CPC Floor Coatings Blog

Are you an industrial facilities manager approaching the end of your company’s fiscal year? Do you need to use up an expiring maintenance budget, but don’t want to fall into the trap of wasting money on low-value projects?

If your facility doesn’t currently have pressing or high-priority repair needs, now’s the time to invest in preventative maintenance. If your building has a concrete floor, this is a great place to focus on.

Here are five reasons investing in concrete polishing or an industrial floor coating now can pay dividends in the year to come:

1. The right treatment can proactively protect your floor from long-term damage

Concrete is a remarkably durable building material, but it’s not indestructible. As it ages, concrete is prone to cracking, spalling, staining, and shedding. Treating your floors for the first time or replacing an old coating can go a long way in protecting the underlying structure.

Choosing the right industrial flooring requires balancing long-term value with daily performance. Although often overlooked, commercial concrete staining can be a good choice, offering a durable, budget-friendly solution for the right environment. 

Looking to upgrade your existing retail space, or opening up a brand-new store? Chances are you’ll want to include flooring that will stand up to day-to-day abuse—without breaking the bank, if possible.

If you want to get away from easy-to-stain carpet, easy-to-crack tile, or easy-to-damage vinyl, consider starting from the bare bones of your space: your existing concrete slab.

Making use of the underlying concrete is a cost-effective way to improve your retail space flooring without spending a fortune. Here are a few ways that you can dress up your concrete for a durable, long-lasting retail flooring solution:

Over the past several years, our area has experienced a good deal of economic growth, even while other parts of the nation were recovering from the Recession.

At times, the demand and opportunity for new businesses has outpaced the availability of new commercial properties, so some savvy economic developers have turned to re-purposing existing buildings, such as abandoned mills and factories. Re-using sturdy historic buildings is often more financially feasible—and more responsible—than tearing them down and building new ones.

Your farming equipment represents a significant investment, and you want to protect each piece in order to get the most out of it. This is why it’s important to build a sturdy machinery shed to protect your equipment from the elements and from theft.

Stained concrete can transform a plain slab into a polished, professional-looking surface, but it’s not the right choice for every facility. Before you commit to the process, it’s important to understand what concrete stain can (and can’t) do, how it performs in commercial and industrial settings, and the factors that determine whether it’s a suitable fit for your space.

Table of Contents:

• Concrete stain in a nutshell
• The advantages of concrete stain
• The disadvantages of concrete stain
• Pros and cons side-by-side comparison 
• Is concrete stain a good idea?

If you’re remodeling an existing facility or renovating an older building, chances are you have a concrete floor in need of refinishing. Perhaps it’s badly stained or cracked, or maybe it’s just lackluster and needs an upgrade to fit into your company’s updated look.

Instead of covering the concrete with carpeting or expensive hardwood, consider refinishing the concrete itself for a cost-effective and fashionable effect. Below are several methods for beautifying your existing concrete floor:

Filling joints and cracks

Before you do any other work, the first step is to repair any damage to the floor. Cracks, pits, and areas of spalling should be filled in and/or sealed to prevent further damage. Existing concrete joints should be examined and, if needed, be filled in with a flexible filler. These steps will extend the longevity of your floor and may help reduce worker fatigue and wear on vehicles.

The expansion of European grocery chain Lidl into the US starting this June is projected to make the already-competitive grocery industry even more strained. Grocers such as Lidl as well as Aldi and even Walmart’s Neighborhood Market now offer organic products at very low prices, and they’re updating the aesthetics of their stores to appeal to customers who are used to high-end chains such as Whole Foods.

Customers are no longer choosing either quality products or affordability; they’re learning they can expect it all in one store.

If you’re looking to keep your independent grocery store or chain competitive in today’s market, you’ll want to make sure your store looks modern and attractive while also keeping costs down.

Concrete polishing is an efficient and economical way to beautify and strengthen a concrete floor. Not only does the attractive shine improve the floor’s aesthetics, but the mechanical process of grinding and smoothing the floor actually increases the concrete’s strength.

If you’re looking for an economical way to upgrade the concrete flooring in your restaurant, hospital, customer lobby or manufacturing plant, you may want to consider getting your floor polished to an attractive shine. Polishing concrete actually increases the floor’s hardness, is relatively easy to maintain, and can be enhanced with colors in addition to the glossy texture.

But does the smooth surface of polished concrete make it slippery for you employees or customers? Generally, no. But there are definitely some cases in which you don’t want to use it. 

Polished concrete is NOT slippery when dry

Though the process of polishing compresses the surface of the concrete by pushing the molecules closer together, the end product is still slightly porous. When kept clean, polished concrete has about as much grip as regular concrete, and provides better foot traction than marble or even some linoleum surfaces.