your time into making these videos and sharing your knowledge!
Jason and Jeff did a great job on this, my garage / studio floor of about 350 sq ft. They revealed some cool character, cracks and varied aggregate. One never knows what the final result will be, except it will shine. Well worth any cheaper solution. No bacon-break for them . . . but did give them one of my home made pizzas for lunch.
I've been in flooring for close to 30 years as well and I can tell your style, you know your stuff and you take pride in a good job. That is why I'm suscribed. On a side note I'm just getting into polishing and coatings. I'm writing a proposal for a stained concrete polish job and I noticed one area has craze cracks. Can you grind through those?
@@1stainless Yoo im late to this but im young in this industry only 23. have been only polishing for 4 years. Depending on where the crack is what I usually do is cut the crack a bit (so that the material bonds) then fill it with your best patching material. When doing this mix it with dust from the floor your doing so it can get the same tone. during this what im still expirementing is putting rocks in the crack mix so when grinding it there's some aggregate and it hides the crack if that makes sense.
Great content brotha! 👌🏻 I’m a small general contractor getting ready to do my first concrete floor grind & partial polish on a 13,000 sqft showroom for a big customer or ours. 😬These videos are gold!
When the diamonds burn you need to lower your speed and spray water. Saves the diamonds. Been doing polish floors for 9 years. You learn tricks from vets. Great video and nice work guys
I just started doing this trade last week. They were willing to hire someone with no experience and I'm not going to miss out on the opportunity. Thanks for the homework video!! Hopefully I make it😅
@pulaskifarm W he fired me because I crashed my car and didn't make it one day (he was fishing for some reason I think he thought I was a thug or something). I did it for about 2 weeks. Advice would be wear proper PPE and if something doesn't feel right, look on the OSHA site and make sure they're to par with everything. I had no respirator grinding concrete getting silica dust into my lungs. Thats my only experience with it, so I can only really hope this was just a bad operation, but PUT YOUR HEALTH 1ST!!! Sorry I couldn't help more tho...
Hey, I looking for someone to polish my concrete floor in east London. Would you be interesting to take my project on? I have two floors to do. It is around 115m2 per floor. No partitions. This is residential house. Ground and basement floor. Thanks
If you come across really hard concrete..wet grinding is the best option. We also use HTC machines, most often we use the 950, we have 15 of them and smaller ones of course.. There have been good machines.You seem to know what you are doing, and thanks for the great work samples.
They cost a lot bc it’s a lot of work. A lot of man power put into it and the finished product is amazing. I use to do it but had to stop just do to so much traveling and having a young daughter. I very much miss it. It’s fun
I do this type of work. Polishing and epoxy, and trust me, this stuff will make a man out of you. It definitely isn't easy work. I love it though. Great job on the floor by the way, looks good man 👍
Very informative. As a career documentary cameraman may I suggest you have a go at positioning the camera at floor level so we can better see the aggregate in the concrete which will highlight the changes in texture with each pass of the grinder. Modern smartphone cameras have good macro capability. You may have to invert the camera to get the lens really close. With these closeups play around with a small battery powered led soft work light positioned to one side.
Thank you Concretefloorsolution for up load this comprehensive video. I am currently getting quotes from different companies ( sorry we live in Australia ) to do my floor, I now known what to expect from them. Thank you again
Love your videos ! Thank you for your detailed explanations! My wife loves these floors except she is wanting a low luster , not so much shine - how is this accomplished ?
When doing my wooden floors, on my 30's property, with a stand up belt sander, at 32 grit, I used up 25 belts, then only 2 belts on 40, 80 and 120 grit, (and my finish required I stop there 😁) so very much understand the struggle to get the first layer sorted.
Thanks again for the video. Once the sealer is applied on ground floor slabs, have you ever experienced moisture migrating to the walls ? Can a sealer prevent the slab from breathing ?
@@OptLab the sealer used in polishing are actually what they call a microfilm. It allows moisture to pass through, but it is not a waterproofing sealer by any means. If you need to stop moisture from passing through, you need to apply a coating, which would be a moisture vapor barrier or any of our epoxy kits on top of it
Couple questions... ( Finisher here) I'm about to pour a 320 sq.ft. floor for polishing) 1) obviously I gather from you that a newer floor can be easier without the hard trowel finish. IYO , what is ideal to start the polish ? Ex: 3 days after pour ? Next day? 2) what type of finish to make it easier? Smooth steel trowel ? Will finish lines come out if you have a small line? 3) you never mentioned any sealers when done....does that floor you did get any type of sealer for shine, or is it not needed due to slip factors? That floor you did , was it a 1 day job for that many grinds? Thanks , love the video you did.
Typically you should wait 30 days before polishing concrete, I have already done it at 20 days and it seems to react well. If you start grinding too early, the surface will be so soft it will pull the stone out of the surface and probably do more damage than good. I have had great success doing a smooth steel trowel finish, without burning the surface with the steel trowel (Power trowel). We always apply a densify or after the 150 grit metals concretefloorsolutions.com/product/cfs-concrete-densifier/ and then a guard at the 800 grit stage: concretefloorsolutions.com/product/cfs-polished-concrete-guard/ then burnish the floor. Do not use a sealer that creates a film, once you do that it defeats the whole purpose of polishing because you have a coating on the surface. True polished concrete is exactly that, a polished concrete surface.
That’s a 500 CFM vacuum the larger 854 I believe gets up to 750 CFM but you aren’t getting 500 CFM through that 3 inch hose probably closer to 400. 500 CFM is when you have the 5 inch hose being utilized. So when you strangle it down, it will lose air flow in CFM, although you will increase the velocity of the air in the hose. But that being a fan motor doesn’t have a lot of lift and strangling it really affects its performance. Also, we start with a 1618 or even lower just so we can get down through the cream faster.
Great work guys, very professional and tidy. How long did this project take? And how do you estimate how many days a project will take when it comes to the size in Square footage? Do you have a general rule of thumb?
Thank you, that project took approximately eight hours on job. Typically for smaller jobs we get about 1000 ft.² per day. You can increase production dramatically by doing a larger area. Larger floors we can do about 2000 ft.² per day. We also have a second large grinder that we will use on larger projects.
Firstly, this floor is absolutely stunning. You do amazing work and love how informative this video is! I’m having my floor done currently, after they stripped the paint off the concrete, the team says that my floor “cannot be polished”, is this possible? They’ve told me the floor is turning to dust when they go over it with the machine. I see how many passes you had to take to get the polished look - they’ve tried to convince me I cannot achieve this look. Any advice or advisement would be greatly appreciated!!! I would love to end up with a perfectly imperfect polished concrete floor like you’ve shown us! Thanks I’m advance for any help
Nice gear and good hardworking knowledgeable team. I’d highly recommend getting with the Australians and look into the husqvarna hiperfloor system. Worx+ is the name their runnin under after the sold to husky. Oh and FYI 400 won’t ever remove scratches.
Thanks a lot for the video. Do you use triangular sander machines or oscilating tools for the corners ? How do you make the surface even for the corners ?
My friend's high school built in the 1930s as part of the depression works program has polished concrete floors that are still glossy. I always wondered how this was accomplished and now I know! Aside from filling in joints to polish over, can pits in the concrete be filled in?
I like seeing stuff like this and knowing my jobs easier. After first cut depending on how bad the concrete is, all you need is 100s, 400s and 800s. 200s in between 100s and 400s are literally just a waste of time
Unless you are leaving scratches that won't be removed from the 400s, which is why we were using the 200s. We used to do that years ago and we landed up getting residual scratches, now we do the extra grind. It's much easier to do the extra grind before you realize you should've done it three steps ago.
Did you close down shop? How much did you spend on bits per year during operation? And what are all the grinding types did you support. A 3 step a 7 step and a 1 step
@@zorartfamily1374 we sold all of our equipment and now only sell our epoxy flooring materials in our online store concretefloorsolutions.com We typically only did nine step grinds
Thank you so much for this video. We are considering polished concrete for our garage. I have a question: is the concrete still porous and easy to stain when it is polished? How often does it need to be repolished to keep it looking nice? Thanks! Do you recommend it for garages (cars) or just for work spaces?
Typically we do not recommend polishing in garages because it really does not provide any resistance to oil stains, etc. Every concrete slab is different so it may or may not be porous. There is no way to know until you are done. If it is done properly, you may not ever need to redo it. If your concrete is soft and porous, you might need to re-polish after five or 10 years. Concrete is very inconsistent
Them racattacs are a life saver when it comes to hand grinding the edges. We usually use an edger. But sometimes the edger doesn't give as great of results as hand grinding it does. Just depends on the floor really.
What is the depth of the cut? How do you cut the concrete when there is floor heating system with water pipes running under the concrete? Thanks, great videos.
very carefully... That is something you would need to talk to the concrete contractor about when they pour the concrete. They should know the depth of the water lines so they can cut the proper depth joint.
Great video,thanks.I want my front deck ripped out and would love polished concrete stairs front and back of house.I wasn’t keen on the cracks in floor but looks unreal otherwise.
Great video. I had a question, I wanted to do this to my basement floor. It was poured about 4 months ago. Because it’s still pretty green do you think I’d be able to go straight to the resin discs? I feel like the metal pads might be too aggressive for green concrete.
Excellent question. You don't, the concrete itself dictates what it's going to look like. You are polishing a natural concrete. I always say Concrete is consistently inconsistent. You can't change the way it's going to look. That is always the first thing I tell the customer before we ever do a polishing job. I can only make it shine, the rest is out of my control.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions I appreciate your quick honest and professional reply. I guess it is time that we highlight what you have just said to our customers here in Malaysia. Many thanks 🙏
@@donaldcurtis9229 this video is almost 4 years old and yes, I made a big investment a long time ago and the equipment lasted the entire time without a problem. As far as I know, planetary grinders still spin in the same planetary motion. And that was not my only job I ever did. We've done hundreds of thousands of square feet. What is the point of your comment?
We use 100 grit transition puck. The 100 resin I find is not very aggressive. Although we also use thehundred grit after the 40 grit diamond bus, saving a step
Great videos! You are obv true professionals. I have recently purchased an Edco 22” grinder and am planning on doing a few large floors with it. I am totally new to this, but have been a contractor for almost 20 years doing almost everything from the ground up. Quick question. In my very limited understanding of this process, the actual grinding bits go to 140 grit, and then you switch to pads? Also, how do you match your hand grinder grit to your floor grinder? Thanks again for your helpful videos, and any advice you might provide.
Excellent work may I ask for that particular job? What was the cost to the customer just to have an idea because I would like that done about the same square footage
if you were doing it correctly, you should not be vacuuming any water up. the water actually vaporizers from the heat of the diamonds so it should all be dry dust if done properly. We only used a dry vacuum system, and never had a problem
If I want a smooth acid-stained interior floor that absorbs rather than reflects sunlight (i.e. matte, not glossy), do I even need to polish it like you're doing in this video? It seems like an alternative is to apply sealant then wax. With the fine polishing that you do, I guess wax isn't needed, or even sealant? But maybe this fine polishing method doesn't work with acid staining? (because it polishes away the staining). Thank you for your opinion on this.
Hello I'm about to pour a slab for a customer that plans to have it polished. Do I do anything different? Hand rod or vibe strike? More aggressive in the mix ect?
Great video. However, I'm not so sure if I would be happy with those spider veins if it was my floor, the polish aside. I understand you said there is no way of knowing without going deeper into the grind, but what are the options, if any, of getting rid of the spider veins and still get a polished look? Do you keep grinding off more at a lower grit until it goes away? I'm only asking because I plan on doing this to the floor of my entire house and if my floors ended up looking like that, I don't think me or my wife would be too happy.
One thing you have to understand about polished concrete is that you can only polish what you have. The floor dictates how it’s going to polish, you can’t polish the floor and make it look like something it’s not. If you’re not willing to accept natural character of concrete, I would caution you about polishing your floors. There are grout coats that you can apply to the surface that can help conceal spider cracks etc. One thing I learned early on is you can never guarantee what a polished Concrete Floor is going to look like besides glossy.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions Good to know, thanks. What if, while I'm grinding away, I'm starting to notice the character of the concrete and I don't like what I see, but I've already started smoothing it out, so passed the rough cuts. Could I simply go back to a more coarse grit and smack some stain on it, or would I essentially have to start over again, just maybe with a 80 or 100 grit instead of a 40 in order for the stain to stick?
@@1stGenVetMBA Stain is completely transparent, it will not cover imperfections in the concrete. It will just change the color of them. In my opinion there is nothing in concrete polishing that the word simply falls into. If you're not willing to accept the risk of character within the concrete I wouldn't even try to polish it.
It is possible to polish it after the slab is poured and before the walls are built on it? Seems like it might be easier to do it that way if possible?
That is always preferred. The only issue is, the concrete needs to cure 30 days before you polish it. That creates huge delays for builders not being able to construct any interior walls for a month. In most cases builders can't wait with the interior construction.
great work! do you need to put another layer of epoxy on top? will the naked polished conrete last? if I have a very large space (1000sqft), how much gap lines I need in between?
Polished concrete is exactly what it's called, polished concrete. If you put epoxy on top it's no longer polished concrete, it is an epoxy coating. We apply a lithium silicate microfilm on top of the concrete which penetrates into the concrete, it is not a coating. I dont know what you refer to when you say gap line? If you are referring to joints, they are typically every 10 to 12 feet
Hot damn! y'all got a LOT of money inside that trailer. hopefully you have invested in some serious trailer locks for wherever you store it. Also I noticed you said that dust extraction system was a 480V 3 phase model. What type of generator do you have to power that bad boy?
We have Wacker 58kw diesel generator. We also have cellular cameras mounted inside and outside the trailer with GPS on all of the equipment. It is well worth the investment. We normally use this equipment on large commercial / industrial jobs but cannot film on those jobs so most people only see the residential side. Most of the equipment we have is overkill for these jobs, but makes the large jobs much easier.
There is a lithium silicate micro sealer on the surface. I would not call it oil resistant though. I would not recommend for a garage. If you do put a clear epoxy coat on it, you don’t need to polish it. You can simply grind the floor once and apply clear epoxy. It will have a wet look which is more brown though.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions What maintenece is needed to a clear epoxy finish? Does a clear epoxy need and or benefit from a densifier or hardener? (1500 sqft new concrete living space)
@@directapprec you do not need to apply a densifier or guard if applying clear epoxy. If you are applying anywhere that will be exposed to direct sunlight, I would highly recommend a polyaspartic coating. Polyaspartics are 100% UV stable and have excellent scratch resistance. Maintenance is simple, keep abrasives off the floor and damp mop as needed. Two coats would be recommended: concretefloorsolutions.com/store/polyaspartics/cfs-1c-polyaspartic/
Hi. Great videos on concrete polishing ! I just found out that my flooring surface is actually a screed with white cement and sand, rather than concrete. I would like to have a concrete finish. Just wondering if screed could be polished ?
hey guys, what is that little trolley that you rode on to grind down the perimeter. It looks like a real knee and back saver. Is this something your bought or was it custom made?
I don't remember, that was a while ago. Pricing has changed dramatically as Concrete polishers are not as common as they used to be. Very hard work, very expensive equipment, and few people are willing to pay to have it done correctly. Cost can range anywhere from three dollars per square foot up to $15 per square foot depending on condition of concrete, repairs, location, access, etc.
I have a question what would you recommend to use to fill in the expansion joints on a already polished concrete floor that I can later pass the polishing buffer over when maintaining my concrete polished floors thank you any feedback
The joints should have been filled before the concrete polishing was done. This is the material I would recommend: concretefloorsolutions.com/store/repair-materials/cfs-fast-set-joint-filler-with-static-mixing-tip/
omg tell me where you bought that system, that you use to polish the walls...in Switzerland we use nothing but knee protection and i end the freaking day in pain
Amazing work Just a tip next time grind those edges a little more use water just like you did with the big grinder I love running easy edges as well especially with these high polish I hit 30, 50, 100, and 400 easy edge then run my pads on the edges to make sure everything matches
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
been in the industry 20 years. this is a great video showing how much work and equipment you need for a "small" job. Resin burn sucks. glad you showed how the edges look from concrete placement and how its not the Polishing guy not doing it right. Great job.
Thank you for watching and thanks for the great compliment.
20 years you say that's a 🤥
Man 20 years that's a veteran in that industries
When you said you used a 400 grit copper to remove scratches around the edges you lost me.
@@j4209-y5o I don't get how he could be lying about 20 years. I'm in the industry and know multiple guys in their 30+ years. Two of them retired last year.
Jason,as a floor installer looking to find other aspects of work ,I personally appreciate that you show all of the steps! I appreciate your videos tons man!
My pleasure, thanks for watching.
I work for a concrete polishing company and love it. One day I hope to be able to own my own business. Your videos helped ease my mind before I started my job so I wanted to say thank you for your time into making these videos and sharing your knowledge!
My pleasure, I’m glad you enjoyed it
Is it possible to get started with no experience
Jason and Jeff did a great job on this, my garage / studio floor of about 350 sq ft. They revealed some cool character, cracks and varied aggregate. One never knows what the final result will be, except it will shine. Well worth any cheaper solution. No bacon-break for them . . . but did give them one of my home made pizzas for lunch.
And it was delicious. Thank you for the business, i’m glad you like it.
Nice to see professional tradespersons who take pride in their work.
Thank you for noticing and thanks for watching.
I've been in flooring for close to 30 years as well and I can tell your style, you know your stuff and you take pride in a good job. That is why I'm suscribed. On a side note I'm just getting into polishing and coatings. I'm writing a proposal for a stained concrete polish job and I noticed one area has craze cracks. Can you grind through those?
@@1stainless Yoo im late to this but im young in this industry only 23. have been only polishing for 4 years. Depending on where the crack is what I usually do is cut the crack a bit (so that the material bonds) then fill it with your best patching material. When doing this mix it with dust from the floor your doing so it can get the same tone. during this what im still expirementing is putting rocks in the crack mix so when grinding it there's some aggregate and it hides the crack if that makes sense.
Great content brotha! 👌🏻 I’m a small general contractor getting ready to do my first concrete floor grind & partial polish on a 13,000 sqft showroom for a big customer or ours. 😬These videos are gold!
@@Justadude1904 good luck, I hope you learned something from it.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions thank you! Just realized you guys sell all the products as well! I’ll be contacting you soon.
When the diamonds burn you need to lower your speed and spray water. Saves the diamonds. Been doing polish floors for 9 years. You learn tricks from vets. Great video and nice work guys
I actually demonstrate that exact process in many of my other Polishing videos
I just started doing this trade last week. They were willing to hire someone with no experience and I'm not going to miss out on the opportunity. Thanks for the homework video!! Hopefully I make it😅
Did you do the job? Any advice for skilled first timers?
@pulaskifarm W he fired me because I crashed my car and didn't make it one day (he was fishing for some reason I think he thought I was a thug or something). I did it for about 2 weeks. Advice would be wear proper PPE and if something doesn't feel right, look on the OSHA site and make sure they're to par with everything. I had no respirator grinding concrete getting silica dust into my lungs. Thats my only experience with it, so I can only really hope this was just a bad operation, but PUT YOUR HEALTH 1ST!!! Sorry I couldn't help more tho...
Sorry to hear,,,keep at it and follow your interests
@@ChaserRocks I'm going to try. I think I need to get out of oklahoma🤣
I do exactly the same but in the UK....Same kit, same issues.....Only just found your channel and about to binge watch...Nice work Sir,..👌🏻
Thank you for watching.
Hey, I looking for someone to polish my concrete floor in east London. Would you be interesting to take my project on? I have two floors to do. It is around 115m2 per floor. No partitions. This is residential house. Ground and basement floor.
Thanks
@@yevgeniyshawyer2767 look up “Neonclass”
holy cow i did not expect so much machinery for concrete polishing. Nice setup!
I love how organised you are. You've absolutely fine tuned your craft
If you come across really hard concrete..wet grinding is the best option. We also use HTC machines, most often we use the 950, we have 15 of them and smaller ones of course.. There have been good machines.You seem to know what you are doing, and thanks for the great work samples.
Hey man just FYI I watch about every video you publish and just get so much knowledge from them. thank you
Thanks for watching
You are so detailed in your work, a true artist. What a wonderful job.
I’m having my clinic floors done, and I had no clue why polished concrete floors cost so much. I had no idea what was involved. Thanks!
They cost a lot bc it’s a lot of work. A lot of man power put into it and the finished product is amazing. I use to do it but had to stop just do to so much traveling and having a young daughter. I very much miss it. It’s fun
@ADD1SCHXRMSXO it's only fun on the final stages lol
How much was it?
How much was it?
@@CryptoAzhole $11,000.
This business looks serious and professional and worth what ever you charge
I love this video. You guys are true professionals. What do you guys do with all the dust that comes out?
Probably the best video out there for what's involved. I'm now certain I'm just going to grind my floor level to 120 grit and paint it.
Liked seeing your trailer and you showed all job details well
Watching and learning from Australia great work guys
I do this type of work. Polishing and epoxy, and trust me, this stuff will make a man out of you. It definitely isn't easy work. I love it though. Great job on the floor by the way, looks good man 👍
Hey guys, watching and learning from Australia - thanks for the content!
Thank you for watching
Ayyy same boat!
Very informative. As a career documentary cameraman may I suggest you have a go at positioning the camera at floor level so we can better see the aggregate in the concrete which will highlight the changes in texture with each pass of the grinder. Modern smartphone cameras have good macro capability. You may have to invert the camera to get the lens really close. With these closeups play around with a small battery powered led soft work light positioned to one side.
Thank you Concretefloorsolution for up load this comprehensive video. I am currently getting quotes from different companies ( sorry we live in Australia ) to do my floor, I now known what to expect from them. Thank you again
very nice polishing like it I m a polisher from ontario canadia I like the way you doing it.
Curious why you didn’t use same mixing tube. Gotta be speedy but saves some bucks. Great video!!!
Your equipment is amazing. Clear sign your winning as a business 👏
Love your videos ! Thank you for your detailed explanations! My wife loves these floors except she is wanting a low luster , not so much shine - how is this accomplished ?
Every floor is unique!
Great work.
I love this look! Great work guys.
When doing my wooden floors, on my 30's property, with a stand up belt sander, at 32 grit, I used up 25 belts, then only 2 belts on 40, 80 and 120 grit, (and my finish required I stop there 😁) so very much understand the struggle to get the first layer sorted.
That’s amazing . A lot of work .
Pretty amazing job yall do. Quick question.
What do you all do with all the grinding dust that's left over from all your jobs?
trash, all inert dust from stone and cement
Love the exposed aggregate. Great job! Beautiful look.
Thanks for posting. No filling of pin holes in the concrete or densifier step? Please let us know.
Thanks again for the video. Once the sealer is applied on ground floor slabs, have you ever experienced moisture migrating to the walls ? Can a sealer prevent the slab from breathing ?
@@OptLab the sealer used in polishing are actually what they call a microfilm. It allows moisture to pass through, but it is not a waterproofing sealer by any means.
If you need to stop moisture from passing through, you need to apply a coating, which would be a moisture vapor barrier or any of our epoxy kits on top of it
Couple questions... ( Finisher here) I'm about to pour a 320 sq.ft. floor for polishing) 1) obviously I gather from you that a newer floor can be easier without the hard trowel finish. IYO , what is ideal to start the polish ? Ex: 3 days after pour ? Next day?
2) what type of finish to make it easier? Smooth steel trowel ? Will finish lines come out if you have a small line?
3) you never mentioned any sealers when done....does that floor you did get any type of sealer for shine, or is it not needed due to slip factors?
That floor you did , was it a 1 day job for that many grinds?
Thanks , love the video you did.
Typically you should wait 30 days before polishing concrete, I have already done it at 20 days and it seems to react well. If you start grinding too early, the surface will be so soft it will pull the stone out of the surface and probably do more damage than good. I have had great success doing a smooth steel trowel finish, without burning the surface with the steel trowel (Power trowel). We always apply a densify or after the 150 grit metals concretefloorsolutions.com/product/cfs-concrete-densifier/ and then a guard at the 800 grit stage:
concretefloorsolutions.com/product/cfs-polished-concrete-guard/
then burnish the floor. Do not use a sealer that creates a film, once you do that it defeats the whole purpose of polishing because you have a coating on the surface. True polished concrete is exactly that, a polished concrete surface.
That’s a 500 CFM vacuum the larger 854 I believe gets up to 750 CFM but you aren’t getting 500 CFM through that 3 inch hose probably closer to 400. 500 CFM is when you have the 5 inch hose being utilized. So when you strangle it down, it will lose air flow in CFM, although you will increase the velocity of the air in the hose. But that being a fan motor doesn’t have a lot of lift and strangling it really affects its performance. Also, we start with a 1618 or even lower just so we can get down through the cream faster.
Thank you for sharing!! Very interesting and good job and explanation!! saludos desde Argentina!!
Great work guys, very professional and tidy.
How long did this project take?
And how do you estimate how many days a project will take when it comes to the size in Square footage?
Do you have a general rule of thumb?
Thank you, that project took approximately eight hours on job.
Typically for smaller jobs we get about 1000 ft.² per day. You can increase production dramatically by doing a larger area. Larger floors we can do about 2000 ft.² per day.
We also have a second large grinder that we will use on larger projects.
Firstly, this floor is absolutely stunning. You do amazing work and love how informative this video is!
I’m having my floor done currently, after they stripped the paint off the concrete, the team says that my floor “cannot be polished”, is this possible?
They’ve told me the floor is turning to dust when they go over it with the machine. I see how many passes you had to take to get the polished look - they’ve tried to convince me I cannot achieve this look. Any advice or advisement would be greatly appreciated!!! I would love to end up with a perfectly imperfect polished concrete floor like you’ve shown us!
Thanks I’m advance for any help
Nice gear and good hardworking knowledgeable team. I’d highly recommend getting with the Australians and look into the husqvarna hiperfloor system. Worx+ is the name their runnin under after the sold to husky. Oh and FYI 400 won’t ever remove scratches.
Cool dude...cool tools...thanks for the expertise...nice to see the country...is that concrete dust reusable?
Nice attention to detail, gentlemen.
Looks great. Do you put down any kind of compound before burnishing? Wax or something?
@@hobocameltoe Apply polish concrete guard, then burnish.
concretefloorsolutions.com/store/surface-treatments/cfs-polished-concrete-guard/
Thanks a lot for the video.
Do you use triangular sander machines or oscilating tools for the corners ? How do you make the surface even for the corners ?
we used a 4" grinder for corners. typically your trim will cover anything exposed after that.
was the propane varnisher the 1500 grit why do you change machines. great video
Yes it was, the burnisher is needed for the final polish, the grinder has too much down pressure to burnish the floor.
Great job guys. The attention to detail is awesome.
That looks awsome. My question is how you would do a bathroom as it needs a fall to the drain.
My friend's high school built in the 1930s as part of the depression works program has polished concrete floors that are still glossy.
I always wondered how this was accomplished and now I know!
Aside from filling in joints to polish over, can pits in the concrete be filled in?
absolutely. either by using a grout coat or simply filling each pit prior to polishing. We did that every day.
Keep it up man! Love watching your vids! I always learn so much from your efforts! Stay safe out there!
Thank you for watching.
I wish you were in Arizona. You are a class act.
I like seeing stuff like this and knowing my jobs easier. After first cut depending on how bad the concrete is, all you need is 100s, 400s and 800s. 200s in between 100s and 400s are literally just a waste of time
Unless you are leaving scratches that won't be removed from the 400s, which is why we were using the 200s. We used to do that years ago and we landed up getting residual scratches, now we do the extra grind. It's much easier to do the extra grind before you realize you should've done it three steps ago.
Did you close down shop? How much did you spend on bits per year during operation? And what are all the grinding types did you support. A 3 step a 7 step and a 1 step
@@zorartfamily1374 we sold all of our equipment and now only sell our epoxy flooring materials in our online store
concretefloorsolutions.com
We typically only did nine step grinds
Thank you so much for this video. We are considering polished concrete for our garage. I have a question: is the concrete still porous and easy to stain when it is polished? How often does it need to be repolished to keep it looking nice? Thanks! Do you recommend it for garages (cars) or just for work spaces?
Typically we do not recommend polishing in garages because it really does not provide any resistance to oil stains, etc. Every concrete slab is different so it may or may not be porous. There is no way to know until you are done. If it is done properly, you may not ever need to redo it. If your concrete is soft and porous, you might need to re-polish after five or 10 years. Concrete is very inconsistent
Is that an Aztec burnisher? We’ve been doing business with them for over 30 years. One of the best propane burnishers on the market.
Yes, aztec lowrider. Great machine
Awsome. Now do you apply an epoxy finish or some sort of sealer to it from here? Or do you just leave it
What do you guys use for your joints
concretefloorsolutions.com/store/repair-materials/cfs-fast-set-joint-filler-with-static-mixing-tip/
I found this to be a lot of help to do this exact same work for a factory thank you
Them racattacs are a life saver when it comes to hand grinding the edges. We usually use an edger. But sometimes the edger doesn't give as great of results as hand grinding it does. Just depends on the floor really.
What is the depth of the cut? How do you cut the concrete when there is floor heating system with water pipes running under the concrete? Thanks, great videos.
very carefully... That is something you would need to talk to the concrete contractor about when they pour the concrete. They should know the depth of the water lines so they can cut the proper depth joint.
Thanks, I am in the process now to plan the concrete flooring and thats one issue bothering me@@ConcreteFloorSolutions
Thanks for the insight into the job! You guys did great:)
Great video,thanks.I want my front deck ripped out and would love polished concrete stairs front and back of house.I wasn’t keen on the cracks in floor but looks unreal otherwise.
Very nice job . But can I ask if if you drop red wine on the floor. Can you easily remove it without making spot?
If you wipe it up quickly yes. If you leave it set, it will stain just like red wine stains everything.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions okay I will tell my daddy. Thanks you
what if you use a stain guard ? I myself use it I think it protects tbe floor
Great video. I had a question, I wanted to do this to my basement floor. It was poured about 4 months ago. Because it’s still pretty green do you think I’d be able to go straight to the resin discs? I feel like the metal pads might be too aggressive for green concrete.
@@hobocameltoe after 30 days, you are good to polish. I would use metals first, but every slab reacts differently.
I like your trailer , wonderful job 👍
Thank you for watching
Greet video. We have faced many issues with concrete polished floor shading. How do you control the tone and shade of the concrete polished floor?
Excellent question. You don't, the concrete itself dictates what it's going to look like. You are polishing a natural concrete.
I always say Concrete is consistently inconsistent. You can't change the way it's going to look. That is always the first thing I tell the customer before we ever do a polishing job. I can only make it shine, the rest is out of my control.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions I appreciate your quick honest and professional reply. I guess it is time that we highlight what you have just said to our customers here in Malaysia. Many thanks 🙏
I work for Diamond polishing company his equipment was antique thank God it was only one job
@@donaldcurtis9229 this video is almost 4 years old and yes, I made a big investment a long time ago and the equipment lasted the entire time without a problem.
As far as I know, planetary grinders still spin in the same planetary motion.
And that was not my only job I ever did. We've done hundreds of thousands of square feet.
What is the point of your comment?
Great work gentlemen! Awesome video
We use 100 grit transition puck. The 100 resin I find is not very aggressive. Although we also use thehundred grit after the 40 grit diamond bus, saving a step
Keep making the videos. I always learn something from you guys.
welcome to the channel
Great videos! You are obv true professionals. I have recently purchased an Edco 22” grinder and am planning on doing a few large floors with it. I am totally new to this, but have been a contractor for almost 20 years doing almost everything from the ground up. Quick question. In my very limited understanding of this process, the actual grinding bits go to 140 grit, and then you switch to pads? Also, how do you match your hand grinder grit to your floor grinder? Thanks again for your helpful videos, and any advice you might provide.
Great channel. Do you use the shot blaster much at all ?. Thanks
We use the shot blaster a lot to clean out joints, and for commercial jobs for heavy duty surface prep.
Very detailed video. About how much would someone expect to pay per sqft.?
Depends on sq footage. $4 for thousands of sq ft. $15 for a couple hundred. There are a lot of variables involved in pricing.
Excellent work may I ask for that particular job? What was the cost to the customer just to have an idea because I would like that done about the same square footage
+/- $5K
Nice guys. Well equipped, very professional
Very cool work actually going to be joining a small company that does this same thing here in a few days very exciting and interesting work!
Good luck, thanks for watching.
Absolutely nice job.
question: where did you buy the wheel thing you use to grind edges that looks very comfortable.
concretefloorsolutions.com/store/accessories/racatac-with-chest-support-01rac3cs/
Do you need a dry/wet vac if you use a little bit of water to cool down the diamonds? Or can you just use a fry vac?
if you were doing it correctly, you should not be vacuuming any water up. the water actually vaporizers from the heat of the diamonds so it should all be dry dust if done properly. We only used a dry vacuum system, and never had a problem
If I want a smooth acid-stained interior floor that absorbs rather than reflects sunlight (i.e. matte, not glossy), do I even need to polish it like you're doing in this video? It seems like an alternative is to apply sealant then wax. With the fine polishing that you do, I guess wax isn't needed, or even sealant? But maybe this fine polishing method doesn't work with acid staining? (because it polishes away the staining). Thank you for your opinion on this.
I have no experience at all with acid stain so I really don't feel comfortable making a recommendation.
Thanks for posting the video. At what point would have you added stain?
Just after the 400 grit grind, we typically use acetone based stains.
Hello I'm about to pour a slab for a customer that plans to have it polished. Do I do anything different? Hand rod or vibe strike?
More aggressive in the mix ect?
Great video. However, I'm not so sure if I would be happy with those spider veins if it was my floor, the polish aside. I understand you said there is no way of knowing without going deeper into the grind, but what are the options, if any, of getting rid of the spider veins and still get a polished look? Do you keep grinding off more at a lower grit until it goes away? I'm only asking because I plan on doing this to the floor of my entire house and if my floors ended up looking like that, I don't think me or my wife would be too happy.
One thing you have to understand about polished concrete is that you can only polish what you have. The floor dictates how it’s going to polish, you can’t polish the floor and make it look like something it’s not.
If you’re not willing to accept natural character of concrete, I would caution you about polishing your floors.
There are grout coats that you can apply to the surface that can help conceal spider cracks etc.
One thing I learned early on is you can never guarantee what a polished Concrete Floor is going to look like besides glossy.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions Good to know, thanks. What if, while I'm grinding away, I'm starting to notice the character of the concrete and I don't like what I see, but I've already started smoothing it out, so passed the rough cuts. Could I simply go back to a more coarse grit and smack some stain on it, or would I essentially have to start over again, just maybe with a 80 or 100 grit instead of a 40 in order for the stain to stick?
@@1stGenVetMBA Stain is completely transparent, it will not cover imperfections in the concrete. It will just change the color of them.
In my opinion there is nothing in concrete polishing that the word simply falls into. If you're not willing to accept the risk of character within the concrete I wouldn't even try to polish it.
It is possible to polish it after the slab is poured and before the walls are built on it? Seems like it might be easier to do it that way if possible?
That is always preferred. The only issue is, the concrete needs to cure 30 days before you polish it. That creates huge delays for builders not being able to construct any interior walls for a month. In most cases builders can't wait with the interior construction.
great work! do you need to put another layer of epoxy on top? will the naked polished conrete last? if I have a very large space (1000sqft), how much gap lines I need in between?
Polished concrete is exactly what it's called, polished concrete. If you put epoxy on top it's no longer polished concrete, it is an epoxy coating. We apply a lithium silicate microfilm on top of the concrete which penetrates into the concrete, it is not a coating.
I dont know what you refer to when you say gap line?
If you are referring to joints, they are typically every 10 to 12 feet
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions thanks for the info! Great stuff!
If I was looking for a similar look for an exterior slab, but not glossy, what would you recommend?
Hot damn! y'all got a LOT of money inside that trailer. hopefully you have invested in some serious trailer locks for wherever you store it. Also I noticed you said that dust extraction system was a 480V 3 phase model. What type of generator do you have to power that bad boy?
We have Wacker 58kw diesel generator. We also have cellular cameras mounted inside and outside the trailer with GPS on all of the equipment. It is well worth the investment. We normally use this equipment on large commercial / industrial jobs but cannot film on those jobs so most people only see the residential side. Most of the equipment we have is overkill for these jobs, but makes the large jobs much easier.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions That's awesome! Glad you are protecting your investments, too! Love to see such a successful business thriving
That's awsome......if u guys ever in south Texas let me know.....u got the job !
Very nice. What are you using for a handheld grinder?
hilti dg150 for first grind, then variable speed dewalt with copper bond wheels 100,200,400 grit
Looks great, Im wondering if this would last a while in a garage? Or is epoxy the way to go.
I typically don't recommend polishing inside of a garage just because if oil is spilled, there is no protection like an epoxy coating.
Floor looks great. For a garage floor, does polishing resist oil stains or would it need an additional sealer? Thanks!
There is a lithium silicate micro sealer on the surface. I would not call it oil resistant though. I would not recommend for a garage. If you do put a clear epoxy coat on it, you don’t need to polish it. You can simply grind the floor once and apply clear epoxy. It will have a wet look which is more brown though.
@@ConcreteFloorSolutions What maintenece is needed to a clear epoxy finish? Does a clear epoxy need and or benefit from a densifier or hardener? (1500 sqft new concrete living space)
@@directapprec you do not need to apply a densifier or guard if applying clear epoxy.
If you are applying anywhere that will be exposed to direct sunlight, I would highly recommend a polyaspartic coating. Polyaspartics are 100% UV stable and have excellent scratch resistance.
Maintenance is simple, keep abrasives off the floor and damp mop as needed.
Two coats would be recommended:
concretefloorsolutions.com/store/polyaspartics/cfs-1c-polyaspartic/
Hi. Great videos on concrete polishing ! I just found out that my flooring surface is actually a screed with white cement and sand, rather than concrete. I would like to have a concrete finish. Just wondering if screed could be polished ?
As long as its bonded well. If its not, it well rip the surface off when grinding.
hey guys, what is that little trolley that you rode on to grind down the perimeter. It looks like a real knee and back saver. Is this something your bought or was it custom made?
Limited supply concretefloorsolutions.com/product/racatac-with-chest-support-01rac3cs/
Beautiful! How much per square foot?
I don't remember, that was a while ago. Pricing has changed dramatically as Concrete polishers are not as common as they used to be. Very hard work, very expensive equipment, and few people are willing to pay to have it done correctly. Cost can range anywhere from three dollars per square foot up to $15 per square foot depending on condition of concrete, repairs, location, access, etc.
You can’t buy that at the store. Looks amazing especially when furnished.
It’s concrete .. everything is placed on site
@@teebo5298 wtf does that even mean??!!?
Love the blastrac collector
I have a question what would you recommend to use to fill in the expansion joints on a already polished concrete floor that I can later pass the polishing buffer over when maintaining my concrete polished floors thank you any feedback
The joints should have been filled before the concrete polishing was done. This is the material I would recommend:
concretefloorsolutions.com/store/repair-materials/cfs-fast-set-joint-filler-with-static-mixing-tip/
omg tell me where you bought that system, that you use to polish the walls...in Switzerland we use nothing but knee protection and i end the freaking day in pain
Amazing work
Just a tip next time grind those edges a little more use water just like you did with the big grinder
I love running easy edges as well especially with these high polish
I hit 30, 50, 100, and 400 easy edge then run my pads on the edges to make sure everything matches
Easy edge are the 💩
You skip 200???
@@davidbolton4930 don’t think they make 200 easy edges only pads but correct me if I’m wrong
Another great video. Keep em coming.
Does it take 2 men to get that grinder up the trailer ramp once the job is done?
Yes it does, it weighs 900lbs. thank you for the comment.