Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Jan 03, 2012 9:57 pm We have a double storey double brick concrete slab home. The flooring needs updating/replacing, so I want to rip up the carpet in the lounge/dining/rumpus/hallways, and rip out the depressing black slate in the kitchen, and replace them with the same hard flooring throughout. I've always thought that I would put down a timber floor (rather than having tiles throughout), but have recently wondered whether it's an option to have the existing concrete slab "polished" to get the polished concrete look throughout? Most of the internal walls are exposed brick, so I'll be painting those as well. Has anyone done a polished concrete floor for a pre-existing concrete slab? How much cost was involved? And did it involve ripping up pre-existing tiles? Is it not worth the effort, so should I just be looking at timber options instead? Thanks for your thoughts. Re: Polishing an existing concrete slab? 2Jan 06, 2012 7:26 pm Cheaper, cleaner and less stressful to just look for timber. I love polished concrete.....but to get a really good look I think its best to start at slab stage when building. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Polishing an existing concrete slab? 3Jan 06, 2012 10:05 pm I agree with Michelle... onc_artisan should chime in her with a difinative opinion... but a polished concrete finish starts with the 1st pour. Having said that it really is an organic finish...meaning what you have already might be prime for polishing. Re: Polishing an existing concrete slab? 4Jan 07, 2012 1:53 pm it is possible but very messy and your wall bases will get damaged. Re: Polishing an existing concrete slab? 6Jan 08, 2012 8:26 pm Thanks for your replies. I was whingeing to a friend of mine about how I'm sick of the carpet and how it's stained and how I will be getting rid of it once I know what flooring I want to put down etc etc etc and she told me that if it was her house (she's an interior decorator, so whenever she offers advice, I tend to listen!), she would just rip the carpet up (at least in the hallways where I definitely want to put a hard floor down) and then I can decide what I want. So that's what I've done. Apart from having a hell of a time ripping up the timber strips that held the carpet down around the edges, I'm happy I've done it. The concrete is pretty level and flat, and not too rough to walk on. I've googled enough to know that existing concrete can be polished. So I'm currently trying to arrange quotes (Southern Sydney, if anyone can recommend anyone???). If all else fails, then yes, we'll put timber down. I think I'll regret putting tiles down. Thanks again for your advice. Polishing an existing concrete slab? 7Jan 08, 2012 8:39 pm I'm looking into the exact same situation. I had a ball park figure quote from a Sydney company and they said, for our 4 x 6 meter room, anything from 3 to 5 grand. Obviously that's vague as he hasn't seen the condition of the concrete but he just said anything (within reason) is possible! Re: Polishing an existing concrete slab? 8Feb 05, 2012 9:29 pm I think there are products that can be poured over existing tiles (think it's called Pandomo?) but not sure what the lasting quality would be like. We're in the same boat too (just building a new home but didn't decide to look into polished concrete until AFTER the slab was poured....woops!) and from looking around this forum at similar questions, looks like the cost is around $120/m2. We've got about 100m2 we'd like to do but don't think we can afford the $12-13k We are also in Sth Sydney, would be great to see if you get any good comments on this one! Re: Polishing an existing concrete slab? 9Apr 25, 2018 1:59 pm Depending on how fine you wanna go, some contractor can do $100/sqm The concreter will take and reuse. In my case I bought structural LVLs and scraped them back and used them as joists. 1 5817 yep, clearly mark where the infloor heating pipes are before drilling or nailing 1 6344 Building Standards; Getting It Right! is this for a residential dwelling or a shed? If its for a dwelling, its out of tolerance and a "mistakes happen" isnt a good enough excuse to just move on. 1 2667 |