Polished concrete or floating floor?

[dennford]

Hi all.

2. Floating floor- Love the look. Concerned how well it will hold up under the onslaught. Are the laminates fairly sturdy? How about the veneers? Is either more durable than the other? I-mrsxtro

I know that laminates aren't popular - (not many thumbs up on this forum yet) but when you think about it , many shopping centres use it - what harder life could you imagine. As for the veneers it has already been mentioned that you may need to resand and seal from time to time.

With the above in mind I put a laminate in my lounge a few years ago and have not regreted it - none but the most observant notice that it is not real wood.

I have slate in my kitche which needs annual maintainance, prior to that we had tiles: with slate tiles or concrete you cannot afford to drop plates etc, tiles are the worst because a chip is noticeable wheras with slate it can be resealed and hidden.

All in all laminate is cheaper and maintainance free plus the lower cost means that when you are ready you can easily change the finish.

Denn (the cheap skate)

[dvdhack]

I just had a waffle slab poured - so simple to install. The pods for the slab above them and the gaps between the pods form the reinforced ribs. Effectively you are replacing the soil mounds that exist in a normal raft slab with foam. The insulation effect is arouond R1.

The advantages for me were -

1. the footings are raised above ground - great for a federation style house like mine.
2. Concrete can be more accurately estimated due to accurate dimensions of pods.
3. No need to dig as much - great on rocky ground lilke ours.

Our slab was cured chemically so my concern is the sticking of direct stick timber in those areas, any advice?

[StylePlantation]

2. Floating floor- Love the look. Concerned how well it will hold up under the onslaught. Are the laminates fairly sturdy? How about the veneers? Is either more durable than the other? I understand the veneers are sandable but I really don't want to be doing it every year or two! There'd be no timber left in just a few years.

There is a third option, non floating flooring, stuck directly to a level surface either concrete or timber. This will look like normal flooring and sound like it rather than the thud thud of a floating floor with beading around the edge. Then put an nice skirting board around and its perfect.

If its a new home why would you go floating floor? Floating is generally only used when someone does not want to lift the skirting board.

Re laminates have a look at their thickness, if you have dogs sliding around and if they are big ones with sharp claws its conceivable that they could scratch right through the veneer.

[silentC]

Are you going to go along and dredge up every thread on flooring and add your two cents to it? The original thread to which you are responding was posted in 2005. Hopefully they've resolved their flooring issues by now...

[StylePlantation]

Are you going to go along and dredge up every thread on flooring and add your two cents to it? The original thread to which you are responding was posted in 2005. Hopefully they've resolved their flooring issues by now...

Not intentional, Im blinded by passion!! and if it helps others then maybe the same questions are not repeated then, from that perspective its valulable, if not then take it or leave it.

[bushmanpat]

I too am looking at building on acreage and have many questions about the slab.

I'm quite interested in polished concrete. I've been told, if you choose to do it, then pick your contractors VERY carefully. If the apprentice holds the vibrator in one spot too long, then the finish might have more aggregate in that spot and less suirrounding it. A mate told me the other day that he'd seen a polished floor where she (the owner) threw a couple of 20L buckets of smashed bottles in every agi that turned up. Got them to spin it a bit before pouring. The polisher didn't like it, something about glass and his machine but the finish was spectacular.

Also, I believe that you have to either polish straight after pouring the slab, or put a screed over the top and polish that. I think either way, it happens at the start of the job, so you have to buy a bucket load of ply wood or similar to protect the slab while everyone else is doing their thing.

With the timber floor, you can get a real, old scholl timber floor on a slab by fixing timber "joists" to the slab and then laying the boards on them. More expensive but very effective.

Let us know how you go

[StylePlantation]

With the timber floor, you can get a real, old scholl timber floor on a slab by fixing timber "joists" to the slab and then laying the boards on them. More expensive but very effective.

Let us know how you go

Sorry but I am not knowedgeable about concrete to give you advice on polishing it.

Personally I dont like floating floors! the main reason is the "thud thud" when you walk on them and the finish needs have beading around the skirting boards. Secondly if you have kids or animals run on them it vibrates through the room and house.

Paul

[bushmanpat]

Personally I dont like floating floors!

This technique is not a floating floor. It is a technique to lay a timber floor on a concrete slab. There is no thud thud because the timber joists are firmly fixed to the concrete and the floor itself it fixed to the joists, same as any real timber floor.

[StylePlantation]

This technique is not a floating floor. It is a technique to lay a timber floor on a concrete slab. There is no thud thud because the timber joists are firmly fixed to the concrete and the floor itself it fixed to the joists, same as any real timber floor.

How far appart are the timber joists and how high are they?

[TJAY]

think about what happens when the kids fall over, or you drop a plate, spill a bit of red, all relevant I reckon.

Good advice, my last place had concrete floors and I loved them. Didn't feel cold to me, easy to look after, etc, but they were the most unforgiving floor imaginable. I grew up in a home with cork floors, and we barely ever broke a glass or plate as they'd just bounce. And kids never got hurt falling over. But drop something on concrete, or slip and fall and it's a hard landing indeed.

[alex_s]

Hi to all
There's polished concrete then there's polished concrete.
One version is polish/grind the slab then coat with a sealer cheapest option but in my opinion not worth it as you have on going maintenance and not the best look.
2nd option is polish/grind slab with different degrees of grinding disks down to a very fine grade applying penetrating sealers as you go. The finish can be mirror finish and make the concrete very hard with no on going maintenance. I have seen this done on a 100 year old slab so it can be done at any stage old or new.
Then there is acid staining which can turn concrete various colours so an old slab can be coloured.


Hope this helps cheers al

[sports fan]

waffle slabs do have the benefit of being cheap less concrete and excavation etc... dont put waffles under the garage slab as the project home builders do - i have heard a couple stories about blokes jacking up there cars in their garage and suddenly the slab gives way underneath them

lesson: be aware cannot point a point load on a waffle slab!