Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering Re: Polished concrete 41May 16, 2009 11:42 pm Ben, I had a look at the website it looks better than I expected. Do you have samples at the Bayswater site that I could look at it? Re: Polished concrete 43May 22, 2009 8:04 am hi ElephantGuy, We have a number of samples down at out factory which you are most welcome to come and see. Buzz, Thanks for the feedback. It just continues to grow and grow. Given all the environmental considerations and the easy it is to build with, I believe we have just scratched the surface. We are currently working on Myers new head office in Melbourne, which has 10 floors (about 9500 sqm), of polished concrete. Regards, Ben Vander Veen PROGRIND AUSTRALIA Maintenance Free Polished Concrete, without coatings! www.progrind.com.au Re: Polished concrete 45May 22, 2009 10:31 am Ben, I had a look at the website. great results. Can you recommend a concrete polisher for Blue Mountains NSW. (Lithgow -2hrs from Sydney). PM me if your not comfortable giving names publicly. Cheers, Shane Re: Polished concrete 46May 22, 2009 11:58 am Hi Shane, We do a lot of work in NSW and I would be happy to have a look at the project for you too see if it something we can do. You can email me at ben AT progrind.com.au. Regards, Ben Vander Veen PROGRIND AUSTRALIA Maintenance Free Polished Concrete, without coatings! www.progrind.com.au Re: Polished concrete 48May 27, 2009 9:47 pm Polished concrete was a big trend a couple of years ago in homes and it will probably become big again soon because the polished concrete industry here and in USA continues to grow. Concrete has become incredibly decorative which you can find out more about at "concrete network" on the internet. For a home they like to do the first few grinds one week after the slab has been laid otherwise it gets too hard to expose the aggregate. They grind with coarse, grind with medium, grind with fine and fill the air holes at the same time then they densify/harden and grind with finer diamonds before sealing. When the house is near completion but before the skirting boards are in place they grind off the sealer and start the 4-6 stages of polishing to complete the job. There are about 10 to 14 separate steps involved altogether. The finished job is hard, high gloss and very durable without anything on top to come off later. It can be stained by some foods even though it is stain resistant, but early cleaning should prevent that. The texture is earthy and natural which is more pleasant than artificial surfaces over time. I do not do this work, I just provide some allied equipment to the industry and I have attended a few "World of Concrete" expos in America where it is very big business. Re: Polished concrete 49May 27, 2009 10:06 pm go diamond But it is big now here in the south west. No sealer Do you sell diamond cutting/grinding blades, disc and cups? and would you be in NSW I forgot to check Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Polished concrete 50May 28, 2009 6:31 am onc_artisan :: go diamond But it is big now here in the south west. No sealer Do you sell diamond cutting/grinding blades, disc and cups? and would you be in NSW I forgot to check Hi, my company website is http://www.situp.com.au which has lots of information for small operators who diamond grind concrete. We distribute through power tool shops and specialist suppliers to the trade throughout Australia and export to a couple of specialist suppliers in USA, if they do not have it in stock you can ask them to get it in. Re: Polished concrete 51May 28, 2009 7:34 am I've become very interested in polished concrete and mentioned it to a few guys at work. They have tried to steer me off it. Their reasoning is that it won't look very good in a couple of years when hair lline cracks appear in the concrete. They also said it is cold. Are they right? Re: Polished concrete 52May 28, 2009 8:31 am ElephantGuy I've become very interested in polished concrete and mentioned it to a few guys at work. They have tried to steer me off it. Their reasoning is that it won't look very good in a couple of years when hair lline cracks appear in the concrete. They also said it is cold. Are they right? Hairline cracks usually appear only in very poor quality concrete and/or concrete that moves with the substrate, neither of which should ever occur in a new home. I must admit that I have never seen older polished floors so I could be wrong. I do not know about the coldness, but I just insulated under my wood floors to stop heat losses and cold air getting in which made the rooms much more comfortable - you do not have that problem with a slab. Wouldn't it be at earth temp? A bit warmer in winter and a bit cooler in summer. Trouble is.. do those guys at work really know? Re: Polished concrete 53May 28, 2009 9:34 am Diamond Hairline cracks usually appear only in very poor quality concrete and/or concrete that moves with the substrate, neither of which should ever occur in a new home. Hairline cracks appear in all concrete because concrete shrinks and there are a number of environmental factors which also contribute to this. For example, on a hot day the surface of the concrete will dry faster than the rest of the slab. The MPA of the slab will also affect this. Personally we prefer 32 MPA for a polished concrete finish. While there are methods to control cracking through certain mix designs and curing techniques, I dont think it is fair to say they only appear in poor quality concrete. You also need to be careful about when you get onto the concrete. 10-14 days is a good guide, but a hardness test across the body of the floor is required before the grinding process should start. Regards, Ben Vander Veen PROGRIND AUSTRALIA Maintenance Free Polished Concrete, without coatings! www.progrind.com.au Re: Polished concrete 54May 28, 2009 10:57 am Quote: Hairline cracks appear in all concrete because concrete shrinks and there are a number of environmental factors which also contribute to this. For example, on a hot day the surface of the concrete will dry faster than the rest of the slab. The MPA of the slab will also affect this. Personally we prefer 32 MPA for a polished concrete finish. Hi Ben, do you think these hairline cracks will move a few years after polishing and show up? Re: Polished concrete 55May 28, 2009 11:19 am Diamond ElephantGuy I've become very interested in polished concrete and mentioned it to a few guys at work. They have tried to steer me off it. Their reasoning is that it won't look very good in a couple of years when hair lline cracks appear in the concrete. They also said it is cold. Are they right? Hairline cracks usually appear only in very poor quality concrete and/or concrete that moves with the substrate, neither of which should ever occur in a new home. I must admit that I have never seen older polished floors so I could be wrong. I do not know about the coldness, but I just insulated under my wood floors to stop heat losses and cold air getting in which made the rooms much more comfortable - you do not have that problem with a slab. Wouldn't it be at earth temp? A bit warmer in winter and a bit cooler in summer. Trouble is.. do those guys at work really know? One of the guys says he used to be a building inspector and tells me that people have the concrete polished but after a few years it looks bad and they cover it with carpet. I am a little bit sceptical about his blanket dismissal of all polished concrete and that's why I've thrown it up to the board. As far as being cold, you have reassured my initial understanding, it should be around the same temp as the earth, a bit warmer in winter, a bit cooler in summer. Re: Polished concrete 56May 28, 2009 11:23 am Ben Vander Veen Diamond Hairline cracks usually appear only in very poor quality concrete and/or concrete that moves with the substrate, neither of which should ever occur in a new home. Hairline cracks appear in all concrete because concrete shrinks and there are a number of environmental factors which also contribute to this. For example, on a hot day the surface of the concrete will dry faster than the rest of the slab. The MPA of the slab will also affect this. Personally we prefer 32 MPA for a polished concrete finish. While there are methods to control cracking through certain mix designs and curing techniques, I dont think it is fair to say they only appear in poor quality concrete. You also need to be careful about when you get onto the concrete. 10-14 days is a good guide, but a hardness test across the body of the floor is required before the grinding process should start. Ben, If a good company is involved with laying the concrete and polishing it and things are done properly, can I assume that there is still a possibility of hairline cracks appearing later down the track? In your experience, how bad do they appear? Can they be fixed? Brian Re: Polished concrete 57May 28, 2009 12:27 pm Diamond Quote: Hairline cracks appear in all concrete because concrete shrinks and there are a number of environmental factors which also contribute to this. For example, on a hot day the surface of the concrete will dry faster than the rest of the slab. The MPA of the slab will also affect this. Personally we prefer 32 MPA for a polished concrete finish. Hi Ben, do you think these hairline cracks will move a few years after polishing and show up? Hi Diamond, That has more to do about the substrate than the grade of concrete. I would not expect them too if the substrate is good. Regards, Ben Vander Veen PROGRIND AUSTRALIA Maintenance Free Polished Concrete, without coatings! www.progrind.com.au Re: Polished concrete 58May 28, 2009 12:38 pm ElephantGuy Diamond ElephantGuy I've become very interested in polished concrete and mentioned it to a few guys at work. They have tried to steer me off it. Their reasoning is that it won't look very good in a couple of years when hair lline cracks appear in the concrete. They also said it is cold. Are they right? Hairline cracks usually appear only in very poor quality concrete and/or concrete that moves with the substrate, neither of which should ever occur in a new home. I must admit that I have never seen older polished floors so I could be wrong. I do not know about the coldness, but I just insulated under my wood floors to stop heat losses and cold air getting in which made the rooms much more comfortable - you do not have that problem with a slab. Wouldn't it be at earth temp? A bit warmer in winter and a bit cooler in summer. Trouble is.. do those guys at work really know? One of the guys says he used to be a building inspector and tells me that people have the concrete polished but after a few years it looks bad and they cover it with carpet. I am a little bit sceptical about his blanket dismissal of all polished concrete and that's why I've thrown it up to the board. As far as being cold, you have reassured my initial understanding, it should be around the same temp as the earth, a bit warmer in winter, a bit cooler in summer. EG, If the polishing isnt done correctly, and they have put a coating down (like an epoxy or Urethane/Acrylic) then no doubt this could be the case. Coatings tend to discolour, peel, fade and wear (rapidly), and without constant reapplication of these the floor will never look that good. The difference in what we do is that we actually mechanically polish the concrete, there is never a need to use a coating and never a need to re-polish. Regards, Ben Vander Veen PROGRIND AUSTRALIA Maintenance Free Polished Concrete, without coatings! www.progrind.com.au Re: Polished concrete 59May 28, 2009 12:40 pm ElephantGuy Ben Vander Veen Diamond Hairline cracks usually appear only in very poor quality concrete and/or concrete that moves with the substrate, neither of which should ever occur in a new home. Hairline cracks appear in all concrete because concrete shrinks and there are a number of environmental factors which also contribute to this. For example, on a hot day the surface of the concrete will dry faster than the rest of the slab. The MPA of the slab will also affect this. Personally we prefer 32 MPA for a polished concrete finish. While there are methods to control cracking through certain mix designs and curing techniques, I dont think it is fair to say they only appear in poor quality concrete. You also need to be careful about when you get onto the concrete. 10-14 days is a good guide, but a hardness test across the body of the floor is required before the grinding process should start. Ben, If a good company is involved with laying the concrete and polishing it and things are done properly, can I assume that there is still a possibility of hairline cracks appearing later down the track? In your experience, how bad do they appear? Can they be fixed? Brian Brian, At the end of the day, hairline cracks are a feature of concrete. Its part of the look. Having said that, any structual cracks (caused during the curing process), we actually fill and blend in when we mechanically grout the floor with a special latex based grout. Grinding alone will not fill the cracks and pin holes in the floor. The grout we use actually fuses with the concrete through the heat generated by the grinding process. Regards, Ben Vander Veen PROGRIND AUSTRALIA Maintenance Free Polished Concrete, without coatings! www.progrind.com.au Re: Polished concrete 60May 28, 2009 10:11 pm Hairline cracks, crazing, cracking.... ...doesn't sound good, but yes a liquid product will develop tension when cured. Some cracks are slump cracks, others are screeded in footprints hairline cracks are shrinkage cracks and could suggest a range of cause.. too much water, not waiting til the bleed water process, morning pour arvo bake off. etc etc etc Where you are coming from is where you are going to... To my understanding early saw cuts are to control shrinkage cracks, so doing them now would be pointless. Control joints may reduce ugly cracking during periods of soil… 3 9858 Hi all I need a guidance on how far I need to space expansion joints in the concrete driveway and its type (keyway/foam.) Contraction joints are at 3m max for a 125 slab. Thanks 0 10939 |