Blog #5: Stage 1 floor polish.

Last weekend we had Tesmer Concrete onsite completing stage one of the floor polish. Polished concrete is done in two stages, the first not long after the slab is poured and before any wall frames are up.

Stage one consisted of grinding the concrete to selected stone exposure, grouting any imperfections, and densifying the floor.

Stage 2 is done later after the walls, roof and plaster are up. This involves polishing until desired gloss level is achieved. They then penetrate seal and burnish with nylon pads.

On Sunday we got a taste of how our floor might look, with the aggregate (stones) now being exposed after the grind. While the terminology may vary, there seems to be three main levels of exposure.

  • Salt and pepper: The concrete is ground lightly to reveal a minimal amount of aggregate.
  • Random exposure: slab is ground more, usually 1-3mm to show patches of fully exposed aggregate.
  • Full exposure: slab is ground 3-5mm to show full and even exposure of the aggregate.

There is also ‘burnished concrete’ which is polished concrete without the grind, so no aggregate is exposed.

We opted for a Random exposure and were pleased with the way it looked, even after just the first stage. We could see all the colours of the stones that we picked at Allstone quarries and there was more colour than we remembered. Waddys concrete added the special stones to their standard mix, which cost us approximately $3K extra, but looks like it will be worth it. See photos below, but I have found photos do not do justice to polished concrete floors.

We checked it out on Sunday and were warned that our slab was an ice-skating rink due to the chemical and water they leave on it to help it densify. It sure was, I almost came unstuck and then had a bet with the kids to see who would fall over first. Mila won the bet when she selected Ryder (our youngest) who fell over several times despite our warnings…

Other developments this week include:

  • walls getting set out and marked on slab. Nice to be able to walk through and see the rooms.
  • Got a quote back for our plumbing fixtures. Getting closer with our selections here and have a fair idea of what we will have, just need to check them out before we finalise.
  • Got a quote back for our joinery. Again, getting pretty close to finalizing this but need to get prices on our robes and may need to cut back a bit to suit our budget. We caught up with Kristian and checked out the joinery in his new house. Our main decisions will he if we go with vinyl wrap doors and soft close drawers everywhere or go with cheaper options in some places.

Really looking forward to the wall frames going up in a couple of weeks’ time. Trying to be patient and enjoy the process and anticipation of it all – exciting times for our family.

Today (Saturday) we are lighting a fire pit at the block and having a few beers for a little slab warming party. The fire pit was a slab warming gift from one of my mates that lives nearby, I am sure he will get some use out of it too over the years!

Have a good one y’all.

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