Aside from polishing concrete, Policrete are specialists in rejuvenating tired and old exposed aggregate concrete slabs into possibly the best feature of your outdoor scenery. Today, exposed aggregate is an increasingly popular choice with architects, builders and home owners. When installed properly, it gives a beautiful non slip finish to driveways and footpaths with its endless combinations of stones and coloured oxides. The product does has its place in the market and is seen in nearly every street in Melbourne.
It’s one and only downfall is its constant need for cleaning and maintenance. It’s rough and porous texture leaves it open to staining and allows dirt and grime to stick to its surface, driveways especially can become very dirty quite quickly. The only way to keep it clean is to constantly high pressure hose the surface with harsh chemicals such as hydrochloric acid. This only buys limited time until it needs doing again. Whilst there are many sealers on the market today, few if any of them really do completely seal the concrete and repel stains and they do absolutely nothing to reduce dirt from sticking.
From our experience, whenever we have grinded down exposed aggregate, the stone coverage is almost perfectly spread out. We can see this from how the aggregate is sitting before we start grinding and can guarantee how the concrete will look once grinded. Once we begin, the true colour of the concrete will come through immediately and once finished, sealed and left to dry you will be left with a concrete surface that you can literally mop clean. The surface is left non slippery and is safe to walk on when wet.
Once grinded flat the surface can be sealed much easier than when it was rough. UV polyurethanes and concrete sealers available on the market have proven to be tough and durable while also being non slippery. People are so impressed with this style of work, we are constantly stopped and asked what type of material the product is, as people often shocked to find out it’s simply concrete that has been grinded.
