History of Polished Concrete

Polished concrete was a discovery rather than an invention. Wet polishing of granite and marble has been around for decades when it was discovered that the same process could be used for concrete. A contractor in Tunisia that usually polished natural stone was hired to polish concrete around a palace. This was 1998. New workers were hired for the project. It was assumed that they knew that they had to use water. The contractor came back to check on the workers only to discover that they were polishing the concrete dry. He ordered them to stop but then realized that the concrete was beautiful. He decided to let the workers keep going. The contractor told his supplier in Sweden about the success of polishing the concrete dry. The supplier of the tooling, HTC and its owner, Hakan Thysell, went to work to develop a system for dry polishing concrete. HTC has continued to develop machines and tooling for the concrete polishing industry and today is considered the world leader.

The owner of American Concrete Technologies, Tim Taylor along with his son Adam, was first exposed to polished concrete in November 2003. Mr. Taylor traveled to Sweden to meet Hakan Thysell to determine if polished concrete was as impressive as what he first saw. He knew immediately the potential and possibilities that this innovation would bring to American Architects, Designers, Builders, and Facility Mangers. The economics and ease of long term care were perfect for not only the industrial market but for commercial and residential as well. Upon his return to the states he placed his order for equipment and tooling from Sweden and in 2004 American Concrete Technologies was launched.

Today American Concrete Technologies is the leader of polished concrete in the Southwestern Unites States. This rapidly growing company has clients in all segments of commercial, industrial and residential construction. Operating from its corporate office in Fort Worth, Texas, American Concrete Technologies has several branches and covers Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana.