Common issues with cleaning polished concrete flooring
Concrete was once viewed as a purely industrial flooring solution, suitable for areas where practicality was far more important than visual appearance. Mention polished concrete flooring today and you are instantly transported into the world of high-end designer homes, chic magazine articles, and art galleries. Polished concrete is now highly prized and sought after for its superb aesthetic appearance.
Cleaning and maintaining polished concrete flooring is relatively simple, but the use of the wrong products often causes the fine surface to degrade leaving a build-up of soiling. General wear can produce a similar effect, eroding the high shine and damaging the integrity of the surface.
This causes an escalation of the problem and simple manual cleaning may not be adequate to restore that once prized appearance. If this persists or a build-up of product residue and dirt proves hard to shift, a deep clean may be required.
The issue with the concrete flooring of this six hundred square meters former car showroom (below) was caused during a commercial film shoot. When filming was complete in an attempt to clean off the sticky residue from tape, the cleaners hired used the wrong chemicals for concrete and the white patchy effect was the mess they made of the task.
The TV production company Twenty Twenty stepped in and hired us to resolve the issue. It was a big job as we had to deep clean the entire area to get a uniform appearance before sealing the concrete to restore surface protection. Amazingly and to the delight of the project manager, within a day they were back on schedule.
The job proved to be beneficial all around as they regularly hired us on the First Date film set to deep clean the restaurant’s slate flooring after filming.
Not all concrete flooring requires such intensive cleaning, and in the case of Hamiltons Gallery in Mayfair, we normally provide general maintenance cleaning. A light machine clean with a neutral cleaning solution removes the surface dirt. The concrete which is in good condition is then polished up using a high-speed rotary machine with a white cleaning pad.
Residential polished concrete floor cleaning is fast reaching equal demand to commercial work. This job in North West London was complete within one day and the residents were able to use their home by early evening.
The issues for this floor were a combination of general wear caused by footfall and the use of a chemical that is more suited to cleaning patio concrete. Much of the surface protection had eroded and the concrete became porous.
We had the option to re-polish the floor using a grinding process, however, the time constraints on this project prevented a lengthy full regrinding and polishing procedure. As the home was occupied we opted for a solution that could be achieved within a day.
First, we deep cleaned the concrete using a diamond cleaning pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. This cleaned the surface and also lightly honed it in the process. After the residue was extracted and the entire floor neutralized we applied three thin coats of a concrete sealer.
The floor's high-quality appearance and protection were restored, with the furniture replaced, and after a few hours of drying time, it was ready for light use. Full curing for these products can take up to forty-eight hours, so we advise not to replace any carpet or rugs during that time.
Our polished concrete cleaning and sealing service covers commercial and residential property and to obtain an estimate, simply load your photos and floor measurements into our Get A Quote form.