Polishing Concrete Floors – Is it Durable Enough?

To fully understand if polished concrete floors are right for you understanding your facility’s needs is a good place to start. Polishing concrete floors isn’t always the best solution – learn more about the benefits based on your building.

A Complete Guide to Polishing Concrete Floors:

For Industrial Facilities:

When faced with the questions is a polished concrete floor durable enough for an industrial facility? Polished concrete floors are extremely durable. They can withstand heavy forklift traffic including heavy weight and heavy volume. Regular concrete floors might look like this after years of heavy traffic:

Before a concrete restoration, this concrete floor is in desperate need of concrete floor polishing.

Heavily damaged concrete due to manufacturing and heavy forklift traffic.

When the surface of the concrete is worn down over time with heavy traffic or manufacturing, the strong part of the concrete is slowly removed. This leaves a softer and weaker part of the concrete behind. This weak concrete is not durable enough to withstand even the lightest of traffic. In addition, it produces dust and is difficult to maintain.

 

 

After a concrete floor is polished, the result is more durable and maintenance friendly.

Not only is the concrete restored to a smooth surface, but it is chemically re-hardened to provide the durability needed for heavy forklift traffic.

So why is polished concrete more durable than a standard concrete floor. First of all, it can restore floors that looks like the above floor to this floor to the right. But more importantly, a chemical hardener penetrates the surface to reharden the soft, eroded concrete. Polished concrete floors are seen in facilities such as: warehouses, distribution centers, factories, and heavy industrial plants for their durability and longevity under the extremes.

 

 For Retail Facilities:

When considering polishing concrete floors in a retail environment, there are 2 main concerns: Is it durable enough to handle spills and is it slippery?

When polishing concrete floors it is most important to add the stain protection layer for grocery store and other retail floors.

A stain protection treatment is burned into the concrete to prevent stains on polished concrete.

Many grocery retailers are concerned about stains like pickle juice and other items that may break and spill onto the floor. When considering polishing concrete floors there might be something you didn’t know: a stain protection layer can be added to the floor. This allows you a window of time to clean up any spills before they cause permanent stains. Read more about Titus’ stain protection for polished concrete here.

 

 

 

While the appearance of polishing concrete floors is slippery or wet:

Is polishing concrete floors a slip hazard?

NFSI has certified Titus Polished Concrete as high traction to ensure slip resistance.

the actual co efficient of friction meets the National Floor Safety Institute’s standard for high traction flooring if it has been certified by NFSI. Both of Titus’ polishing systems have this certification and is widely used in a variety of retail stores without the fear of slips, trips, and falls. Of course it is important to clean up spills that will change the co efficient of friction so having a good maintenance plan always comes first when polishing concrete floors.