Polished concrete floors with Arden Homes

Hi
I’m building with Arden and really want polished concrete floors in my hallway, laundry, living, dining, kitchen and butlers. Has anyone done this with Arden??? Would love any tips on how I can get this done after frame rather than after handover.
They’ve just told me I can’t have inslab heating but I wasn’t clear about why (they told me this after a very long day in our tender meeting with them, and I couldn’t be bothered asking why - I just wanted to get out of there 😂). I vaguely think it was to do with making the height of the slab too high? Or that the grinding process might damage the hydronic pipes and therefore they wouldn't be able to warranty it.
Anyway - any words of wisdom or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

You best go back to them in writing and check their Concrete Specifications & Engineering Details
If you intend doing it after handover..Goodluck

Volume builders just don't want the responsibility in case something goes wrong.

Hydronic pipes do not increase the height of the slab.

Grind down to damage the pipes? Lol no one is going to grind 50mm.

If they won't allow you to do hydronic and you still want to polish the slab ask them to allow you to upgrade and choose your own aggregate using 32mpa concrete.

Thanks StructuralBIMGuy and JB1 for your replies.

The 32mpa concrete is already in my contract and costs an additional $9300. Everything would have been fine if they had let me also install the in-slab hydronic heating. But they won't, and I don't think I could have a concrete floor with no heating in it.

Yes I will try and get that info structuralBIMGuy.

I've just been reading Policrete's website (the mob I was going to get to polish them) and they have made me rethink the concrete floors anyway - and I quote "concrete flooring with volume builders is very difficult" and because of cheap concrete (even if it is 32mpa), cheap tradesmen and overwatering the concrete the final outcome usually ends up with a poor quality slab.

Maybe I need to keep the polished concrete floors for a time when I can afford to have a totally custom built home with a private builder.

We were debating between timber and polished concrete for the kitchen / living room.

Like you hydronic slab heating was a prerequisite for us as we live in fairly cold area. Not a problem if you live north.

In the end we got hydronic slab heating polished concrete and radiators for other rooms.

It cost us about $4k extra for 32mpa white concrete for 70sqm. Most of the extra cost was due to the aggregate and colour rather than mpa. Non polished area is std 25mpa concrete.

Owner building so no builder's margin.

You can’t do hydronic slab heating with timber floorboards can you? Just asking out of interest and curiosity.

Anyway I can’t remember who Steph, but I do remember one Arden build doing polished concrete floors, from memory it was after handover. You could try key word searching this forum to find the person? Also ask in Arden fb group.

[quote defaultattr=""] "concrete flooring with volume builders is very difficult" and because of cheap concrete (even if it is 32mpa), cheap tradesmen and overwatering the concrete the final outcome usually ends up with a poor quality slab.
[/quote]
I wouldn't necessarily believe what concretors tell you either without the engineering facts...
Increase water content
1. Gives a higher concrete slump suitable to pumping
2. Higher Water Content weakens the concrete strength
3. Higher Water content increases shrinkage cracks
For what they charge for grinding the finish is usually below average.hth

You could, some engineered floorboards won't be damaged (shrink) from hydronic heating.

However timber is a good insulator which means it your hydronic heating system will work harder to achieve the same temp as polished concrete.

Who are they?

I've just reread my contract. In addition to the 32mpa concrete, the engineer has also said that we will need an extra 15mm added to the slab thickness with an additional layer of upgraded SL92 mesh. In addition to this we have to have screw piles as well.... this slab ain't going nowhere.
So screw piles, 32mpa concrete (if we go ahead with concrete flooring, back to normal strength if we don't polish) additional 15mm to the standard height of the slab (is that roughly 100mm? so in total it will be 115mm?), and 2 layers of upgraded mesh. Is the mesh stacked on top of one another and then they pump the slab on? Or do they lay one layer of mesh, pump a layer of concrete, then lay the second mesh and pump the rest of the concrete?

Sorry - I have no idea when it comes to building a new house - all new to me!

Steph73
I have no reason to question the engineers recommendations
but that trust doesn't extend to the builder or trades automatically without Data, Calculations & Proofs
The addition of extra shrink/crack control steel is recommended in the codes and I would do it normally on my projects for tiled areas as standard. The material cost for the extra steel $12/m2 + concrete $4m2 =$16m2 x 50m2 (H,F,M&K)= $800 + Extras, lets say $1000? + grinding 2 Days Labour + Builder Margin= $9000?
You will need to scrutinise the costs further to satisfy yourself.hth

How thick was your slab? Do you love the heating?
Arden have also mentioned that as they are requiring the slab be an additional 15mm thicker than the norm that the pipe heating may not be as efficient as it should be as it may sit too low in the slab, and to which I can see their point (even tho previously they were concerned that the grinding would damage the pipes which would assume the pipes are sitting to close to the top). Anyway - my take is that a little heating would be better than none?
Another concern I've just discovered is how the pipes are installed - I'm worried that the amount of care, co-operation and communication required between the hydronic installer and the builder is imperative to the correct placement of the pipes with walls, kitchen cupboards etc needing to be sketched out on the slab so that the pipes are not laid in those areas. I'm not too concerned about the hydronic guy but I am worried about the Arden builders not getting this correct. I am also worried about when the frame goes up that some tradie might cut saw or bolt through to the pipes. Do you think my concerns are warranted? Especially with the latter? I'm just about to succumb to the fact that I can't have these concrete floors its just too fraught with risk of something going wrong

Difficult to tell the exact thickness but looks closer to 120mm than 100mm.

I haven't finished building yet so can tell you if I love it or not, but I hope so.

Hydronic guy told me having the pipes too close to the top of the slab is no good as it won't heat the slab properly. Makes sense.

I marked out the walls, island bench etc myself. They recommend keeping the pipes 200mm from the walls.

As long as walls are marked correctly I don't think there will be a problem.

However all this concern may be in vain if they won't let you install hydronic.

I've chickened out. Too many risks of the hydronic pipes being damaged by either the concreters or the tradies or both - which would mean $8500 down the drain, plus an unwarrantable floor.
Am seriously considering having the polished concrete with no heating in slab and relying on the ducted heating to keep everything warm. Decisions decisions ..... going to make my mind up over the weekend. Thanks for all your advice

Steph 73
There is lot more to polished concrete than just polishing a slab, slab thickness, cover, strength of concrete, and reinforcing. The first thing is to control concrete shrinkage cracking, you don't want large cracks visible and I have seen many. That requires meticulous design and placement of reinforcing steel. The other issues are concrete vibration, aggregate seeding and curing as well as controlling quality of concrete batching. If you just polish up normal slab you will find it patchy between areas of aggregate and areas of fines and once you put sealer on top it may be patchy between areas that have been vibrated well and the areas that have not. A lot of things can go wrong and do.
Unless you have a well experienced builder in polished concrete you will more than likely be disappointed.

LOL, If they order pea soup concrete it will be patchy and weak
Get your engineer to inspect,specify slump, strength and take samples

Yeah, there's that too - being disappointed. Although I wasn't going for the pretty, precise coloured concrete and aggregate seeding look. I actually love the warehouse what you get, is what you get look - I'm more into that rustic look. Not keen on the concrete shrinkage cracking tho.