Once your concrete has been polished, you’ll be left with a beautiful shiny surface. But how shiny depends on your preferences and the image you want to create. Depending on the reflective sheen you desire on your floor, you can choose several levels from matte or satin to a glassy mirror-like finish. It’s also important to discuss the level of aggregate exposure you wish to have in your polished concrete floor.
Once our crews do the proper repairs and surface preparation of your floor, we will polish to the level you wish to achieve. You may wish to experience all the benefits of polished concrete, but do not need the high sheen, and instead desire a low-luster matte finish with a slight overhead reflection. On the other hand, we can create a polished concrete surface where you can see your reflection with total clarity. It all depends on the presentation you want to create.
The higher the sheen level, the more light reflectivity you will experience. As one of the great benefits of polished concrete, a highly reflective floor increases the lighting in the polished area resulting in greater safety, a brighter image, and lower electricity and fixture cost when you don’t need to add additional fixtures or higher wattage bulbs to get the brightness you want in that area.
Aggregates are inert granular materials such as sand, gravel, or crushed stone that are an essential ingredient in concrete. Aggregates, which account for 60 to 75 percent of the total volume of concrete, are divided into two distinct categories–fine and coarse. Natural gravel and sand are usually dug or dredged from a local pit, river, lake, or seabed, so the aggregates in concrete sourced in various parts of the country differ by the local environment. Recycled concrete is a viable source of aggregate – contributing to the environmentally friendly nature of polished concrete.
Present within every concrete slab, the aggregates become more exposed with more aggressive concrete grinding during the polishing process. Aggregate exposure varies from cream, with very little exposure, to Large Aggregate exposure where more of the sand, gravel and stone of all sizes in the concrete will be exposed on the surface. Every slab differs and the concrete is not uniform, therefore the exposure won’t be either, adding to the uniqueness of your floor.
Discuss with your salesperson the look that you are trying to achieve both in sheen level and aggregate exposure to get the floor you want!
