The Importance of Maintaining Polished Concrete Floors. Concrete has become a popular option for modern businesses of late, not only due to pricing considerations, which tend to be far more affordable than traditional options like stone or tile, but because of the many desirable options now available. Stained concrete is particularly popular, with options for colors, patterns, and textures that could make your flooring look like everything from natural stone to wood planks.
Depending on the type of business you operate, you’ll have to decide if sealing or polishing concrete floors is right for you. While sealers strengthen your flooring and make it impermeable, polishing offers a cost-effective alternative that still delivers plenty of value, increasing the reflective quality of the surface and protecting against damage without the need for waxes and other coatings (that could cause slipping incidents). However, you do have to maintain polished concrete flooring. Why is regular maintenance so important?
Prevent Dullness
As anyone with a concrete driveway or patio knows, this surface isn’t particularly shiny on its own – in fact, it’s quite dull. While sealing can add a lot of shine, depending on the product you choose, you can also get a gleaming surface through polishing, which smooths the material and significantly increases reflectivity, without making the surface slippery.
Over time, however, dirt, grime, and foot traffic can all dull the shine of your polished flooring as particulates get ground into the surface. Regular polishing will not only remove grimy buildup that dulls and dirties the surface, restoring it to initial brilliance, but also make your concrete flooring gleam.
Ensure Resistance
The process of polishing concrete not only cleans and smooths the surface, but also makes it resistant to staining, scratches, chips, and other damage. If your flooring endures a high volume of traffic, it will start to wear, and this can impact its resistance. Polishing helps to alleviate these threats.
As a side note, operations that experience a lot of spills may want to use epoxy coating in addition to polishing for extra protection, or simply upgrade to sealed concrete flooring, as concrete is a naturally porous material and prone to staining.
Save Money
A well-known adage insists that you have to spend money to make money, but in this case, you need to spend a little to save a lot. Maintaining polished concrete floors is a relatively low-maintenance and cost-effective flooring solution, as opposed to more traditional flooring types, but it does require a modicum of maintenance, from frequent sweeping to regular polishing. With proper maintenance efforts, you’ll get decades of use out of polished concrete and avoid costly flooring replacement in the meantime.
RJC Commercial Janitorial & Cleanroom Solutions is happy to offer suitable scheduling to maintaining polished concrete flooring. Contact us today at 800-582-2105 or online to learn more.
