CONCRETE THINKING

Concrete floors are an intriguing option when it comes for a custom renovation. Despite being known as industrial flooring, concrete is gaining traction (yes that's a pun, couldn’t resist) in the residential realm.

Here are 3 intriguing concrete flooring options for your home.

Polished Concrete - First, let’s clarify what constitutes polished concrete. The starting point, as you would imagine, is a concrete slab. Through systematic grinding and polishing the slab is transformed into a lovely surface. That’s an oversimplified explanation, but polished concrete is distinct from a sealed slab. Sealed slabs require much less prep before applying an acrylic sealer. Unfortunately, sealed slabs don’t reach the same level of beauty and uniqueness as polished concrete. Getting there requires a combination of planetary grinders, diamond abrasives and chemicals such as densifiers and stain protector, which are used to progressively refine and polish the surface. That process continues until the right level of smoothness and gloss is reached. This form of flooring is surprisingly slip resistant - even when wet. For those wanting additional color options, polished concrete can be dyed or inlayed with an artistic design. As you can see, residential polished concrete options are customizable and limitless.

Broadcast Resins Floors - Broadcast resin floors are a great combination of function, protection and aesthetics. After preparing the concrete substrate with diamond grinding or shot blasting (no acid etching here!), a resinous primer is applied, and the selected media is broadcasted into the wet primer. Wood chips are the selected media in this photo. Once the resin has cured, which only takes 4-8 hours, the excess media is removed, and a resinous grout coat is installed to cover the broadcasted material. Because these flooring systems have additional, non-resinous materials integrated into them, they are much thicker than a traditional “neat” resinous flooring system. This makes the floor more durable and impact resistant while also being slip and chemical resistant. Makes a really nice garage floor!

Metallic Resinous Floors - Metallic resinous floors start with clear resins, then colored metallic powdered pigments are added to create an iridescent effect. This surface appears to have a unique depth and texture even though it's completely smooth and level. Depending on the desired effect, single or multiple colors can be added. The gloss level of the protective topcoat can be selected - matte, semigloss or gloss. Because of the artistic nature of the application, no two metallic floors are alike. Each is an original masterpiece.

Special thanks to Derek Zearley of Zefco for providing insights and info for this blog.

Are you ready to incorporate concrete surfaces into your Design-Build renovation? Speak with a Daniel Builders project guide by calling 864.506.5546 and discuss the best path forward for your custom renovation or get your renovation started here!