TikTok Shows You How To Polish Concrete Floors DIY Style
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Concrete floors, as ruggedly beautiful and effortlessly stylish as they are, have their intricacies. As time marches on, their tough exterior can wane. Enter concrete floor polishing. You might contemplate calling in the experts to revive the dulled shine of your floor. But hold on! With a dash of elbow grease and a handful of tools, you can turn the grey boredom into a polished masterpiece all on your own. The secret lies in various diamond-impregnated tools of different grits that work their magic from rough to fine on the languishing concrete floor.
Digging into polished concrete flooring, you encounter two primary techniques: wet and dry. The wet method douses the diamonds with water for cooling, but also generates a stubborn after-mess. Conversely, the dry method, with its convenience of dust containment, is faster and hassle-free. But don't get carried away imagining your angle grinder outfitted with a diamond tip taking on this intricate job. The real hero here is a concrete floor grinder.
However, the price tag attached to a decent concrete floor grinder, like the $1,099 VEVOR Electric model on Amazon, can be hefty for a one-time job. Some top-tier models can burn an $8,000 hole in your pocket. Enter rental services. Home Depot stores offer these machines for lease, charging around $160 for four hours or $195 per day. By having the rental service deck out your preferred grinder with suitable diamonds, you sidestep additional expenses for a nominal fee.
How to DIY polish concrete floor like a pro
Embarking on a DIY journey to transform your concrete floor into a shining masterpiece begins with meticulous preparation. You need a grinder machine with an attached vacuum system that zaps dust like a superhero. Don't forget those diamond grinding discs and pads: they're the secret agents for slicing through the concrete with precision. Choose hard bond diamond discs for soft concrete and soft discs for hard concrete. Add the basics of safety (gloves, safety goggles, and a respirator), and it's game on.
The grinding phase is where the magic unfurls. With a 20-grit metal-bond diamond disc, you're ready to take on any imperfections — we're talking about circular motions, eliminating stains and paint drippings with each round. Meanwhile, cracks or contraction joints are mended with a dab of a filler like PC Products PC-Xtreme Polyurea Joint Filler on Lowe's. As you shift gears towards the honing phase, the narrative takes on a smoother texture, with finer grit discs (40, 80, 150, and beyond) bestowing a polished look upon the floor.
Next comes the polishing phase. Swap the metal-bonded diamonds with resin-bonded diamond pads with grits upward of 200 to 1,500, and your floor will be polished to perfection in no time. Craving an encore? Sealing with a product like Prosoco LS Premium Concrete Sealer from Amazon will not disappoint — think of it as a shield that keeps your newly polished concreted floor looking great without taxing maintenance requirements.
Alternatives and precautions for concrete floor polishing
When tackling the Herculean task of DIY polishing concrete floors, your typical home outlets might raise the white flag, unable to power the gladiator that is a heavy-duty concrete grinder. It can be as frustrating as powering a monster truck on a scooter's battery. Your saving grace is a heavy-duty power generator tailor-picked to match your grinder's thirst for power. A seasoned DIYer knows the importance of detail. And that's precisely why a small diamond grinder gets a starring role for those hard-to-reach areas such as edges and corners. Grind with gusto, but don't let the concrete grinder sit in one spot for too long; otherwise, the embedded diamond discs could spell disaster by digging too deep.
Getting into the contraction joint may need a little cutting. As for the filler, an arsenal of alternatives exists, including epoxy fillers or concrete repair mortars — wipe away the excess with a joint shaver. The high noise levels produced by a propane grinding machine can make the process seem like a heavy metal concert, except it's not as pleasant. Enter earplugs or earmuffs, the guardians of your sanity amidst the sonic onslaught. A chemical hardener, applied before final polishing and sealing, can firm up your polished floor. But who said the rejuvenation has to end with applying a concrete floor sealant? Unleash your inner artist with adhesive graphics, transforming your garage or workshop floor into a canvas of personal expression.