Grinding Dynamics
Close view of a polished concrete surface with exposed sand and stone

Writing

Concrete, explained

What decides how a floor turns out, written down plainly by the people cutting it.

What this is

These are working notes from a Tauranga applicator, written for the two people who usually need them. The first is a homeowner deciding what to put on the floor and trying to work out whether concrete is the right answer, what the finish will actually look like once it is cut, and what it will be like to live on in ten years. The second is a builder or site manager programming a slab, who needs to know what to send before the pour, how to protect the floor through the build, and when in the programme the grinder should arrive.

Everything here comes off jobs. Why a floor turns out patchy, what a test grind on your own slab tells you that a photograph cannot, how colour has to be batched before the truck leaves the plant, and what sealing a floor near the coast asks of the system you choose. Where a post reaches the limit of what writing can do, it says so, because most of these decisions are settled by looking at concrete rather than reading about it.

If you are deciding on a floor, start with the finishes compared side by side or with polished concrete in Tauranga. If you are building one, the builders and specifiers portal holds the pre pour checklist and the specification pack.

Approved PeterFell C2 Applicator

Approved TextureSafe Applicator

Twenty-Five Years Combined Experience

Dark charcoal coloured polished concrete floor in a contemporary interior

For builders

Choosing your concrete colour before the pour

Colour goes into the mix at the plant, not onto the floor afterwards. What that means for your build programme, and how colour and aggregate decide each other.

9 minute read

Sealed concrete surface on a coastal Bay of Plenty property with salt weathered edges

Outdoor

Sealing concrete on the Bay of Plenty coast

A driveway in Papamoa works harder than the same driveway inland. What the coast does to concrete and to sealers, and how that changes the resealing cycle.

9 minute read

Finished polished concrete floor in a Tauranga home with light across the surface

Deciding

What polished concrete costs in Tauranga

A rate per square metre tells you almost nothing on its own. Here is what a polished concrete quote is genuinely built from, and how to read two of them side by side.

10 minute read

Polished concrete floor showing uneven light and dark patches across the surface

Problems

Why your polished concrete floor looks patchy

Patchiness is the most common complaint about a polished floor, and most of it was decided before anyone turned a machine on. Here is what causes it and what can honestly be done.

9 minute read

Textured concrete pool surround beside a swimming pool in bright sunlight

Outdoor

Non slip pool surrounds in the Bay of Plenty

A pool surround is the hardest working surface on a residential property. Grip cut into the concrete outlasts anything applied on top of it, and it can be done on an existing deck.

9 minute read

Bare existing concrete slab in an empty room with old adhesive residue on the surface

Renovation

Can you polish a slab that is already poured

Lift the carpet and there is a floor under it. Whether it can be polished comes down to what is stuck to it, how sound the slab is, and what you are prepared to accept.

10 minute read

Freshly poured concrete slab curing on a residential building site

For builders

How long after the pour before we can grind

The answer is 28 days from the date of pour, and it is a minimum rather than a target. Here is what curing does, what going early costs you, and how to sequence it.

9 minute read

Latest articles

Reading only gets you so far. Your own slab is the real answer.

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Site assessment and written quote, no obligation.