Polished Concrete Flooring in Glendale CA - a finish you approved on your own slab
Tired of carpet, tile or a worn coating over your slab? We grind and polish the concrete itself to a finish you approve first.
- Licensed and insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What does polishing a concrete floor involve?
Polished concrete flooring in Glendale, CA means grinding the top of your existing slab in finer and finer passes until it shines. Depending on how deep we go, it leaves a cream finish, a salt and pepper look or the full stone in the mix showing.
Ironwood Epoxy Flooring of Glendale does this work in Glendale and across the cities around it, from Burbank and La Crescenta-Montrose to Pasadena, Arcadia and beyond. Most people who ask about it have just pulled up carpet or tile, or they're tired of a coating that keeps wearing through, and they want to know if the slab underneath can be the floor. The price moves with the size of the room, what has to come up first, how many grinding passes your finish needs and how much filling the slab takes. The schedule turns on those same things, plus how much old glue is down. I'll give you your own figure in a written estimate once I've seen the floor.
Is polished concrete right for your floor?
Pulling up carpet or tile
If you're tearing out carpet or tile anyway, the slab underneath may become the floor itself.
Homes built on a slab
Single-story houses built on a slab have concrete right under the floor, ready to grind and polish.
Shop and work floors
A polished slab has no coating to peel, which suits floors that take carts and steady traffic.
Want the concrete look
Polishing brings out the sand and stone already in your slab instead of hiding them under a covering.
How we do polished concrete flooring
Polishing shows whatever is in your slab, so before we grind the whole floor, we make a test patch on your own concrete and approve the finish and color with you standing there. Then we take up what's left of the old floor and grind the slab down to the finish you picked. Where the slab has pinholes, fine cracks or small pop-outs, we fill them with grout so the surface comes out more even. From there we keep polishing with finer passes until the floor reaches the sheen you chose. Some slabs that did fine under carpet or tile don't polish well, and if yours is one, I'll tell you before you spend money on it.
When bare polished concrete isn't the right answer, there are other ways to get a good floor. Stained concrete flooring puts color into the slab. Terrazzo flooring gives you a new polished surface of set stone or glass when the old slab can't carry the look. Our concrete grinding and surface preparation work is how we get a slab ready when you'd rather have a coating.
Satin, low-sheen finish
This suits kitchens, entries and family rooms where you'd rather not see every scuff, because a softer shine hides daily wear better than a mirror finish.
High-gloss finish
This suits living spaces where you want the floor to reflect light. It takes more polishing passes to reach, so it usually costs more than a softer sheen.
Shop and restaurant floors
This suits work floors that need redoing. We plan the grinding around when you can close a section, since the machines are loud and the area has to be clear.
What happens when you call about polished concrete in Glendale?
Call or send the form
Call (747) 372-8604 any day from 7 AM to 10 PM, or send the form below. We set a time that suits you for me to come see the floor.
I check the floor myself
I look for damp spots, cracks and old coatings or glue, and I ask what you want the floor to look like and how it needs to hold up. That's how I find out early whether your slab is a good candidate.
You get a written estimate
The estimate spells out the prep, the product and each step, so you can see what you're paying for. Nothing about the plan is a guess.
We polish, then walk it together
My crew and I grind, grout and polish in the order the estimate lays out, with the work area closed off. I walk the finished floor with you before we pack up.
Which polished concrete finish should you pick?
Pick it at the test patch, not from photos.
A cream finish barely cuts into the top, salt and pepper shows the sand, and full exposure grinds down to the coarse stone. Color can change a lot between them. A floor that looks gray at the cream stage can turn brown once the surface paste is ground away, so a photo of someone else's floor tells you little.
I'd choose by what you see in your own test patch and by how much grinding you want to pay for, since going down to the coarse stone takes more passes than staying near the surface. If you're on the fence, I'd lean toward salt and pepper, because it shows the slab's character without the extra grinding that full exposure takes.
Concrete and epoxy floor examples
Look through these examples of polished, stained and coated concrete floors to get a feel for the finishes and sheens you might want.
Get a polished concrete estimate for your floor
Tell us the room size, what's covering the floor now and anything you know about the slab. We reply within one business day to set up a free on-site estimate with no obligation, and I'm the one who comes out.
Why Glendale homeowners call Ironwood Epoxy Flooring of Glendale for polished concrete
The owner on every job
I come out to look at your floor and write the estimate, and I'm on the job leading the crew that does the work. The person who found your slab's damp spots and old glue is the one making the calls when the grinder reaches them.
Started in Glendale in 2023
I grew up on my dad's flooring jobs and learned prep beside him, then started this business in Glendale in 2023. His view was that floors fail from underneath, so we spend the time on the slab first.
Licensed and insured on every job
We're licensed and insured. Grinding is loud, heavy work inside your house, so it's a fair thing to ask any crew about before they start.
Backed by our satisfaction guarantee
Our polished floors are backed by our satisfaction guarantee. When you're ready, call (747) 372-8604 or send the estimate form, and I'll come take a look at your slab.
Questions about polished concrete
How much does polished concrete cost in Glendale?
Polishing concrete usually costs about $8 to $9 per square foot across the US. That's a national figure for the work, not our price for your floor. Your own number comes from the written estimate, after I've seen what's on your slab and how deep the finish you want has to go.
Will my old concrete slab polish well?
Not always, because concrete that works fine under carpet, tile or other flooring is usually not suited to polishing. The mix and how the slab was placed and finished decide what shows. A machine-finished slab comes out denser and harder than a hand-finished one, and the difference is obvious once it's polished, so I look for that at the estimate.
What causes old flooring marks to show on polished concrete?
Old glue, coatings and coverings can leave stains or patterns, called ghosting or shadowing, that stay visible after polishing. Taking up the old floor can also leave the surface uneven. If you're replacing carpet or tile, plan on some marks showing through, and look for them in your test patch first.
Is grind and seal the same as polished concrete?
No. Grind and seal stops grinding early and gets its shine from a urethane or acrylic sealer on top. It's quicker and cheaper, but it wears in traffic lanes like any coating, because it is one. For a floor that takes steady traffic, I'd go with the full polish.
Is a polished concrete floor slippery?
Usually not. One industry paper reports that all of its test results passed the required slip level, even at very high gloss. The same paper found that slip resistance changes with the gloss level, not with how much stone shows, so think about the sheen for a kitchen or an entry.
How do I get old vinyl and glue off concrete before polishing?
Leave it in place and don't sand, dry scrape or saw it. One contractor reports industry guidance warning that old resilient flooring and its glue may contain asbestos fibers or crystalline silica. Tell me what's down when you call, and I'll look at it at the estimate before we plan any removal.
Want to know if your slab will polish?
Ask for an estimate and I'll come out, check your floor and give you a written plan with each step.
Related flooring work
Polished concrete flooring in Glendale and the cities around it
Grinding concrete raises fine silica dust, and California's Cal/OSHA silica standard covers breathing that dust during construction work. The standard counts renovating or repairing any fixed structure as construction work, so a polishing job in your house falls under it. Its requirements cover how dust exposure is controlled, respiratory protection, housekeeping, a written exposure control plan and medical surveillance. You can ask any crew how it meets them on your job, and I'll go through how we handle it on your floor at the estimate.
Homeowners around Glendale call us about garages, basements and patios, and shop and restaurant owners call when a work floor needs redoing. We do the same polishing work on jobs in Burbank and Pasadena, and it starts with the same question about what the slab underneath will show.