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Diamond polishing an overlay
rsouthard	04-22-2008 17:57:48
Member Posts: 33 Joined: 09-03-2007	Has anyone tried to polish an overlay? If so, which one? Wet or dry. Start at what grit? I am going to start experimenting with different materials but there are so many out there. Any help is appreciated.

MC	04-22-2008 21:35:14
Member Posts: 733 Joined: 05-20-2007	edited

Envirocrete	05-19-2008 21:23:16
Member Posts: 4 Joined: 05-23-2007	We use a local supplier for the polish-able overlay products but a fairly decent global supplier would be Mapei. Their M20 plus is a polish-able product that actually doesn't look half bad... and doesn't cost an arm & a leg. We have incorporated recycled glass an stones into it and it looks great. We typically start at 100 grit resin for sands exposure(as long as it was a decent pour and lays pretty flat) but drop down to either a 25/30 or a 50/60 grit metal if we are trying to cut down to expose something. We have polished wet before, typically on counter-tops, but 90% of the time we dry grind with a big planetary up to either 1500 or 3000 finish. By all means, conduct your tests and call suppliers. Typically the manufactures will know if their cement is polish-able or not... it usually has to do with the amount of polymers in their mix. Good Luck!

SoClean	05-24-2008 06:17:35
Member Posts: 20 Joined: 09-24-2007	Last time that I was out at the Ardex plant they had just polished 2 big slabs of SD-T. Ardex SD-T has a fine aggragate already in it and it give a really nice look when polished. They took it all the way up to a 3000. I have not yet had the chance to play with it myself. I was told that the trick to polishing an overlay it to cut any of the polymer off the top with a rough grind first 50 grit metal or so, and then work your way up from there. Russ www.SoCleanBlasting.com

MC	05-24-2008 15:37:13
Member Posts: 733 Joined: 05-20-2007	That sample pic above is M-20 with pea gravel seeded in

SoClean	05-28-2008 12:20:37
Member Posts: 20 Joined: 09-24-2007	MC - what kind of sealer are you using for polished overlays? Acrylics?

MC	05-28-2008 15:51:07
Member Posts: 733 Joined: 05-20-2007	I wouldnt use an acrylic over a highly polished overlay. Id use a polish guard from Convergent, Seal Source, Prosoco, Ameripolish..etc. Or just use a high quality penetrating sealer. The only thing is they are not quite as stain resistant as an acrylic but they dont leave a thick coating on top taking away the polish look and feel like an acrylic does. If you are just grinding and honing like terrazzo then maybe use an acrylic, but these overlays polish awesome. Real consistant. The cool thing about them is you can add glass, aggregate, sea shells, fossils..whatever, and expose them and not worry about having an uneven exposed agg. look like with concrete. I think its awesome but people dont want to pay the $12 min. sq ft price for it. (at least that is what I charge) Once I get more of it out there, I think I can sell it pretty well. Its still cheaper than terrazzo by a mile

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