Concrete Polishing

At 31, Joe Yezzi was a construction guy trapped in the body of a cellular-phone tycoon. After he finished high school, Yezzi started a pager company that grew into a chain of 23 stores selling wireless phones and services from all the major brands. “I had a street-smart education,” he says.

The owner of Dallas’s Dave and Buster’s sports bar wanted the look of a contemporary football field for the floor. After the floor was polished to an 800 grit, Chris Post of Elite Concrete Solutions delivered that and more.

All concrete polishers are aware of the many subpar polished floors out there that are giving polished concrete a bad name. I get several calls each week asking how to fix a bad floor, so I am sure that you are dealing with this as well.

One of the largest lighting manufacturers in North America has recently moved its product development to a 132,000-square-foot building in Atlanta, Georgia, and the company chose polished concrete as the most cost-efficient and easy to maintain flooring option.

In this outdoors construction project, weather was always going to be a factor. Considering the sensitive nature of the walls, precautions for polishing under certain wet or temperature conditions was critical to achieving desired results.

Polishing worked wonders when artisans set out to restore an almost-century-old, flaw-riddled floor for a shopping arcade.

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, which opened Dec. 1 of last year, is billed as providing visitors with a living science lesson full of hands-on learning experiences.

This mission extends to the building structure itself, by way of the concrete.

From huge industrial manufacturing plants and nationwide retail stores to restaurants and residences across the country, polished concrete has become a very popular flooring option over the last decade.

I would bet that when you think about concrete, humor is not the first word that comes to mind. Then again, you aren’t Gordon Young.

Mild-mannered, terrazzoesque floor by day, photoluminescent phenomenon by night. This glow-in-the-dark effect can brighten up any surface.

In today’s economy, it is even more important to make an investment in the bank. In this case I’m not referring to money in the bank, though that is important. I’m referring to knowledge in your brain bank.

Throughout the nation's gambling capital, signs of rejuvenation are unfolding as tourists with a bit more spending money check in, investors' interest returns and locals get back to work.

The word "diamonds" is inevitably associated with the concept of "big bucks," but like many other things about diamond grinding, this is something of a misconception.

How strong (in compression or psi) does concrete have to be to take a polish without densifier? Getting an answer for this one was pretty straightforward — 5,000 psi to 6,000 psi, depending on the aggregate.

Many years in the making and rigorously reviewed by dozens of experts in the field, the much-anticipated 310R-13 Guide to Decorative Concrete was officially published by the American Concrete Institute in December 2013.

Contractors who restore concrete floors give new meaning to the phrase "green thumb."

A concrete floor is a renewable resource.

Concrete placement is never easy, with many variables such as wind, sun, ambient temperature and humidity to consider as they all affect each pour. The mix design and consideration of the actual makeup of the concrete and possible additives are just as important.

We all are aware of how important a role architects play in our industry. They are the ones advising municipalities and every type of building owner. As architects learn more about what we can do with a concrete surface they are becoming very intrigued with how much they can do.

The terms “polishing” and burnishing” are sometimes used interchangeably in the decorative concrete industry to describe two very different processes.

The polished concrete industry has seen growth, especially during the past three years, that is both encouraging and depressing. Whenever one has been part of an industry since its birth, he tends to be a little territorial. So, when change occurs, especially if it's not in one's own best interest, one often gets protective and possibly a little jaded. This doesn't have to happen.

One of the major issues that I have noticed in the decorative concrete industry is that most contractors in our business do not seem to have any respect for each other. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part this statement is true across the board.

To accommodate the manufacturing robots that do the bulk of the work, the floors of Solyndra’s two plants must be very flat, level and durable, says Jonathan Williams, president of Diacon Inc., in Manteca, Calif. “We couldn’t have any ridges or valleys that would cause them to offshoot.” The task at hand was to produce functional factory floors that were also pleasing to the human eye.

Once upon a time, there was a polished concrete job that was easy. It started out with a new, flawless install, a clean, even slab ready to grind. The client closed the building for a few days, providing ample, uninterrupted time to do the job. There were no hurdles. There were no surprises. Everything went according to plan.