Retail · Distribution · Virginia
Southside Hitch — polished concrete aisles built for daily forklift traffic.
- Client
- Southside Hitch
- Location
- Virginia
- Sq ft
- 14,000
- Finish
- Polishing Council Level 2
- Service
- Polishing · Densifying · Sealing
The challenge
A working floor that had to look right and hold up under daily traffic.
Southside Hitch needed aisles that could take forklift and cart traffic seven days a week while still presenting as a clean, finished commercial space. The existing slab was sound but unsealed — porous, dust-prone, and showing signs of wear at the wheel paths. Coating it would have meant signing up for a recoat cycle every few years. Polishing was the longer-term answer.
Our approach
Densify the slab itself. Make the floor harder than what's going to roll on it.
We profiled the slab with diamond grinding from coarse to medium grit, opening the surface to receive a lithium-silicate densifier. The densifier reacts chemically with calcium hydroxide in the concrete to harden the slab from within — not a coating on top, but an actual change in the matrix of the floor itself. We then polished through the higher grits to a Level 2 finish: a soft, even sheen that hides the cart-path wear instead of magnifying it.
The whole floor was finished with a breathable stain-resistant guard, then mock-tested for tire scuff and dust pickup before we walked off the project.
The outcome
Eight years and counting on the original finish.
The aisles look as good today as they did at delivery. The maintenance burden dropped to a dust-mop-and-damp-mop weekly routine — no recoat cycle, no peeling, no chipping. The slab the customer already owned became the finished floor they actually wanted.
Client perspective
"Hard working perfectionists who turn out a fantastic product. Eight years later, our floor still looks fantastic!"
Working on a project like this?
Tell us about the slab — sq ft, traffic profile, finish target — and we'll come back with a real plan.