Identifying Concrete Problems

Polished concrete is no longer confined to floors. Polished concrete walls are becoming popular too for both residential and commercial use. The shine and deep gloss of polished concrete walls are perfect for indoor and outdoor use. You may want polished concrete walls in your kitchen, shower, or as an accent wall. Here's a look at how wall concrete polishing is done.

Start With A Concrete Wall Base

Wall polishing is usually done in the same way as floor polishing except the position of the surface is different. You can build a wall from poured or precast concrete. In some cases, the contractor might add a concrete overlay to an existing wall.

Choose The Equipment For The Job

Polished concrete walls are often small projects, and the crew may use hand tools to do the polishing. However, if the wall is large, the contractor may bring in a vertical polishing machine that supports a full-size polishing head.

While the steps for polishing a wall and floor are the same, the contractor can't use a standard floor polisher on a wall because it's too heavy to lift and use properly. The work needs to be done with a vertical machine or with smaller hand polishers that the workers can handle and control.

Polish The Concrete To A Deep Shine

Polishing concrete is a process that removes the surface layer of the concrete using progressively finer grit until the concrete develops a deep luster. This can be time-consuming when done by hand with small polishers.

The contractor can use a wet or dry method of polishing. If you're having an indoor wall polished, the contractor might choose the dry method to keep the mess to a minimum. Although dry polishing creates dust, the dust can be vacuumed out so it doesn't fill your house. Wet grinding controls dust, but it leaves wet slurry behind that has to be cleaned up.

The contractor may need to grind the wall with several different grits and the polish with several more grits to reach the level of shine you're looking for. Your contractor might recommend cutting back on some of the labor by eliminating some of the polishing steps and burnish the wall to finish it. Burnishing works wax deep into the concrete to make it shine.

Since a wall doesn't get any foot traffic, your wall should maintain its luster for a long time. Wall concrete polishing is more difficult and often more expensive than polishing concrete on a floor, but the beautiful results are worth it.

For more information on wall concrete polishing, contact Vertical Concrete Polishing.