Polished Concrete Floor – Los Angeles
Jevan Araujo, owner, IT’S SO CLEAN CSLB #1071609
Seven days polishing 1,800 sqft of concrete in a commercial retail store in Los Angeles.
| Location | Los Angeles, CA |
|---|---|
| Surface area | 1,800 sqft |
| Building | Commercial |
| Working area | Retail Store |
| Duration | 7 Days |
| Scope | Polished Concrete Floor |
What we walked into
Eighteen hundred square feet of retail slab in Los Angeles that had carried tile for years. Once the tile came off, the grid was still there, printed into the concrete where the adhesive had sat under every joint.
What the client needed
A polished retail floor, and an honest answer about the tile grid before anyone committed to it.
What we did
We ground the slab back, filled what needed filling, and polished it. The grid stayed visible, and it was always going to. Adhesive that sits under tile for years does not sit on the concrete, it stains into it, and that stain runs deeper than any grind will reach. Taking more material off does not remove the marks, it just leaves you the same marks on a thinner slab.
What made it difficult
Saying that up front rather than after the fact. A gloss finish makes tile ghosting more obvious, not less, because polishing reveals what is in the concrete instead of covering it. The only two ways to hide those marks are a coating or a cementitious overlay, and both mean putting a new material on top of a slab that does not otherwise need one. That is a real decision with a real cost, and it belongs at the start of a job, not at the end.
The result
A polished grey retail floor with the old tile grid reading through it. Seven days, no new material, and a client who knew exactly what the floor would look like before we started.
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