The State of Concrete Grinding in Detroit

Concrete grinding is a method by which an abrasive material such as silicon carbide or diamond tools to grind and/or polish a concrete surface. It is done by a machine known as a concrete grinder. This is a fairly new industry with about a decade or two since its inception and it is in recent years that concrete grinding Detroit shops and businesses have sprouted. The major benefit of concrete grinding is that it paves way for honing then polishing concrete floors. Many may argue that waxing concrete floors has the same outcome but concrete grinding trumps waxing since it has a longer lasting effect. More people in Detroit are hiring grinding services and renting grinders now more than ever.

Diamond grinder versus silicon carbide grinder

Diamond grinding is a tad bit more effective than using silicon carbide for grinding purposes. Although both techniques have the specific purpose of correcting surface imperfections to produce a flat surface, diamond grinding achieves a significantly smoother surface than the silicon carbide grinder. Mainly this is because of the high speed grinding concept of the concrete grinder. At high speeds, the surface gets hot and the force applied onto the concrete is reduced and one has to grind the surface for a longer period of time. Diamond has higher heat resistance making it more effective at higher speeds and also reducing the time taken to achieve a perfect grind. The grinding industry has other challenges other than this small variation. They include;

Challenges in the concrete grinding industry

As with any other technical job, there are certain guidelines to be followed failure to which the quality of work produced will be inferior or in the worst case shoddy and poor. For instance, grinding concrete with no particular order of motion in mind leaves some spots unattended. This is popular with contractors new to the concrete grinding business. Furthermore, when grinding concrete, a grit abrasive with a 50-grit resin and below is suitable for the job. This results in the surface having a rough feel and a flat appearance. Surface preparation poses another challenge as the surface has to be rid of dirt, dust and debris. It is also advisable to treat the concrete with densifier. The densifier generally reacts chemically with the concrete and increases its strength.

Most people, concrete grinding Detroit contractors included, are not aware that using lithium silicate based densifier is beneficial to the grinding process. Failing to use densifier poses the danger of cracking and crumbling of the concrete slab when pressure from the grinder is applied onto the slab. This is because concrete in its natural form will be weak and susceptible to damage during grinding. Another challenge that contractors face is putting a price on their concrete grinding services. Most contractors look around for the going rate which other competing businesses are using which is wrong. A good contractor should look at the job at hand and price the services according to the extent of the job in order to make a profit out of the service.