Concrete Polishing Brisbane
Polished concrete and grind-and-seal floors for Brisbane homes, warehouses and retail fitouts. Free on-site assessment before you commit.
Polished concrete is your slab, not a coating
Polishing takes the concrete you already have and refines it. The floor is ground with a sequence of progressively finer diamond abrasives, then treated with a chemical densifier that reacts inside the surface to harden it. Nothing is laid over the top.
That single fact drives most of the decision. An epoxy floor is a film bonded to the slab, and any film can eventually lift. A mechanically polished floor has no film, so there is nothing to peel. In exchange, you are committed to whatever your slab turns out to contain, because polishing reveals the concrete rather than hiding it.
If you want a specific colour, a flake finish, or you need to cover a slab in poor visual condition, an epoxy coating is usually the better answer. If you want a hard-wearing floor with very little to go wrong, polishing usually wins.
Grind and seal, or fully polished?
These two get quoted against each other constantly and they are not the same product.
Grind and seal
- Fewer grinding passes, then a topical sealer over the top
- Lower up-front cost
- Sealer can be tinted, and sheen is chosen at application
- The sealer wears, so expect to recoat it over time
- Suits rentals, budget fitouts and shorter holds
Fully polished
- More grinding passes to a chosen gloss level
- Densifier hardens the concrete itself, no topical film
- Higher up-front cost
- Nothing to peel or delaminate; maintenance is cleaning
- Suits floors you intend to keep for years
Not sure which one your slab suits?
Send through the room, the rough size and what the floor is now. We will tell you whether polishing or a coating is the better call before you spend anything.
Get Your Free QuoteFree quotes across Brisbane and South East Queensland
How much stone do you want to see?
This is the exposure level, and it is decided before grinding starts because it changes both the look and the price.
Cream
Grinds only the top layer of cement paste. Almost no stone shows. The most uniform look and the least grinding.
Salt and pepper
Cuts slightly deeper to reveal fine sand and small stone. The most commonly chosen finish in Brisbane homes.
Full aggregate
Cuts deeper again so the larger stone reads through the floor. The most dramatic finish and the most grinding.
One caveat worth hearing before you choose: nobody can promise exactly how a slab will look until the first pass cuts into it. Aggregate sits where the concrete truck left it.
Where polished concrete works well in Brisbane
Plenty of older South East Queensland slabs were poured without a vapour barrier underneath. Moisture then travels up through the slab, and when a coating is sitting on top that moisture has nowhere to go, which is a common reason coatings blister or lift years after they were laid.
A mechanically polished floor is breathable. Moisture moving through the slab does not build pressure under a film, because there is no film. On a ground-floor slab of unknown age, that is a genuine advantage rather than a sales line.
Concrete polishing questions
Get a polished concrete quote
Tell us the room, the rough size and what the slab is now. We service Brisbane and surrounding South East Queensland.
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