HOW TO GLOSS CONCRETE COUNTERTOPSPosted by Agger Moses on May 10th, 2021 It's commonly desirable to brighten the surface area and also edges of a concrete kitchen counter to produce a smoother, extra aesthetically pleasing coating. Along with offering your countertops an eye-catching shine and subjecting some of the aggregate or ornamental add-ins, polishing will also eliminate little imperfections and problems resulting from the casting procedure. Tools Needed A variable-speed (500 to 3,000 rpm) hand-held damp concrete brush outfitted with a built-in water feed and also GFCI shutoff. A collection of diamond grinding pads, with grit degrees ranging from coarse to penalty. Both Pal Rhodes and Jeff Girard use ruby pads with grit numbers ranging from 50 to 3,000. The more aggressive, coarser grits function best at subjecting accumulations and eliminating imperfections. Youll use the finer grits for final sprucing up, advancing to greater grit degrees up until you attain the preferred surface shine and level of smoothness. A huge squeegee. Security goggles and ear plugs. Hand-held diamond blocks or pads for brightening areas of the countertop that can not be gotten to by the electrical brush. Get tools for brightening concrete counter tops Buying ideas: A grinder/polisher with an attached water feed for damp grinding will certainly aid to decrease dirt and prolong the working life of the pads. Girard utilizes a grinder with an operating speed of 4,000 rpm. Since youll be changing pads regularly, also ask if the mounting system on the grinder allows quickly changeovers. Site Concrete Countertop Institute Raleigh, NC Using a small damp grinder. Kitchen Counter Institute in Raleigh, NC Website Concrete Counter Top Institute Raleigh, NC Hand finishing pads. Concrete Countertop Institute in Raleigh, NC And do not overlook the apparent: Be sure to buy ruby pads suitable for usage with your grinder and especially created for grinding concrete, not granite. machineSL has rough, tough aggregate in a relatively soft matrix. Granite is uniformly tough. If you use pads designed for granite, they will certainly not last as lengthy or work as efficiently, says Girard. Polishing Actions Step 1: Clean the fully cured concrete kitchen counter by running water over the surface area and afterwards going over it with a squeegee to eliminate any grit that can gouge the concrete as you grind it. Step 2: If you discover small imperfections or small bugholes, be prepared to fill up these gaps with a patching slurry before brightening. Slurries can be color-matched to the countertop or in a different hue to produce veining. You can blend up the slurry yourself utilizing a combination of cement, fine sand, water, and pigment. But also for greater comfort, think about buying a ready-to-use packaged slurry, which is frequently offered by the vendors of kitchen counter mixes. Make sure to get a product suitable with the mix you're making use of. Some are available in different pigments. Action 3: Begin by polishing with the coarsest pad (generally 50 grit), relying on the wanted finish. Discuss the whole surface area, consisting of the edges, ensuring to supply a consistent stream of water to the surface as you grind. Keep the polisher level as you go. Tip 4: After polishing the whole concrete kitchen counter with a 50-grit pad, change to a 100-grit pad and also brighten the entire surface area again. Repeat this process, functioning progressively with all the pads as much as the finest 1500-grit pad. Now, a shine will certainly start to form. As you polish, regularly stop as well as squeegee the surface area to remove any kind of smidgens of debris as well as examine that you've exposed as much aggregate as wanted. There are no mandatory regulations regarding how much time to brighten with each pad. It depends on the solidity of the concrete and also the results you intend to attain. Tip 5: Use hand-held diamond blocks or pads to polish any areas of the kitchen counter that can't be reached by the electric polisher. The pads can also used smooth the edges of the countertop. Like the pads for the electric brush, hand-held pads have variants in grit going from 120 up to 1500. Step 6: Permit the kitchen counter to completely dry, and afterwards use an ideal food-safe concrete counter top sealant to avoid staining. (See Concrete Kitchen Counter Sealers.). See These How-To Videos. Water Recycling System Concrete Counters. Time: 03:15. Tips on making use of a water reusing system when damp brightening concrete countertops. Concrete Kitchen Counter Grinding Blocks. Time: 03:20. Tips on making use of hand grinding blocks on concrete kitchen counter edges. Tips for Accomplishing the most effective Outcomes. Allow the concrete counter top to heal for a minimum of 10 days prior to brightening. Concrete younger than that is still also soft to polish well, and also concrete older than a month will certainly be a lot more tough to brighten and will utilize up even more pads. If you're unskilled at concrete kitchen counter polishing, method on some sample items or a mock-up prior to servicing the completed kitchen counter. To avoid swirl marks, hold the polisher as level as possible on the surface area and also apply even pressure. When polishing along countertop sides, think about attaching a skirt to the polishing head to stop material from splashing onto the ceiling. Do not polish the surface dry or fail to give enough water to cool down the brightening pads. Or else, they will certainly wear quickly. Make sure that when polishing with hand-held pads to match the series utilized with the electric brush. As an example, if polishing is done up to 1500 grit with the electrical polisher, then see to it to hand gloss in the very same sequence up to 1500 grit.Like it? Share it! |