Grinding of concrete: methods and necessary equipment for

In recent years, the construction of private households are increasingly used concrete floors that require grinding. It is not necessary to hire specialists to conduct it, since all the necessary operations can be performed independently. We will tell you how to properly polish the concrete with your own hands.

Objectives and results of grinding concrete

There are a number of cases in which this type of work is required. For example, grinding of concrete walls is necessary for removing joints and other irregularities, as well as for implementing a number of design solutions.

In the case of concrete floors, this treatment is used for the following purposes:

• elimination of lime milk from new coatings;
• removal of the upper, old and damaged surface layer;
• preparation of the basis for drawing a finishing covering.

In general, grinding of concrete surfaces allows to achieve complete removal of external surface defects, increasing its strength and water resistance.

In addition, the resulting surface is very practical, since the care of it is very simple. In addition, it is resistant to the aggressive effects of chemicals.

Tip! If the treated surface has a slope or undulating irregularities, then you can not fix them with the help of grinding. To remove these defects, we need other ways: for concrete walls - plastering, for the floor - screed.

Grinding methods for concrete

There are two ways to do this:

• dry - this method is used most often because it is more accessible. Its disadvantage is the formation of large amounts of dust, as well as a large consumption of time;

• wet - used to treat surfaces covered with mosaic or marble chips. It allows you to get a very smooth, almost satin surface. The disadvantages of this method are its high price, as well as the formation of dirt - cement slurry, which makes it difficult to work with the tool. In addition, after the end of the process requires thorough drying of the treated surface.

Necessary equipment

Specialists in their work use professional equipment of various European companies. The most popular among them is the Italian brand Klindex.

In particular, it produces grinders for processing the floor. Such units are equipped with a planetary mechanism, which consists of a large circle and three bowls with diamond cutters. In the process, the circle rotates in one direction, and the bowl in the other, due to which an exceptionally smooth surface is formed.

Tip! When choosing equipment for grinding concrete, you should give preference to devices with a large weight. They have higher power and work more efficiently.

Another professional tool is a trowel. Because of its appearance, it is called a "helicopter". It is used to bring the concrete surface to perfect condition.

There are two main types of it - they are one- and two-rotor units. The first ones are hand-held devices, and the second ones are large machines with an operator chair.

The specified heavy equipment is suitable only for working the floor, and for working with walls a lighter tool is needed for grinding concrete. As it are manual grinding machines.

They are equipped with cups with diamond elements soldered to them. Also, this device is equipped with a protective casing, which is connected to the pipe construction vacuum cleaner.

At home, you can use for grinding concrete regular grinder. To do this, you just need to install on it a diamond disc for grinding concrete.

Tip! For safety reasons, be sure to use a respirator and safety glasses during operation.

The process of grinding a concrete floor

We will deal with the grinding process on the example of a concrete floor. Consider this work in stages.

First stage

First do the following:

• remove irregularities - if we are dealing with a new, recently filled surface;
• we remove the old coating - a layer of varnish or paint applied to the old concrete.

To make the above steps, we install a disk with a grain size from 25 to 30 on the grinding machine. Such a nozzle will remove lime milk and even expose the aggregate - crumb or rubble. If you aim to polish only the top layer, then you can start working with a disk whose grain is 40.

Second phase

Now we will remove other defects of the concrete pavement, such as cracks and potholes. For this we need an epoxy resin. These irregularities are first thoroughly cleaned of dirt, treated with a primer and then filled with mastic.

To make the repaired areas look more aesthetic, we can do something different. Around each pothole we make cuts in the shape of a rectangle. This will require cutting of reinforced concrete with diamond circles.

Next, remove excess concrete with a perforator, clean the resulting niche from dust with a vacuum cleaner, primer it and fill it with mastic. Formed surface leveling rail or rule.

Tip! To successfully seal a small crack, you first need to deepen and expand it with a diamond wheel. Similarly, it is necessary to do with minor injuries. The only difference is that for their removal not a circle is used, but diamond drilling of holes in concrete.

Third stage

We proceed to the final stage of work.

It consists in the following:

1. We make a rough treatment of the concrete floor - this will require a nozzle for grinding concrete with a grain size of 40;

1. We cover the floor with a hardener - this is the name of a special compound intended for processing such a surface. It reacts with calcium hydroxide, which is contained in the coating. As a result, a special binder with mineral composition appears on the top of the concrete. It closes the pores of the material, which makes it moisture resistant;
2. The next step is to grind the concrete tie with circles having a grain size of 400 or more. As a result of this treatment, the surface becomes more durable, able to withstand increased load;
3. After the above operations, the work can be considered complete. But to get a more presentable surface, we’ll do one more thing. We will polish the floor using a nozzle that has a grain size from 1500 to 3000. This will make our flooring perfectly smooth and glossy.

Conclusion

Grinding of concrete is used to remove lime milk from a freshly filled layer, repair an old surface, or create a perfectly smooth base for the topcoat. The result of this treatment is a smooth and smooth concrete, which becomes more durable and water resistant than before.

Sanding is dry or wet. At home, it uses the first of its kind, which is implemented using a manual grinder for concrete or an ordinary grinder. The whole process of work consists of three stages, the instructions for which were given above. You can get more information about this process from the video in this article.