polished concrete floors

Hi!
I did some very limited research on this recently.

I called someone rec'd on this forum:

"Russ Eisenberg
SoClean Blasting Services, Inc.
www.socleanblasting.com
631.467.6968 (v)
631.467.5799 (f)

He's very personable and will talk you through all of the options. We used him for our house and were very pleased.

The equipment used to grind and polish a slab is VERY big and heavy, so if you have to go down many steps or do not have good access, this may not work. "

The person I spoke to was quite nice, but stated that the minimum cost of the job would be about $2500 which, although I like the look, seemed a little consumerist and excessive to me. I mean, I'd rather feed some starving children with the money I save by just painting!

And that's just the base price. If your concrete is just a thin layer or wasn't installed properly, you're looking at redoing the floor first which entails breaking up and hauling away the old floor and building a new one.

He referred me to
http://www.concretenetwork.com/
for photos and other concrete polishers.

Ultimately we've decided to go the DIY route by hiring someone to stain the floors. You buy cleaner/etcher, use it to scrub the floor, rinse, then apply the stain. The stain functions as a sealer and is more interesting than paint and far less expensive than polishing. Still haven't found a handyman to do the work, so if anyone out there has a lead, please do post it.

Posted by: Jas at May 20, 2008 9:07 AM

I haven't bought it or opened it to inhale the toxicity. The materials are pretty cheap - less than $200 if you inlclude a cheap paint sprayer, which is recommended for a mottled look.

Why not go to Lowe's or HD and sneak a sniff?

Posted by: Jas at May 20, 2008 9:59 PM