Due to a high volume of business establishments emerging, commercial concrete in St. Louis is becoming a trend. Business owners now consider using concrete to resurface their floors in their business areas.
Commercial concrete floorings come in an array of options, each with its list of advantages and disadvantages. Old cement slabs will look new using simple techniques: polishing, grinding, and sealed or coated with epoxy.
When choosing which is right for you, there are numerous things to consider. These include the total cost, ease of maintenance, and installation time. Together with all these, it must be aesthetically pleasing, bears resiliency and durability.
Epoxy Art Floors
Today’s list begins with epoxy coatings. It is one of the widely-preferred by business owners for their commercial properties. And for the past years, homeowners are creating their residential floors using epoxy. It’s epoxy coatings. Epoxy coating is an excellent choice for old and damaged concrete since it fills in the cracks present on old slabs of concrete.
Epoxy coating is also a better option for highly industrialized businesses since it can withstand traffic from forklifts and other heavy machinery. There are several designs to choose from, solid colors, metallic finishes, vinyl flakes, and colored quartz granules, to name some of them. The layers of coating to apply depends on the preferred design.
New epoxy floors are typically easy to clean and maintain; however, the coating’s thickness makes them vulnerable to deep scratches where dirt accumulates and other contaminants build-up.
Plenty of epoxy coatings are available and their prices vary. On average, around $2.50 per square foot is the rate for solid colors, while other design options can cost up to $6.00 per square foot.
Polishing
Polished concrete is also what one looks for on their floors. Polished concrete is known to be versatile since it can be dyed with almost any color. The finished product is produced with a concrete grinder over an old concrete slab.
The primary process begins with a 40 grit tooling and continues until the concrete slab is ground to 1600 to 3000 grit. After this process, a smooth, high gloss, and shiny flooring surface come out.
On a high note, polished concrete’s disadvantage is that it will become dull as time passes by. It would need to be buffed or re-polished over time.
It means that the problem might happen within just a couple of years or sooner in high traffic areas. Polished floors are also not that good against stains from chemicals, just like a simple can of soda. Spilled soda that was not cleaned instantly would seep down into the concrete surface and may cause discoloration.
A concrete polishing would also take a lot of time to be finished. It requires more time and is a much more labor-intensive option, resulting in losses to your business since you might be required to cease operations much more than what is planned and acceptable. On average, concrete floor polishing will also cost you anywhere between $7.00 to $10.00 per square foot.
Grind and Seal
Grind and seal concrete is very much similar in appearance to polished concrete but has some differences to be considered. The grind and seal process begins the same way as polished concrete.
Then, instead of making six to eight passes with a concrete grinder to achieve a 1600 to 3000 grit, it is only ground three to four times to achieve an 80 to 160 grit finish.
After grinding, one prime coat and one top coat of a clear urethane-based chemical are applied, resulting in a glossy, satin, or matte finish, which can be stained with a wide variety of colors.
The good thing about grinding is it increases the durability and resiliency of the concrete surface. Thanks to urethane, the surface becomes UV ray stable compared to when you polished the concrete alone. It is also just as easy, if not easier, to clean and maintain. Urethane is also more stain-resilient than polished concrete.
The price for a grind and seal process usually ranges between $3.50 to $5.00 per square foot.
In Conclusion
Take a hard look before deciding on what is the best option for your commercial concrete floor. For choosing what suits your needs, it is highly recommended to ask for professional help and only entrust your concrete floors to a licensed and experienced flooring service provider.