you could polish the cement and have it sealed. I think that would be your best bet. it's easy to care for.

or like here, just clean it very well, apply sealer

prices vary, but maybe 1-2K to have someone come in and do it.

they could also do an acid etch if you want a diff color. (I did this to a bedroom floor in turquoise)

there is also a stain they can do.

or sand it down a bit to expose the aggregate (I like this option)

Hi Beth,

I have seen your super helpful comments on other topics as well and thank you so much for responding so quickly with ideas, I loved them all!! The last photo you attached is exactly what I contracted a contractor for in mat but that didn't work out, see below.

You were spot on with your suggestions as a "poured" polished floor was my original plan but the contractor I used - who btw is the technician at a large German concrete company so I trusted him - completely messed up my floor. He was supposed to do a terrazzo floor based on the sample he made me which looked great (photo attached) but it turned into a disaster and he offered to pay my money back but I'm now left with an unpolished floor that has stones in only half of the area and the rea with the stones looks like fly poo..(photo attached). This is the link to the material used: MC Top Floor.

I didn't want to go into these details in my original post to spare the readers of this drama but that is the situation I'm in unfortunately.

I cannot add a lot more weight and height to my floors so I wanted to continue with the polished concrete type options, BUT the quotes I am getting are horrible, around 4,5k GBP. It's insane and NOONE will do it with a warranty as they say the floor has been messed up by someone else. The best quote I got so far was 2,3k GBP for which they would polish, correct uneven areas and add two layers of coloured polyurethane lacquer which will come out as an even colour of my choice without cloudiness. But there is no guarantee that it will look good so I'm terrified to risk more. I also live in an old building so polishing with those huge machines for longer periods might cause damage.

I'm in Budapest and the flooring business is horrific over here, most contractors rip people off and it's a super tight community, they all know each other and quote ridiculous prices.

I'm not sure what to do to make it the most cost-effective but still good looking and most importantly usable.

Sample terrazzo that was in our contract:

And this is how it came out, which is unacceptable, so the guy polished it up and poured a second layer with almost no stones in it. Now it looks like a white subfloor.

I'd go with your first option. I'm not a color expert but I'd go with the options you posted that are less gray. That seems to give you the most flexibility for furniture and rugs. The wonderful kitchen area you are planing will grab all the attention so no one will even notice the floors.

Your flat is stunning! Where in the world are you in Budapest? I used to visit there often and our friends lived in a Soviet style concrete high rise near Margit-hid. Their flat looked nothing like yours. The last time we visited they had just redone their bathroom and were apologizing for the tile choice. They had to take what they could get, they explained. Guess things haven't changed much in ten years. Such a great city and your place is beautiful! Wish I could be there for all the great upcoming Easter events.

Hi Tozmo1 and thank you for your comment and suggestion regarding my floor colour. I'm currently awaiting a couple of more prices and then I'll have someone do a sample on the floor and I should then be able to assess if the whole floor is worth polishing and lacquering or if I will be forced to put down LVT which I don't really want. I wish I could have all the options Beth was suggesting but so far there is noone who can do staining for example.

Regarding Budapest, I'm glad you liked it over here! Life is tough right now and the city is getting worse but I still love Budapest. My flat is in the 5th district between Deak square and Astoria, close to the great synagogue. It's in the courtyard where Kontakt coffee shop is, in case you've ever been there. There are photos on this website of the whole building (but the text is in Hungarian). Hope you can visit again.

the bare spots against the wall, could furniture hide most of it?

what if they applied a stain to this floor? any idea how that would look? just something a tad darker?

being out of the country is a whole other issue that none of us here can help with.

All you can do is show them pics and hope to get close.

The prices don't seem that outraneous. I had two small bedrooms done w/a concrete overlay and an acid stain, for a bit over 1K. 10 yrs ago.

He applied a horrible sealer (don't use a poly lacquer!) that scratched when anything was rolled over it. I tried to get him to come back and strip off that sealer, but I never heard anything back from him. naturally. Be very careful w/the sealer you apply. do you research.

I'll also add that whatever he did w/the cement overlay, I've got a few large patches that are peeling (prob due to moisture on the original slab) anyway, I'm going to tile over the whole thing when my son moves out.

Dear Beth,

Regarding the spots on the floor on the picture you attached, those spots are now gone because I didn't like that outcome - it looked like dirty spots or clouds of fly poop - so the contractor told me he polished up 5 mms and re-poured the floor with a lot less stones in it. So now the same floor looks like this:

I asked around regarding the staining process but so far have found no-one to do that. I genuinely don't know what else can be used as the top layer instead of the poly lacquer. The contractors told me if we go with mat, that would be more forgiving in terms of scratches being visible. This is the lacquer suggested by the company whose material is on the floor. I too am afraid of it scratching but I genuinely don't know what else to do. I'm very worried about the floor situation.

As to prices, everything is ridiculously overpriced here, for us Hungarians, these are unbearable taken that the average salary is less than 1,000 USD/month. Not to mention that contractors keep messing things up causing tremendous damage in all ways.

I really liked the pattern of the turquoise floor in the bedroom, as well as your beautiful kitty! If I could get the same floor in a light grey colour, I would be really happy, but I don't see how I could find someone to do this on my floor in Budapest. Was it a loud and messy process and how long did it take? I will continue asking around tomorrow as well see if I get lucky.

Your building is beautiful! I love those courtyards. Whenever we'd pass a building with the door open we'd always peer in and pretend we could live there. I haven't been to that coffee shop but i know exactly where it is. My DH taught a semester at ELTE and we stayed in an apartment on Iranyi. When he was at the university I wandered around town. I'm sure I walked past your building. Once I took photos of the seats on all the stops of the red and blue lines. Each stop has a different style of seating. It fascinated me. I just looked at the ones in Deak and Astoria. Great memories. So sorry to hear times are hard in such a wonderful city full of so very friendly people. Maybe these guys can turn things around. I think this pic is from Deak square.

I hope you get your floor corrected. It looks good now but i understand your concern about how it will wear. Here in the US there are so many options including epoxy floors, staining, special sealants. Have you looked at commercial products? Seems being in the EU should open some options but yes, then there's the cost and the need for skilled craftspeople. I wonder if some kind of commercial carpet, very low pile almost a felt would be an option over LVP. FLOR is a US company that does what I'm thinking of. It would at least buy you some time until the budget builds up and you can find someone who can do the job correctly.

I love the Budapest courtyards too and I - just like you - always peek in and if it's beautiful and I can, I sneak in whenever someone opens the gate. I very much like the Iranyi str area too and go to Madal cafe nearby when I have the chance.

Thank you for your suggestion regarding the carpet, and I know there are some incredible ones out there but I'd prefer carpetless floors especially that I want to rent my flat section with the kitchen out for events.

The good news is that today another expert took a look at my floor and his attitude and experience gives me hope. He has experience with the same material (TopFloor by MC Bauchemie) and has polished the floor made with this material in his boss' office. I attached the before and after photos of that work. I would be very happy if he could do the same on my floors and he said he would be able to do that. I will of course need to accept the fact that the 25-30 sqm area around the main entrance will be totally white while the area beyond the dilatation line will have stones in it, because sadly the guy who messed up my floor didn't bother adding stones to that area when he poured the material down before he left.

Fingers crossed the quote this new expert will be giving me next Tuesday will be acceptable and if so, I will go with him in which case he could start the Tuesday after next and finish by Friday. I want this to happen so badly!!

I like your concept regarding the two separate areas, thank you, that's a great idea!! I can't wait for this project to finish. I truly hope it will all end well because I've been struggling with this flat for over a year now.

Do let me know if you're in town again, it would be nice to go to Madam or Kontakt!

UPATE: Unfortunately the poured floor project has fully failed and it looks like I ran out of all other options than LVT. I had a guy come in to polish the floor that was messed up by another professional but sadly the polishing revealed all the mistakes the previous person did and at this stage the floor is no longer correctible. The company's main rep guy whose material is on the floor came out again this morning and told me this was a great floor....and that it was not possible to make a terrazzo floor to look even. Well, we are not talking even, we are talking huge "crop" circles and missing stones in areas which does not look natural to me at all, no matter how much the rep wanted to convince me. So sadly this project was an utter failure. I've been struggling with my floor since August....you can imagine the cost. Not to mention that this one-day polishing cost me $560 and now I will need to cover it all with some plastic looking thing.

I'm so lost and depressed. What do I do now? What LVT should I put down, stone or wood look? And what colour? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thank you very much for any pointers or suggestions. I feel like I'm frozen in fear and can't think any more.