floor finishes

There are generally three things you can do to make concrete anti-skid:

Use a coating such as

http://www.grizzlygrip.com/

(no endorsement implied)

Use a textured or etched surface

Keep it scrupously clean

what do u mean be hard ( is it for interior or out yard itc/ public use. )

Use rough snad stone for outer area or customised cemantacious tiles with rough surface and high abbrasion group.

I am from India and if can you the material and type of flrg being used here. It all depends on the local material available arround.

As TVP45 suggest, you can have a surface finished to afford the abrasive qualities desired fairly easy. Too increase compressive strength you will need to densify the pore structure. StableCrete is an excellent and very inexpensive product that is applied to a finished surface after the cure. You will then have a waterproofed, acid resistant surface with no change to abrasion characteristics, as the product penetrates into a concrete leaving no film on the surface. Swiss Hamer test usually show about 10% increase in strength. The lower PSI to begin with will demonstrate the largest increase.

You'll also wind up with a surface that resists, carbonation, freeze thaw, efflorecense, dusting, Alkali Silica Reactions and can be painted.. Just make certain to use a coating that will withstand long term exposure to water. Any water on a horizontal surface will remain until it evaporates, since it is not absorbed into the concrete. This will cause some coatings to peel right off. www.StableCrete.com/projects will give you some ideas of what to expect.

Hope this helps !

Depending on the application you may be able to use exposed aggregate.

This is commonly used around swimming pools.

Of course if you have vehicular traffic or heavy loads or impact loads, it is not suitable.

A cheap way to make exposed aggragate is to spray a sugar solution on the concrete when it has set or is just firm. this almost stops the hardening of the concete at the surface. Next day, hose the concrete out from betwwen the pieces of aggregate and you have the required finish.

Use of sugar solution might be detrimental to concrete and shall naver be used. It is better to broom the concrete after initial setting for rough surfacing.

As a Post Script to the comment by akhtarnavi: Use of a sugar solution "Will Be Detrimental to Concrete"!!!

Sugar prevents crystallization of Portland Cement, when the sugar coats the grains of cement powder and prevents tendrils from growing in the normal hydration process. Not only does it slow the hydration on a top surface it will result in an inferior bond of aggregates in the paste. You will run the risk of having a chalky dry mud on top of a good base, that will have lesser compressive strength and be prone to dusting and being abraded away very quickly.

Consider soft drink bottlers, citrus processors and recycling facilities that have significant degradation of their concrete floors, resulting in shutdowns while they resurface. Soft drink plants not only get the sugar, they also see carbonated concrete from the Co2 that exacerbates the problem. In these cases, most floors are trowel finished and 3 to 4,000 lb. concrete that did cure properly! Simple matter that, not being waterproofed after the cure, the sugars/contaminates penetrate the matrix to destroy the concrete.

Your much better off to get the desired abrasive surface with a broom, then Stabilize the concrete. When you treat the concrete with StableCrete you also get a higher compressive strength, resist acidic attack and maintain high pH levels of the passivating layer on any steel products. This keeps corrosion cells from forming on Re-bar.

Hope this Helps !

Hi Glen and akhtarnavi

You are right about sugar being detrimental to the concrete. This is why it is sometimes used when you want to go beyond a broom finish to expose the upper part of the aggregate.

The sugar solution is only on the top of the concrete. This slows setting and damages a thin layer at the top. Later this is hosed off, taking the concrete from the upper portion of the aggregate, leaving it exposed. The washing removes residual sugar so it doesn't continue to damage the concrete.

If a simple low slip surface is desired rather than a decorative non slip surface, you would use a broomed surface.

Apart from decoration, exposed aggregate is also used where oil and other liquid contaminants may be present as the spaces between the aggregate hold the slippery liquids. Regular hosing then removes the contaminants.

If the aggregate is too small, too much of the surface is exposed and aggregate pulls out of the surface.

Never use sugar solution in concrete mixture or on concrete surface. Sugar deterirates concrete. It's slow process but for sure it does happen.

Akhtar Naviwala