For this dining area, Extreme Measures Construction installed a polished overlay and then enhanced it with dye and decorative sawcuts.
A polished concrete overlay installed by Concrete Polishing & Sealing Ltd. completely restored this 3,000-square-foot recreation room floor, giving it a high-gloss finish that reflects the overhead lighting.
Madstone Concrete installed a self-leveling polished overlay to replace a failing wood floor and give the homeowners the sleek, modern look they were after. The overlay also allowed the homeowners to match the color of the floor to a Benjamin Moore paint color.
It’s important to be ready for any contingency that may occur while placing a polished concrete overlay by keeping an organized mix station and plenty of backup tools and staff on hand.
With their ease of maintenance and beautiful high-gloss finish, polished concrete floors are becoming the new superstars of the decorative flooring world, especially in high-profile retail and commercial settings. Although most existing concrete slabs can be polished, some have major flaws, such as spalled areas, carpet tack holes and extensive patchwork, which would still show through after polishing. And in terms of decorative options, existing polished floors are limited to the application of topical color.
Polished Concrete Overlays
Time: 03:31
To meet the demand for an aesthetically pleasing solution for polishing imperfect concrete floors, more and more contractors are now installing polished overlays as an economical alternative. The Concrete Network talked with three contractors who specialize in these projects to get their viewpoints about the applications for polished overlays and how to achieve success in this growing market.
WHY FLOOR OWNERS LIKE POLISHED OVERLAYS
In most cases, polished overlays are used to cover up problem floors and achieve a perfectly smooth, seam-free surface. In other cases, the owner wants to enhance an existing floor with decorative sawcuts or get a terrazzo-like finish by seeding the overlay with colored aggregate.
“A polishable overlay will let us provide the polished concrete look for a client but without the underlying slab imperfections showing through,” says Brian Johnson, owner of Extreme Measures Construction, Beaumont, Calif., a company that installs polished overlays, microtoppings and stampable overlays. One of their specialties is to seed the overlay and then polish it to expose the aggregate. He says this process can be offered as a terrazzo alternative at about half the price.
Youri Semakov of Concrete Polishing & Sealing Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, says that many of his customers appreciate the fast turnaround time of a polished overlay when compared with replacing or patching the existing concrete. “The microtopping can be successfully installed over any hard surface including concrete, terrazzo and tiles, with a fast turnaround time of just 24 hours,” he says. A polished microtopping has many other attributes as well, he adds. “It can easily be treated with color or a decorative coating, it is environmentally friendly, mold and mildew resistant and, most important, economical.”
Tom Zilian of Madstone LLC, Barrington, R.I., installs polished overlays for both commercial and residential clients. “The demand is growing as awareness grows, especially in the residential and small high-end commercial markets,” he says. His clients include image-based businesses who are trying to portray an ultramodern, minimalist design aesthetic and homeowners who like polished overlays because they can be custom matched to a desired color and offer a seamless, low-maintenance surface. “Most importantly, polished overlays are a good solution when the existing concrete is in such poor condition (cracks, spalling, pitted, out of level) that polishing the existing concrete would look undesirable and too industrial,” he says.
