I was recently contacted by someone who was interested in concrete polishing. He wanted to talk to me because he wanted to be sure he was making the right decision. Apparently, he was afraid that his concrete floor is not good enough to be polished.

So there's the question. Are all concrete floors capable of being polished? The short answer is yes, they can. The more elaborate answer is, they can, but they won't always be optimal.

Okay, so this is the basic information. Concrete polishing is a process by which the surface of your concrete is cured, thereby hardening it, as well as providing a sleek, clean finish. To this end, most contractors treat the floor with a process called coarse grinding first.

You can polish the majority of concrete foundations out there, but there are a few cases that need to be mentioned. The first and most often case is when the concrete has been cracked here and there. It would be fixable, but then the "bandages", so to speak, would be visible. The result would be polished concrete that is not as elegant as it could have been.

On the other hand, porous concrete makes very poor polished concrete. There would simply be too many holes, and the concrete will not close properly post-polishing. When you are in the process of applying new concrete, then, talk to your contractor to avoid it becoming porous.

Since it has been mentioned, there is also a special rule regarding newly laid concrete and polishing it. Simply put, you should wait for about 30 days, letting the concrete set, before you attempt any polishing operations.

There you go. Practically every piece of concrete can be polished. The only exceptions would be those that are not properly placed to begin with, and those that are too new to be touched.