Grinding, honing, polishing
In polished concrete the slab surface is the finish. It is ground, honed and then polished with diamond tooling of increasing fineness, coarse metal-bond segments first and resin-bond discs last, until it turns smooth and reflective. Epoxy, polyaspartic and urethane are another family altogether, films laid over a prepared slab.
Flat, satin, polished, high polish
Trade groups name four appearance levels. Flat is a ground surface, satin is honed and matte, polished has a clear reflection, and high polish reflects the most. More passes with finer tooling raise the level, and each step adds time, so the level is worth settling before work begins.
Cream, salt-and-pepper, aggregate
How deep the grinding goes decides what shows. A shallow cut leaves a cream surface of cement paste, a deeper one exposes fine sand and small stones in a salt-and-pepper look, and the deepest reveals the coarse stone. The slab’s mix and finishing decide which look is possible, which is why the trade approves a sample area on the actual floor.