PERFECT POLISH BLOG

For too many years, low-maintenance polished concrete has been sold as the no maintenance floor.  Though its durability exceeds any other flooring on the market, as with all flooring investments, polished concrete needs some minimal care to keep its aesthetic.

The largest contributors to premature shine deterioration are: 

• Using the Wrong Cleaners: (Chemical Abrasion) Products designed for VCT, linoleum, and sealed concrete may be too stringent for polished concrete surfaces and could etch the shine.  Cleaning products designed specifically for polished concrete floors, such as those available from CPS (www.go2cps.com), are neutral on the pH scale.  It is important to note that on the pH scale, neutral is a number 7. A number 6 is 10 times more acidic, and a number 5 is 100 times more acidic. 

• Abrasion: Constant foot traffic, forklifts, pallet jacks, and shopping carts are relentlessly picking up foreign soils and redistributing these soils throughout your floor, leading to “scuffing” and sheen deterioration. Additionally, stiff bristle brushes designed for VCT, and aggressive scrubbing will compound this deterioration and cause a loss of shine.  

• Neglect: Dirt and debris will quickly abrade the surface of a polished concrete floor, causing a dulling effect and harming your investment. Routine use of a pH neutral soap which contains surfactants to suspend and remove the particulates is necessary to protect the surface. With the exception of specialized water-ionizing equipment, cleaning with water only will capture a minimal amount of dirt but will leave most of it on the floor and is another form of neglect.

 Perfect Polish now offers a quarterly maintenance program for polished concrete. Once a quarter you can have a trained polished concrete craftsmen at your facility analyzing the needs of your floor and prepared to do minor repairs such as joint repair, filling pop-outs and patches, re-sealing high traffic areas or high spill zones, and working one on one with your cleaning staff to make sure they are trained correctly. This also includes high speed burnishing with diamond pads to ensure a consistent uniform gloss throughout the useful life of your floor. Utilizing this program, you can double or triple the useful life of your polished concrete floor.

In 1996, I was present when a “process”, which was just catching on in Europe, was introduced to me and a few colleagues that had never before been performed in the U.S. Little did I know but this “process” would forever shape the direction of my future and many others like me. It is called polished concrete.

Polished Concrete is the process of grinding new or existing concrete to a smooth texture with industrial grade metal bonded diamond tools and large floor grinders weighing up to 1200 lbs. Once you have smoothed the concrete you switch to a resin bonded diamond and start the polishing steps to achieve the final shine or luster that is desired. Originally, this process used water to cool the diamonds during the grinding process and also kept the air borne concrete dust to a minimum.  However, the environmental concern of the disposal of this “slurry” necessitated the development of a dry process that connects the floor grinder to a HEPA filtration vacuum extractor to contain 98% of the dust particles.  This new process made polished concrete a practical option for green building projects.

It did not take long for industrial facilities to see the benefit of polished concrete over the use of epoxy and urethane coatings which have to be reapplied often, even annually. Soon after, the big box retail market caught wind of it and this market exploded.  No longer did home improvement stores have to look like dirty warehouses; with polished concrete, they were able to dress up their stores to attract the homeowners vs. just the contractor. Over the last ten years, polished concrete in the retail and industrial market has grown at a record pace, and has even expanded into the commercial sector with polished concrete becoming a preferred flooring choice in schools, museums, and government facilities.

My name is Brad Padgett and I am President of Concrete Polishing Technologies, Inc. CPT is based in the historic community of Norris just north of Knoxville, Tn. It’s been over 15 years since I first saw this process and immediately my brothers and I started making plans to start Perfect Polish, a concrete polishing contracting company. We did our first job in 1998 for a company in the carpet business in Chattanooga, TN and have not looked back since. To date, we have polished well over 20 million square feet and have grown to be one of the largest polished concrete specialty providers in the United States. Some of our notable projects include the San Francisco Federal Building (Silver LEED), Academy of Sciences (Platinum LEED), the Smithsonian Museum, and the Governors Mansion in Nashville, Tennessee.

As I look to the future of not only my company and industry, but the future of our country and even globally I see the increasing need for sustainability in the building sector. Using the structural slab as a finish prevents the need for materials to produce floor coverings, and concrete is one of the longest lasting and most durable hard surface choices available.  As polished concrete’s customer base continues to grow, I look forward to Perfect Polish remaining at the forefront of this ever evolving trend.

Saves Money with Low Maintenance Polished Concrete Floors

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) operates over 3,100 facilities across the globe and has offered quality goods and services to members of the armed forces and their families since 1895.  Earnings generated from these facilities goes toward Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) programs to improve the quality of life in the military community.

At one of their locations in Fort Bragg, the maintenance costs of waxing, stripping, and replacing the vinyl tile and carpet on their floor began to outweigh the benefits.  The facility managers looked for a solution that would provide them the durability needed as well as the aesthetic desired, and discovered polished concrete.

“The long term maintenance [of polished concrete] was cheaper than the vinyl tile they had before,” commented Gerald Daniel, Project Manager for WECC, Inc, a minority owned general contractor located in North Carolina that focuses their services on federal, state, and local government projects.

WECC is known for their quality control processes and their ability to consistently produce successful projects on time and on budget to the customer’s satisfaction.  WECC searched for a concrete polishing company to do the work and originally hired the lowest bidder.  However, once on the job, the scope turned out to be more than the contractor had anticipated.

“The [original concrete polishing company] was looking to have another contractor come in to remove the floor coverings then they would come in to do their original scope of work,” explained Daniel. “Instead, we just hired Perfect Polish to do it all instead of hiring two companies to do the same.”

The 83,000 square foot facility required an industrial floor scraper to first remove the VCT, carpet, and residual mastic.  However, the largest challenge presented was removal of the cementious leveling compound that was up to ¼” thick in regions of the floor.  Once removed, Perfect Polish continued to coarse grind to smooth the surface and remove imperfections.  They then poured over 14,000 square feet of polishable self-leveling overlay that had been integrally colored to match the Exchange’s branded look and dyed a coordinating 17’ x 18’ AAFES stenciled logo onto the floor.  Lastly, Perfect Polish completed multiple polishing steps to further hone the surface until they received a reflective, monolithic shine. The final result was a clean, low maintenance, no-wax floor that will greet customers for many years to come.

“We were concerned with having a good finished product and pleasing the customer,” Daniel remarked.  “Perfect Polish did a good job, and they were easier to work with.  I would recommend them.”

For more information about WECC, visit their website at   http://www.weccinc.com/

The new Colorado Army National Guard Readiness Center serves as a home station for a National Guard unit and can house one company of 140 soldiers. New readiness centers are being built in communities across Colorado to increase the value of the National Guard to the local community, and to better support them in times of need. The building is also an asset to the local economy, as it is expected to increase jobs and bring nearly $12 million of revenue to the state.

The 35,553 square foot building construction was overseen by FCI of Grand Junction Colorado and includes over 11,000 square feet of highly decorative polished concrete. “Even the stairways were dyed and polished,” exclaimed Ashley Hamby, Project Manager for Perfect Polish, the polished concrete specialty contractor tasked with the ambitious flooring work.

Multiple dyes were used to create a basket-weave like pattern onto the corridor floors, meandering down the hallways to meet one of two stenciled logos in the project.  The first logo symbol was that of the Colorado Flag, with its rich red, gold and blue hues representing the deep blue skies, golden sunshine, and red earth the state is known for. The second was the National Guard’s own logo, which included the special placement of white Portland cement poured into the pattern.

“The GC did a great job sequencing the trades and managing the quality of the flatwork,” explained Byron Farmer, Superintendent for Perfect Polish. “The biggest challenge was the porosity of the floor.” The crew densified the concrete before grinding and exposed salt and pepper aggregate throughout the floor.

Farmer worked closely with FCI to keep the floor protected once the polished concrete was completed.  Farmer elaborated, “…once the GC gave us the green light, everyone had to work around the floors.”  As the final finishing step, FCI inlaid Copper plates representing the multiple military branches inlaid into the polished concrete.  The result is a remarkable, lasting floor that will be a landmark tribute to the National Guard and the community, for decades to come.

Over 3.6 million passengers traversed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, FL last year bound for adventure on one of forty-two cruise ships, including Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival Cruise Lines. When four of the port terminals underwent a major restoration project, the facility managers wanted a flooring solution that could hold up to the foot traffic demands of up to 50,000 guests per day. The existing flooring consisted primarily of epoxies, mortars, and carpet, which had become costly to maintain due to repeating coating reapplication required and unsightly wear and tear. With its incredible durability, limited care requirements, and clean aesthetic, polished concrete was selected for the job.  

The Port Everglades restoration is part of a $54 million renovation project that s parked from a milestone agreement between Carnival Corporation and Broward County Board of County Commissions to prepare the port to handle a minimum of 25.5 million guests for Carnival Cruise Lines in the next 15 years. The renovated space has transformed the facilities into modern vestibules appropriate for Carnival's excursionist clientele.  

"The most striking part of this project is the reflection on the floors because of the polished concrete," remarks Dick Slater, VP of Moss & Associates and project manager for the terminals work.  

Moss & Associates have extensive experience managing high profile renovations such as the Port Everglades project and are adept at accommodating federal guidelines and working within secure locations. When it came to the polished concrete floors, however, Slater knew he needed specialists. As part of the Broward County process, contractors must meet certain criteria and participate in a competitive bid. After inviting bids from only a select handful of prequalified contractors with the expertise and capacity to handle the scope of work, Slater awarded the project to Perfect Polish.  

"I couldn't afford to have a bad contractor come out and halfway through the project realized they didn't have the experience. [Polished concrete] isn't like painting. It is not an exact science, and you have to have done it for a long time to know how to get it right." explained Slater. "Perfect Polish knows how to do this work ... l have seen them do it, and I would recommend them."  

Perfect Polish is one of the largest concrete polishing contractors in the US and had previously installed polished concrete into another terminal for the Port in 2009. The high accolades for their prior work and ability to meet the rigorous scheduling demands of the job ensured the project was a success. The fifteen-month project was completed in only eight months and included over 306,000 square feet of polished concrete. Perfect Polish partnered with a local labor force to help infuse work back into the local community. The Broward County Business Opportunity kt suggests a goal of at least 25% of project participation to come from local qualified businesses. Perfect Polish was able to partner with a Broward CBE firm, Sago ma Construction, to supply approximately 30% of the workforce.  

"The accelerated schedule made the work that much more of a challenge," explains Ashley Hamby, Senior Project Manager at Perfect Polish. "The work was very labor intensive including several different types of demolition of existing floor coverings including carpet, thick epoxy coatings, and thin set from tile. There was also a good deal of hand tooling, patchwork, joint fill, and joint repair."  

Slater recalled, "[Perfect Polish] really worked with us. They worked off peak hours in the evenings, then worked in dedicated areas to keep the trades separated."  

After the coatings were removed and the concrete repair work completed, Perfect Polish· performed. their signature-Natural Wonder Polished Concrete Floor System, which uses a progressive series of diamond-bonded abrasives ·10 grind, hone, and polish the floor until a highly reflective, ambient finish resulted.  

"The client was very impressed with the appearance of the buildings," concluded Slater. ''The polished floor is present as clean and attractive. The building is about 780 feet long and you can see 500 feet of it at one glance through the reflection."  

For more information about Moss & Associates, visit http://www.mosscm.com  

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About Perfect Polish:  

Since 1998, Perfect Polish has provided the highest quality concrete flooring solutions to the industrial, retail, and commercial markets, and is one of the largest contractors in the United States that specializes in polished concrete. They have built their reputation for exceptional craftsmanship and have completed installation of millions of square feet of flooring across the nation.