How is it installed?

It is unwise to attempt the pouring and polishing of a concrete floor on a DIY basis — the skills, equipment and the experience required make this a specialist job.

The most common way for a domestic floor to be poured and finished is using the ‘flooded bay’ method.

1. “The whole space is filled and levelled using a laser, rakes, vibratory screeding machines and bull floats.

2. Over the course of the day, the concrete surface is refined and flattened using hand floats and power floats.

3. The final surface is closed off and densified by hand trowel and/or power trowel machines. This brings the cement paste to the surface, smoothing and hardening it until it develops a sheen. This can take anywhere from four to 14 hours, and is partially dependent on the weather conditions — too cold (5?C or lower) and fresh concrete can be permanently damaged; too hot and there is a risk of the concrete shrinking.

4. Once poured and prepared, the concrete will need to be polished and sealed — something that must be carried out at least a month after pouring.

5. Polishing either comes from cleaning and buffing the floor with a scrubbing machine or, better still, light diamond polishing to remove minimal laitance to bring out a medium sheen. For highly polished floors, the surface can be further enhanced using diamond-encrusted flexible buffing pads.

6. The floor will then need to be sealed. A penetrative sealant that allows the concrete to breathe is used.