Thought I would post this separately from my build thread in case anybody is searching for an answer to this problem in the future... I built my 18'x42' inground as a single man crew, so the vermiculite didn't get poured in a single day... and at the end of those days, some of the vermiculite didn't even get finished properly as I was exhausted.
So, I needed to smooth the transitions between pours, and smooth trowel marks, splashes of hardened vermicrete, etc. My answer was to buy a concrete polisher (maybe you can rent one? it wasn't cheap). This thing uses a lot of air (15cfm, my 5hp 2stage compressor with 60gal tank worked hard)... and it is wet and messy, but it works awesome. It's a professional tool made by Alpha Alpha Professional Tools It uses velcro backed resin discs that are impregnated with diamond bits at various grits... it makes very quick work of vermicrete... I used 50 grit and 100 grit pads... the 50 grit is very agressive on vermiculite. It also grinds away concrete easily too... I had a few spots where concrete had splashed on top of the vermicrete.
In this pic you can see the finished and raw parts of the floor... very effective!
So, I needed to smooth the transitions between pours, and smooth trowel marks, splashes of hardened vermicrete, etc. My answer was to buy a concrete polisher (maybe you can rent one? it wasn't cheap). This thing uses a lot of air (15cfm, my 5hp 2stage compressor with 60gal tank worked hard)... and it is wet and messy, but it works awesome. It's a professional tool made by Alpha Alpha Professional Tools It uses velcro backed resin discs that are impregnated with diamond bits at various grits... it makes very quick work of vermicrete... I used 50 grit and 100 grit pads... the 50 grit is very agressive on vermiculite. It also grinds away concrete easily too... I had a few spots where concrete had splashed on top of the vermicrete.
In this pic you can see the finished and raw parts of the floor... very effective!
