Reasons To Densify A Concrete Floor



Calcium hydroxide or free lime is the really porous portion of the concrete, the bit that gets stained, is attacked by acids and refuses to polish to the same level as the rest of the concrete.



So I bet, like myself you are thinking it would be a great idea to do something with this less than optimal part of the concrete? Fortunately this is where silicate densifiers come into play.



Densifiers or concrete hardeners in general transport silica molecules to the concrete using various liquid solutions of lithium, sodium or potassium to sites where there is calcium hydroxide.



The different silicate solutions all have their strengths and weaknesses, some manage to attach silica to more sites, some penetrate further, some react quicker, some enrich the colour more. There’s a massive debate which one is best.



Our simple answer is that there isn’t one singular silicate densifier that is best for the greatest majority of concretes. There’s just too many variables the liquid solution has to cater for.



CARRcrete’s solution to this problem is to not rely on just one type of silicate densifier to harden our concrete. So I formulated a product which uses multiple silicates; sodium, potassium and lithium with advanced ingredients such as rheology, prewetting and penetration agents to help get the product deep into the surface and for it to work really quickly.



By getting a premium densifier into the concrete, you are not only performing the conversion calcium hydroxide, you are in turn hardening the surface so that it polishes more effectively and becomes less porous as crystals form within the surface.



You also get a very fine layer of silica left in all those minute pores and aeration holes which helps fatten out the concrete surface when dry polishing. This ultra fine layer increases the overall gloss of the polish, our PROhard densifier does an excellent job of this.

