A few months ago we used a diamond brush system to abrade and polish the concrete floors at our warehouse in King of Prussia, PA.
This system uses diamond-impregnated blades to polish a concrete floor and increase its sheen level. The process ultimately makes the concrete easier to clean and completely rejuvenates the floor.
This concrete polishing system in particular can be used with an autoscrubber or a regular buffer with a 16-17” skirt or housing and 175 RPM. In this case, we used an autoscrubber with two 15″ blocks for a total pass of 30″, which made things easier.
The flexibility of the blades ensures that the diamonds remain in constant contact with the floor. 
This continually exposes new diamond particles, allowing the blade to retain its sharp edge.
For this process, we used an initial solution of Basic Coatings IFT (Intensive Floor Treatment) at a dilution rate of 20:1. This was to remove all grease and previous manufacturing debris.
After the first cut, we changed the solution to a cleaner/conditioner which helped to start the polishing process.
The process
At each step, we applied the solution to the floor and left it for a while to let the degreaser work. Then we came back, scrubbed it in with the autoscrubber in 5 to 6 passes, and then picked it up.
We began with a 50 grit blade to surface the concrete. This provided a deep cut to start things off right.
Then we moved onto the 100 grit blades, which feature a finer diamond than the 50-grit resin blades, providing a finer scratch pattern.
At this point, after abrading with the 100-grit blades, we allowed the floor to dry and came back later to add a lithium densifier. We recommend you do this too because the densifier hardens the concrete and helps you get a good polish. You can spray the densifier with a pump sprayer, mop it on, or pour it and pull it like you would with a finish.
We then continued along with the same system making our way into the higher and finer grits––from 200 grit up to 400 grit, 1,000 grit, 2,000 grit.
The floor gets cleaner and shinier as you move up into the higher grits. The water also gets cleaner, and the sheen level increases.
Purchase this system
If you’re interested in purchasing or renting this diamond floor polishing system, call us at (800) 787-1786 or email info@cityfloorsupply.com.
I like how you talked about how popular concrete floors are for business. That’s what the floor of my office looks like, it gives it an industrial feel. Thanks for the information on why you should consider polished concrete floors.