Many school building owners understand the use of polished concrete floors is an excellent choice. Among traditional flooring materials used in school buildings, polished concrete stands out, mainly because it is:

Highly durable
Cost-efficient
Easy to maintain, and
Environment friendly

Here are case studies of school building projects we completed nationwide to show how polished concrete floors can benefit your school.

CASE STUDY 1: I-Link College, Misayap, Cotabato

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Floor area: 940sqm

Project Duration: 3 Weeks

Grit: 800 Semi-Gloss Sheen

REASON FOR CHOOSING POLISHED CONCRETE FLOORS

I-Link college needed a flooring solution that is highly durable, beautiful, and easy to maintain. They chose polished concrete floor for their new school building because it could withstand heavy foot traffic coming from students, teachers, parents, and school staff daily without cracking. They also chose polished concrete flooring because they wanted the a glossy flooring without having to wax and polish their floors and hallways regularly. The other benefits of polished concrete for school buildings include:

A polished concrete floor reduces the need for more artificial lights. The floor’s sheen itself bounces both the artificial and natural lights entering rooms and hallways.
A polished concrete floor provides more ease in cleaning and maintaining their floors. Polished concrete is easy to maintain using basic cleaning materials.

Prerequisite for polished concrete floors: Hardness

Before we polish any concrete floor, we always check if the floor itself is hard enough to go through the concrete polishing process. The concrete slabs of the new school building of I-Link were already strong and hard. Based on readings from our rebound hammers, the compressive strength of their floor registered between 30 to 40 mpa (megapascals). For perspective, the concrete foundation of a typical ground-level house is at 25 mpa. But concrete floors ready for concrete polishing should be between 32 to 40 mpa. Concrete under 32 mpa is too soft and would break under the pressure of polished concrete equipment.

The good thing with i-Link College is their slab is well-engineered and already close to the standard mpa required for concrete floors before they are polished. A well-placed concrete slab is beneficial for school owners because once they decide to polish the concrete, there is no need for them to spend on major flooring repairs.

Prerequisite for polished concrete floors: Flat surface

Since the floor was hard already, all we needed was to ensure the floor is flat. To achieve a flat surface. Hence, our team had to grind the concrete floor down to bring the rough and even parts to level. All surfaces, corners, and edges need to be flat before we can start grinding with 16-grit diamonds. After making the floor flat, we used floor hardeners to densify the concrete and bring it to the standard mpa for concrete floors.

The goal set by i-Link and DARIV was to achieve a semi-gloss polished concrete floor within 3 weeks so the school can use the building when it officially opens. Their school staff needed time to clean and prepare their facilities. DARIV fulfilled this tall order through a customized solution that fit i-Link’s requirements. For three weeks, we successfully grinded and polished i-Link’s concrete floors up to 800-grit to give it the semi-gloss appearance they wanted.

DARIV’s i-Link project was a success. We were able to meet the desired sheen level of the floor within the timetable provided by the client. Here’s a video of how the project looked upon completion.

Polished concrete Philippines

We also do concrete polishing projects nationwide, from Luzon, Visayas, to Mindanao. Send us an inquiry. We can reach:

Want to know how much this project costs or how much you will spend to have a polished concrete floor in your property? Send us details about your concrete polishing project and we’ll give you a FREE estimate of its cost.