Should Polished Concrete Floors Be Used Outdoors?

Should Polished Concrete Floors Be Used Outdoors?

Can you have Polished Concrete outdoors? Yes, however, we would not normally recommend Polished Concrete, as when wet it can be slippery. The alternative for these areas is honed concrete.

To put it as simply as possible and avoid much controversy let’s begin by saying that Honed Concrete is an outdoor type of floor and Polished Concrete is an indoor floor. Because of the difference in the treatment they look and feel different. Honed Concrete looks matt and has a grittier surface, making it suitable for outdoor spaces such as driveways, pathways, and alfresco areas. “Polished Concrete Floors” have a smoother surface and it is only suitable for indoor areas.

The reason for being limited to indoor spaces is that Polished Concrete is too slippery in wet weather conditions. The other reason is that for a polished finish to maintain its look, it would require continual maintenance and cleaning in an outdoor setting

it is not uncommon to see photos of glossy outdoor Polished Concrete Floors, some of which are a bit misleading as some water has been left floating on the surface. Outdoor Polished Concrete Floors are dangerous as well as unpractical unless the floor area is mostly covered by a roof, and not affected by the weather. Going by this, we can safely say that Honed Concrete is the best solution for outside, while Polished Concrete Floors are best for inside.

The main difference between Polished Concrete Floors and our Honed Concrete finish is their non-slip properties when they get wet. Our Honed Finish is the matching exterior finish to our indoor Polish and our outdoor Honed finish has non-slip properties that are achieved by grinding down to a less refined finish. Unlike our indoor Polished Concrete, our outdoor concrete is not actually polished at the end of all the processes. Technically, this means that outdoor concrete is not Polished Concrete, simply because it is so important for outdoor concrete to be non-slip. As a result, our Honed outdoor finish is always a matte finish.

The Honed finish lasts much longer and reduces glare on sunny days, so for an outdoor setting in Sydney, our clients almost always prefer the Honed finish to the standard Grind and Polish.

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