Concrete floors?

jennye

17 years ago

Any thoughts on concrete floors in a contemporary house in the kitchen and baths, with wood everywhere else?

jenny

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Comments (6)

MongoCT
17 years ago
Concrete would look great. Consider radiant floor heat within the slab.

For wood, bamboo glives a slick clean contemporary look. Not all grades of bambo are equal, look into Terragren.

Mongo
diygene
17 years ago
Radiant heating is a good idea. There's lots of great info over at the Healthy Heating site on it. But regardless of whether you do radiant or not, be sure there's insulation below the slab, or you'll be trying to heat the whole earth via your concrete floor (or cool it in hot weather).

Our local Habitat for Humanity has done concrete floors in the recent designs. They're painted various colors, and look quite nice. Basically looks kind of like seamless tile :-)
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The upkeep for concrete finishes can be SURPRISINGLY HIGH!!!! The HIGH END epoxy finishes can be very close to bullet proof - and yet some of them still need polishing every once and a while. Finished concrete slabs are not cheap. In fact they can have some of the highest prices per square foot in the flooring industry. They range from $5 - $25/sf. The lower end ones (below $15/sf) will have maintenance that has disappointed many homeowners. The low-end ones (without full sealing, etc) can be quite delicate. If you think of concrete as marble, you will start to understand the difficulties of living with it. It is naturally porous which means it LOVES to stain! I mean LOVES to stain...even more so than marble. It etches and etches quickly and easily. That means it needs a sealant or some sort of finish on top. And many of the lower-end finishes/sealants have to be reapplied (some every 1-5 years) or they need to be POLISHED every 6months (yep...floor polishing = the bane of grandma's existence). And those lower end finishes also SCRATCH. Yes....scratch. Concrete scratches like everything else. Finished concrete, it it's HIGHEST FORM, is a work of art. It is super tough and super cool. It can be magnificent. But not many people can afford the $25/sf option. A quality porcelain tile = much easier to "live with" then a concrete finish. There is less maintenance to porcelain. No sealing. No polishing. No worries (other than the odd tile breakage). And besides, my experience is that the time a homeowner keeps their concrete floor = 5-7 years. They cover it up after that.
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@Alberto - You will need to address your questions about thinset and flexibility with your installer. Likely a professional grinding to reach a fresh, uniform surface will be necessary. Because of everything I do and use in the garage, tile would not be an option. Too likely to drop something and break a tile or bring a stone on a tire then roll over. My flooring was periodically cleaned and shined with Mop & Glow or similar. I’m sure matte surface is available Over years of use I did replace a few tile. they’re interlocking so quite simple to do
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jennye
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks guys. I may do it. The price is right. I dont think I can afford radiant heating, though. I like the tile I have in the kitchen, but I am considering new kitchen cabs. I guess they may not fit the same on top of the current tile and so I may need to retile? Does that sound right?

jenny
kudzu9
17 years ago
jenny-
I have concrete floors throughout my contemporary home, but I also have radiant heat in them, and I love them. Before I owned this house I had a more traditional house that had one large room that had tile directly over a concrete slab. If you would sit on that floor it would suck the heat right out of you.
jennye
Original Author
17 years ago
kudzu9,

do you have concrete in the bath? If so, how does it hold up to water? I am also putting concrete counters into the bathrooms. Do you have those also? I wish I could put heated floors in the bath, I am sure that would be a great selling point, but I think it will be too much $$$.

jenny
MongoCT
17 years ago
Instead of painting concrete, consider scid staining it.

Much better performance.

If this house is a flip, or you're remodeling to resell, realize that unheated concrete can be a big negative.

If you can't do RFH, even electric mats in the bath to just take the edge off.

Another option would be cork.

Cork melds well with contemporary design, it's warm underfoot, and is affordable.

Mongo

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Concrete floors?

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MongoCT

diygene

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Concrete floors?

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MongoCT

diygene

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