Outdoor Polished Concrete Floor

7 years ago

Can anyone shed any light on polished concrete flooring for outdoors? Is it expensive? Is it simple to lay? Is it durable? I have phoned a few companies but nobody can really give me any information or provide the full service - just a polished matte finish. I'm looking for a high shine white (ish) or light grey colour with flecks of stone to compliment our contemporary concrete style garden. Someone did post on a forum that you can mix an anti slip solution in the the concrete. Does anyone have any info or maybe had this done?

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PRO

Ikonografik Design

7 years ago

By looking at the image above that looks like terrazzo not polished concrete. Terrazzo might be what you are after although you need to make sure its suitable for external use. http://www.diespeker.co.uk/terrazzo/ is worth looking at although its not cheap. You may be able to get slip resistance but I doubt it otherwise the high gloss finish is lost. Suggest you speak to a specialist company, good luck.

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Comments (7)

PRO
South Wales Garden Design
7 years ago
A concrete planer/floor planer would be used on the concrete to achieve a terrazzo finish. It maybe possible to achieve the high polish effect by using a finer grinding drum. As you do with sanding down wood, start with a coarse paper and finish with a fine one.

In reality though I think you will probably need to apply a sealant to attain the finish you are looking for.
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Do yourself a humongous favour and don't go for polished concrete. It is about as practical as putting down white marble. It will show every stain and scratch and doesn't age gracefully. It needs to be sealed after it is laid (and fully dried out...) - ideally with something like clear two-part resin; and that is a very expensive finish in itself. With the underfloor heating it will probably crack, and to get it right requires a lot of depth (and weight) which you probably don't have in a flat. We have tried this many times and have learned the problems the hard way. The solution that I have arrived at is to go for large format fully vitrified porcelain tiles in a "concrete" finish. These days they come in massive sizes - 60 x 120cm and even 75 x 150cm, which give you the "slab" look and feel, and the finish is bomb proof. Typical ranges would be "Concreto" by Strata Tiles, "Composition" by Solus Tiles or by Microcement by Apavisa (Distributed by Strata). In fact Apavisa seem to make a large range of these tiles: http://www.apavisa.com/en/colecciones/?concepto=Cementos&espesor=&filtro=1 One caveat - in the large format these tiles are up to £45/sqm, but I would pay double that never to have to deal with another polished concrete floor again!
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PRO
User
7 years ago
The product also looks like terrazzo to me , you can get the high gloss finish but not with the anti slip surface as they use Carborundom in the mix and it is not possible to polish the product to a high gloss. have a look at www.veniston.co.uk they can do many different finishes, but as the last person commented it is not cheap , they manufacture a slim terrazzo in sizes 400x400 300x600 and 600x600. good luck.
PRO
Terrazzo UK
7 years ago
The above comment isn't correct in as much as you can achieve a gloss finish with an antislip surface. We have to work on TFL underground station floors and achieve the levels of anti slip. If you leave the floor with an 80grit finish you can achieve your objectives. contact http://terrazzo-uk.com for the correct restoration and Terrazzo finishing info.
PRO
Ikonografik Design
7 years ago
That's interesting. I was always led to believe you couldn't have both as the slip resistant properties are gained by having a roughened surface which breaks up reflectance and therefore the gloss finish. Always willing to learn more. How is this achieved? Any advice / knowledge appreciated.
PRO
Terrazzo UK
7 years ago
I understand what you are referring to but it is getting the balance between reflectivity and leaving the pores of the stone open enough to create an abrasive surface. We use an anti-slip machine on completion of our jobs in accordance with the Health and safety executive software to produce the relevant documentation as proof. If you are near the Barbican or indeed the Guildhall we polish all of those surfaces to leave the relevant grip and the Barbican has a huge slope it even boggles my mind but it can be achieved.
PRO
Diespeker Terrazzo & Marble
7 years ago
Hello Heather, apologies for the delayed reply! Terrazzo UK is correct in that a non-slip polished matte finish is achievable with terrazzo. Terrazzo is a highly used flooring material - in supermarkets, hospitals, stations, etc - where slipping would be a big no-no. You can also add treads or corrugations to terrazzo (for example on stairs). If you'd prefer to talk this through with us then please give us a call on 020 7358 0160.

In terms of laying terrazzo, there are a few options but the most common are laying tiles or pouring the mixture in situ (as you would with concrete). We have a number of white and grey terrazzo options in our standard range, which you can view here: http://www.diespeker.co.uk/terrazzo/

We also offer a bespoke service for terrazzo, so you can hand-pick everything from the colour of the concrete or resin, the thickness of the terrazzo, and the material of the chippings (this can be anything! Stone, shells, we've even had gold). Hope this is useful. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Outdoor Polished Concrete Floor

Ikonografik Design

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South Wales Garden Design

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