Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 15, 2013 8:01 pm Hi everyone! We are looking at doing polished concrete in the house we are currently building. In fact we are pretty set on doing it, the only thing holding us back is the price we have been quoted by our builder to upgrade the slab! After speaking to a few contractors out there the general consensus is that the slab needs to be increased to 100mm and the concrete needs to be upgraded to 32 mpa. For those of you out there who have done the polished concrete before does this sound right to you? Also as we are going for the "architectural" look without exposed aggregate there is no need to upgrade the mesh??? We have been quoted in excess of 10k to do this from our builder - however the contractor I have been speaking with said that on average it costs 1500 to upgrade the slab. We would love to hear from people out there who have had to pay to upgrade their slab and find out how much you were charged as we are currently feeling totally ripped off! Many thanks in advance for your input! bridget Re: Polished concrete 2Feb 16, 2013 12:47 am we need a couple more bit of info: How many sq mtrs of floor area are you thinking of polishing? What area are you in? ie metro or outta metro? The cost to polish concrete as honed(factory finish) is about $80 sq mtr. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Polished concrete 3Feb 16, 2013 10:05 am It's about 150 sq m, we are in the metro area. It's really the cost from the builder that's got us stumped! Re: Polished concrete 5Feb 16, 2013 11:30 am ...and yes 32mpa, with the finish by the granos(concretors) as a 'burnished finish'. The 'finish' that the granos get will be reflected in the final finish of the floor. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Polished concrete 6Feb 16, 2013 3:54 pm Im not actually after the cost to polish the concrete, but more interested in the cost charged by the builder to upgrade the slab to 100mm and 32 mpa... hope that makes sense Re: Polished concrete 7Feb 16, 2013 6:09 pm Hope you get the info you needed. Sorry your query wasn't that clear to start with. Guess we wait and see if anyone has an idea. No wonder you are horrified at the 10k just for the thicker concrete not getting it actually honed or whatever you plan. Not sure if they'd have to upgrade the entire slab not just the bit you want worked on. maybe Onc or another person with concrete experience might know. Re: Polished concrete 8Feb 16, 2013 7:14 pm If you have a builder they will tell you the builders margin. this is for cost plus... if you need to know. skill level and demand for services would be a guiding factor as to what the margin can be. The adjustment to material cost is for administration of making changes ie ordering pricing, batching and delivery etc passing on the costs of the extra plus their margin. likely 20%. Builders work in 'not including GST' well, most of the time. hope this is the answer: increase in the cost of extra cement from 25mpa @ $220 cu mtr to 32 mpa @ $250cu mtr. The standard raft slab is 100mm thick a waffle pod could be 86mm thick if you add 14mm for extra thickness you will need about an extra 2.1cu mtr @$250/cu mtr Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Polished concrete 10Feb 17, 2013 9:28 am thanks Tim and Onc. hopefully your responses will give the OP the answers they needed. Builders Looooooooooooooove the mark up on anything that's different to standard. 20% is a pretty common cost increase. Plus it goes onto each step of the job- plans, extra admin-the actual materials-extra time by workers etc etc You may get a bit of flexibility in the cost if you talk to them, you may not. Re: Polished concrete 11Feb 17, 2013 10:14 am wow! Thanks guys. Still trying to get my head around all jargon and number but so glad to have some rough figures to go to the builder with! Thanks again, I'll keep you all updated on how it goes Re: Polished concrete 12Feb 20, 2013 5:19 pm Sorry to hijack but I didn't want to start a similar thread! I'm trying to decide on the finish for our open plan living/dining/kitchen areas but can't work out if it's machine trowelled finish or burnished finish? I'm trying to get the jargon right so we can communicate to our builder. What we want is: - Minimal aggregate shown, if any. - Trowelling marks showing - Natural grey concrete colour - Low gloss finish This is the type of look we're going for: http://www.habitusliving.com/images/sto ... e_hero.jpg Thanks in advance! Follow the renovation of our Inner West terrace: http://207young.blogspot.com Re: Polished concrete 13Feb 20, 2013 5:36 pm http://www.australianecoformations.com. ... 0017-1.jpg http://www.australianecoformations.com. ... niiice.jpg These are examples of honed aka salt & pepper, light grind and polish. The sheen might be too much but is variable on the day.. The scope here was an economical easy clean & hard wearing floor.Hope this helps cost was about $70 sq mtr Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Polished concrete 14Feb 20, 2013 5:44 pm ooh, I like the second pic! It does look like there is a bit too much sheen though for the look we are going for. What grit has that been done at? Also, for just a burnished or machine trowelled finish, is a topical sealer the only option if we want to retain the trowelling marks? Follow the renovation of our Inner West terrace: http://207young.blogspot.com Re: Polished concrete 15Feb 20, 2013 6:14 pm W O W. boy do I lovelovelove the look of the concrete! The richness is gorgeous and the colour...! You must be so excited! HD Re: Polished concrete 16Feb 20, 2013 8:21 pm have a look at our thread we went for a fully exposed look, had originally planed on saltnpepper. Our situation was complicated by an unhelpfull builder but the trades we brought to the job did an amazing job. Check out this vid i bashed together recently it has some of the concerete process in there as well http://youtu.be/6gW9D2vh1CY Re: Polished concrete 17Feb 20, 2013 8:50 pm Wow sceen7, that vid was amazing! Got me excited to start build! So what 'finish' would you call your floors then? I'm struggling with the terminology...I have a very clear picture of what I want, I just don't know how to communicate it to the trades. Is that the David Tribridge pendant you have over the dining? We were looking at these on the weekend. Follow the renovation of our Inner West terrace: http://207young.blogspot.com Re: Polished concrete 18Feb 21, 2013 12:22 am jazzy_ I love onc's second picture too! Looks so easy to keep clean! I've also got no idea of the jargon, just try and use pictures to explain what I'm after!! Re: Polished concrete 19Feb 21, 2013 12:28 am screen7 your house is ammmmmazing! The concrete looks fantastic. I've read lots of people who think that it makes a house look cold and uninviting (definitely not my opinion of it though!), but your little video blows that argument out of the water. Love, live, love it! Thanks for sharing, it's made me more happy with my decision to go with the polished concrete. Re: Polished concrete 20Feb 21, 2013 12:19 pm jazzy_ So what 'finish' would you call your floors then? quote] We didnt go the usual path when it comes to a standard polished concrete floor. You might have noticed in the video we laid a structual slab 100mm below finished floor height, then laid heating on top of that then a further 100mm of white concrete on top of that. The white concrete is a product from Mentone pre mix called snow. Yes it cost a bomb but we were kinda cornered into it by our builder who refused to have anything to do with polished concrete and also refused to set out the slab at different heights. We have a mix of floorboards, tiles and polished CC throughout the extension. Ours was a full grind exposing the agregate, as I said we toyed with a light grind but are very happy with the final product. jazzy_ Is that the David Tribridge pendant you have over the dining? We were looking at these on the weekend. Yes its the coral 1 meter ....love it it makes the room To my understanding early saw cuts are to control shrinkage cracks, so doing them now would be pointless. Control joints may reduce ugly cracking during periods of soil… 3 9830 Hi all I need a guidance on how far I need to space expansion joints in the concrete driveway and its type (keyway/foam.) Contraction joints are at 3m max for a 125 slab. Thanks 0 10926 |