Growing demand for trendy, polished concrete floors in new and renovated homes is providing a challenge for building contractors.
While some contractors are happy to call in specialists, others are keen to learn how to do it themselves, says Geoff Holtmeulen, who runs the Western Australian division of specialist equipment hire company, Kennards Concrete Care .
The company, which also has outlets in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, hires specialist equipment for a wide range of jobs involving concrete, including surface preparation and repair, sawing, drilling and demolition. Polished concrete floors not only look beautiful, but thermal mass keeps homes warm in winter and cool in summer.
Polishing concrete is similar to sanding wood, explains one of the information sheets:
Heavy-duty grinding-polishing machines, equipped with progressively finer grits of diamond discs and resin bound diamond pads (akin to sandpaper), are used to gradually grind down surfaces to the desired degree of shine and smoothness. Grout is then applied to fill any small voids or air pockets, followed by polishing and sealing.