48 D+D APRIL 2015 Q+ Got a concrete problem? Concrete A Ask the experts: [email protected]. By Jim Cuviello, Cuviello Concrete and Terrazzo Polishing Polished Concrete — From the Beginning The history of polished concrete brings lessons of quality control and illuminates a wealth of capabilities. olished concrete does not have a also substantially improved aesthetics for costs by 70 percent, is extremely durable long history, but the story of its its retail locations. and can help achieve credit toward LEED evolution and pioneers are worth Architects and designers now recognize certification. P taking the time to understand in polished concrete as an option that can Polished concrete often is specified in order to identify misconceptions and replace other hard floor surfaces and coat- new construction, where the concrete can idiosyncrasies. ings. While many view it as “decorative be placed and finished so that it is con- Polished concrete as we know it today concrete,” polished concrete is actually ducive to the polishing processes. The re- started as a means to restore and reha- more than decorative concrete, which is in- sult is a better-finished product that allows bilitate existing concrete slabs in ware- stalled mostly for aesthetics. Polished for greater degrees of design, such as houses and other industrial applications. concrete is a viable flooring option just like seeding glass and decorative aggregate Although polished concrete was vinyl composition tile (VCT), stone, wood into the surface and the use of integral installed more for function than aesthet- or carpet. color. ics, big-box stores quickly adopted pol- In recent years, the use of polished con- ished concrete to embrace both aspects. crete has seen substantial growth in edu- How It’s Done In 2000, Home Depot, for instance, saw cation, offices, and multifamily and retail The process of polishing concrete is no dif- the opportunity to have a concrete floor construction. When properly installed, a ferent than polishing stone, optical lenses, that not only had better function but polished concrete floor can lower floor care metal, etc. 49 Concrete Q + A Big-box retailers like Home Depot were among the first to recognize the benefits polished concrete offered in terms of functionality and aesthetics, in this case using the Vexcon Certi-Shine System first developed in 2000. Photo courtesy of Bill Rains, Blue Diamond Services and Home Depot. The process starts with the application ishing system that included equipment, Equipment of a rough abrasive to remove imperfec- progressively finer abrasives and a chemi- Two notable distributors credited as tions and create a foundation for the next cal hardening/densifying silicate com- pioneers to the industry are VIC Interna- rounds of abrasives. Each following abra- pound. In 1999 it launched RetroPlate 99. tional and VMC Technical Assistance sive treatment completely removes the pre- Curecrete is given credit for bringing pol- Corporation. vious abrasive’s scratches and leaves a ished concrete into the mainstream and in- VIC International sold equipment and completely new set of scratches on the troducing polished concrete on a broad supplies to polish stone. In 1995, HTC Pro- surface. scale to architects and designers. fessional Floor Systems, an equipment Each abrasive leaves a progressively Early concrete polishing contractors and manufacturer out of Sweden, started sell- finer scratch until light is able to reflect off distributors were in the stone restoration ing planetary equipment to VIC for stone the surface at the same angle it came in on. and polishing trade. These contractors and floor restoration, then to Innovatech in Not completely removing the previous distributors understood how to polish 1999. Planetary heads were first used on scratch pattern will result in a floor with stone using bonded diamond abrasives. stone polishing lines. lower reflective clarity, definition of the re- Because those from the stone trade under- HTC was the first manufacturer to brand flection, durability and stain resistance. stood the mechanics behind polishing ma- its equipment specifically for polishing terials, the result was polished concrete concrete, and the roots of many equipment The Early Days floors with high definition and clarity manufacturers started with the use or Concrete has been processed to a honed within the floor’s reflectivity. sales of HTC equipment. finish since the 1800s, when cement and stone chips were mixed together to create terrazzo. Terrazzo is typically finished at a 200-grit abrasive or below and sealed. Terrazzo was first processed with corun- dum stones, which many still use today. Although not polished to a reflective surface, terrazzo was still a form of a processed concrete floor. In 1908 a patent was filed for a machine to polish stone and concrete using surfac- ing tools, and another was filed in 1990 for a concrete-wall finishing machine used to polish concrete walls with abrasives. The two patents show that people were think- ing about and possibly even polishing con- crete, although the concept didn’t start to get a greater degree attention until around 1996. Currently, the polished concrete process consists of three components: chemistry, abrasives and equipment to drive the Polished concrete is often seen in high-traffic settings, such as this school building, which took advantage abrasives. of the course aggregate to add to the decorative nature of the floor surface. This floor employed In 1998 Curecrete, the makers of Ashford the Green Endurance Process using RetroPlate 99. Formula, filed a patent for a concrete pol- Photo courtesy of Cuviello Concrete. 50 D+D APRIL 2015 In 2004 HTC stopped selling through Diamond Productions Canada, Alpha and Chemical manufacturers drove the pol- distributors and started selling directly to KGS Diamond. ished concrete industry. They had feet on contractors. As a result, VIC and Innovat- In 2005 HTC introduced the next signifi- the ground — they had sales representa- ech developed their own equipment in cant innovation to the industry: the tives who were already presenting to ar- 2005. Many industry pioneers and veter- Twister pad system. The Twister pad was chitects, designers and specifiers. ans got their start working at VIC. the first janitorial-type nylon pad that had Chemical manufacturers knew how to sell Equipment 1906 Patent filed for planetary head floor polishing machine by Abel A. Miller 1917 Menghini & Bonfanti La Genovese – Planetary head stone and terrazzo machine used for concrete polishing 1931 Terrco/Terrazzo Surfacing Machine Co. – Rotary head stone and terrazzo machine used for concrete polishing 1992 HTC introduces variable-speed planetary head grinder 1997 Diamatic – Holland Industriele Diamantwerken B.V. 1998 SASE enters, selling Diamatic 1999 Innovatech starts selling HTC 2000 King Concepts introduces individual controlled directional and variable-spee controlled planetary machine 2001 Substrate Technology Inc. 2001 Blastrac selling Diamatic 2002 Klindex 2004 Superabrasive Lavina 2004 Blastrac buys Diamatic 2005 Innovatech develops machine 2005 VIC develops machine 2005 CPS 2005 Onfloor 2006 WerkMaster 2007 Husqvarna acquires King Concepts 2007 Aztec UltraGrind The first Terrco stone and terrazzo grinder, 1931. 2008 KutRite Photo courtesy of Terrco Inc. abrasive sprayed to the surface. These to the architectural community, they knew Abrasives pads were developed for light restoration what an AIA presentation was, and they During the earliest years, the abrasives and maintenance. knew how to write construction specifica- used for polishing concrete were those de- Many polishing contractors abused their tions — they steered polished concrete signed for polishing stone. use. They used the pads to create a shiny into the design community. The who, what, when and where of abra- concrete surface, and many called it pol- Equipment and abrasive manufacturers sives has many paths, and to some extent ished concrete. Although shiny, it lacked did not have this knowledge or ability at the story is convoluted. Some notable dis- the clarity of reflection with definition and the time. Today, however, equipment tributors and manufacturers of abrasives durability of bonded diamond abrasives. manufacturers understand the architec- considered pioneers in the polished con- tural sales cycle, and a trend is starting crete industry include Udiesse, Superabra- Chemistry where equipment manufacturers are sive Inc., General Diamond, Diamond Tool As the industry grew, so did the number starting to drive architect and owner use Products CND, VMC, Diamond Tool Supply, of manufacturers of chemistry. as well. 51 Concrete Q + A color and stencil custom logos to the con- crete surface. This was a significant advancement to the industry; it allowed designers more versatility and undoubtedly increased the use of polished concrete, expanding the market. In 2009 we started to see growth in self- leveling polishable toppings. Polishable toppings have become a proven and ac- cepted means for providing a polished concrete-like floor to surfaces that are not conducive to the polishing processes. These toppings also allow architects and owners to produce consistency from one job to the next because it eliminates the This highly polished floor – one of the first of its size done using RetroPlate – is a good example of the high need for the concrete to be favorable for definition, clarity and reflectivity achievable through proper polishing