Silica dust, or respirable crystalline silica, is the fine airborne dust created when concrete is ground, shot blasted, or cut, and it’s regulated by OSHA.

Acid etching is a chemical surface prep method that uses diluted muriatic or phosphoric acid to roughen concrete before coating. Most professional installers now prefer mechanical prep methods over acid etching.

Concrete surface profile (CSP) is the ICRI scale, from 1 to 9, used to describe how rough a concrete surface is after prep work.

Shot blasting cleans and profiles a concrete surface by firing small steel shot at it and reclaiming the material for reuse.

Diamond grinding uses diamond-embedded discs to smooth, level, or polish a concrete surface before coating or finishing it.