Talking shop with... Jeff Yates

What is polished concrete flooring?
Jeff Yates: Polished concrete is a mechanical grinding and polishing process that uses industrial diamonds, along with hardeners and sealers to level, densify, polish and finally seal the floor from within the interior of the floor surface.

Polished concrete is one of the most innovative and economical flooring options available today and its popularity is leading the flooring market in retail and warehouses, among other facilities.

What are the benefits of polished concrete flooring?
Polished concrete flooring offers a number of attractive features for grocers, but savings on maintenance is a big benefit. There is no more stripping and waxing. A polished concrete floor requires maintenance about once a year, which can be done by the grocer’s internal maintenance staff.

All of the grocer’s allocated maintenance labor and material costs for stripping and waxing can now be eliminated and added to the bottom line. We’ve seen savings of about $60,000 a year in maintenance costs per store.

In addition, polished concrete floors offer long-lasting beauty. With other flooring, it looks great when you put it down, but then wheel marks and customer traffic take their toll. This doesn’t happen on a polished concrete floor as there are no resins to burn on the surface.

Transforming porous concrete into a dense surface inhibits chemicals, water, oil and other contaminants from penetrating the surface. This makes polished concrete flooring a great option in food prep areas and the back of the store as well as on the selling floor.

How can polished concrete flooring help grocers meet their goals of environmental sustainability?
Environmental sustainability is certainly a top concern among retailers today, whether they are remodeling an existing location or building a new store. Building green makes a positive impact on both the environment and the health of the people working in and around it. 

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system was developed by USGBC (United States Green Building Council) committees to encourage sustainable practices by guiding the development and ratings of energy efficient construction.

Polished concrete is a LEED-friendly product in a number of respects. It uses the existing concrete surfaces, which eliminates the need for additional coverings and coating materials to be manufactured and purchased. Old tile, carpet and linoleum wind up being discarded in landfills when they require replacement.

Polished concrete is highly durable and should a repolish become necessary, it is completed on the existing slab at only a fraction of the cost without any significant waste.  Also, unlike some caustic concrete applications, polished concrete contains no noticeable volatile organic compounds (VOCs), qualifying it for yet another LEED point.

In addition, there is fact that the materials are in close proximity to the location—the existing concrete slab is being reused—so there is no transporting of materials, which impacts the environment.

Polished concrete also increases the ambient light due to the shine of the flooring, so energy costs are lower. In one project, the company was able to shut every fifth light and in a year they were able to pay for the process with reduced energy costs.

What are some of the latest techniques?
Dry polishing is the newest advancement in the polished concrete field.  It is advantageous, as it allows grinding and polishing to take place without the hassle of wet grinding.  Wet grinding not only requires the added logistics of obtaining a water source, it also creates a messy slurry, which must be collected and discarded.  With dry polishing, 98% of all airborne particulates are collected through the use of a HEPA filtration vacuum system. This enables the polishing process to take place without any down time to the facility being serviced.

In dry polishing, a series of grinding steps are employed to flatten the floor and remove the top layer of the concrete. Depending on the aggregate choice and the existing condition of the concrete, Perfect Polish will remove up to ½  inch of concrete during the grinding steps. Next, Perfect Polish polishes the concrete up to the desired shine using a series of resin bonded diamond steps. The result ranges from a matte to glossy shine, depending on the client’s preference, but always results in an amazing transformation.

Can grocers customize the look of their flooring?
Absolutely. There are a number of ways to customize polished concrete flooring to make it their own. There are numerous configurations to meet any style and budget needs.

The flooring can have a matte finish, or polished like marble or granite. It can be finished with saw cuts to look like tile. A retailer can have a terrazzo floor for a value-engineered price. We can also include a company logo as a decorative option.

We encourage supermarket operators to visit our online design studio at www.perfectpolishonline.com to explore the various options.