Cream polish vs salt and pepper vs full aggregate: cut depth
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Salt and pepper polish is the look most of our polished concrete floors get. Our standard cut, 2 passes with a 30 grit tool, shows fine sand and small specks of rock, like salt and pepper on the floor. Cream polish shows no rock and full aggregate shows big rock, so cream polish vs salt and pepper vs full aggregate comes down to how deep we cut.
A slab has a thin layer of cement paste on top, called the cream. Under it sits fine sand and small rock, then the big rock. The deeper we cut, the bigger the rock that shows, and the cut depth sets the look more than any later step.
The 3 cut depths and their grits
A lower grit number means a coarser tool that cuts deeper and faster.
| Look | Tools | What shows |
|---|---|---|
| Cream polish | 200 to 400 grit | Only the cement paste, no rock |
| Salt and pepper | 30 grit primary cut | Fine sand and small rock |
| Full aggregate | 16 or 10 grit | Big rock across the floor |
After the cut, every floor gets densifier, a liquid that grows crystals inside the concrete to harden it, then finer grits up to the shine you picked. Those steps change the shine, not how much rock shows.
What does our standard salt and pepper cut give you?
Every Slab Boss Polish includes that standard primary cut, and most floors show a salt and pepper finish after it. It’s already in the price, which starts at $3.58 a square foot.
We sell the passes at a production rate, and we don’t promise how much rock they’ll show. On one slab the small rock sits right under the cream and shows plenty, while on another it sits deeper and the same cut shows mostly sand. Nobody can see which until the first pass is down.
Why is cream polish rare on a slab we didn’t pour?
Cream polish starts at 200 to 400 grit and only smooths that thin paste. It needs a very flat slab, and on a slab another crew poured, we see one that flat about 1 time in 100. Our tools ride the high spots first, and those cut through the cream long before the low spots get touched. You end up with patches of salt and pepper in a cream floor. So we rarely offer cream on a slab we didn’t pour. If yours is the exception, we’ll tell you and price it per job.
Why the same cut looks different on two slabs
A slab has a thin layer of cement paste on top, called the cream. Under it sits sand and small rock, then big rock. Nobody can see how deep the rock sits until the cut gets there.
Standard primary cut
Two passes with a 30 grit tool. Most floors show a salt and pepper look.
Pro: It is already in your price.
Con: How much rock shows depends on your slab.
Keep cutting toward full aggregate
We keep cutting with coarser tools until you say stop or the rock shows.
Pro: You pick the look as you watch it, and full aggregate is often very pretty.
Con: Nobody can say how deep the rock is, so it is billed by the hour. It can reach rebar or a stake left in the slab.
Keep cutting toward full aggregate
For more rock than our standard cut shows, pick “keep cutting toward full aggregate” on your quote. We’ll keep cutting with coarser tools until you say stop or the rock shows. It’s $67 per hour, counted by the crew hour as worked.
- Pros: You pick the look as you watch and stop when you like it. A full aggregate floor is often very pretty.
- Cons: Nobody can say how deep the rock is, so nobody can say how many hours it takes. A full aggregate cut takes about 2 to 4 times the hours of our standard cut. It can reach rebar or a grade stake left in the slab. And it usually needs extra densifier, because the paste between stones is softer than the stones.
The rock is a gamble, too. Some mixes have pretty rock. Some have plain gray rock. In our part of the country, most limestone runs warm gray to nearly black, river rock runs brown, and local sand runs tan. Mixed together, they make an unstained floor look brown from across the room. Once rock shows, the only way back is a new slab or an overlay on top.
The primary cut stays in your price
Keep cutting adds crew hours on top of our standard cut, and those hours aren't in your quote total.
Which cut should you pick?
- If you want the base price: salt and pepper, our standard cut.
- If your slab has low spots: salt and pepper, and live with the dips. Say part of your slab sits a half inch low. Grinding it flat means cutting everything around it at least that deep, so big rock shows in some spots and not others.
- If you want big rock: keep cutting toward full aggregate, if you can live with 2 to 4 times the hours.
How do the cut names get mixed up on a bid?
Some crews call a 400 or 800 grit polish step “salt and pepper.” That’s wrong. Salt and pepper comes from the cut. No polish grit can show rock the cut didn’t reach.
Spec sheets and bids can name the look by its aggregate exposure class, set by the first cut: A is cream, B is fine salt and pepper (what our standard cut usually shows), C is medium rock, and D is large rock. When you compare quotes, ask each crew what grit they cut with first. That number tells you what the floor will show.
Cut depth is one of 4 defect groups on your quote, all covered in the polished concrete slab defects guide. Then pick your cut depth on your quote.
