Why we Chose a Polished Concrete Floor

“We wanted to save money on the ground floor by having a polished concrete floor finish instead of expensive tiles. The concrete was poured and left to settle and harden for a couple of months. Rather than get someone in to do it, I hired a machine to polish it,” begins Phil. “It was a lot harder than I’d imagined to get the consistency and even finish we wanted because the consistency of the concrete had to be just right and the machine had to be kept absolutely level. I also rushed to try and save money. We ended up with some uneven areas, polish marks and cracks in the concrete, so we turned these into a quirky feature by filling them with gold epoxy resin [ shown above], mixed into a paste and sanded off once dry.

“If you decide to polish concrete yourself, you have to start by rough grinding the surface with metal bond diamond abrasives that prepare the concrete for the final smoothing. You then apply a liquid chemical hardener to provide extra protection against water and staining. The aim of the final polish is to get a smooth, even finish, but we ended up with something much rougher and less perfect. We do like its character though and, in retrospect, it works with the agricultural history of the building.”