Paint concrete floor or not?

andygb

lostinrates wrote: »

Ok, i have checked with dh. We are restricted to floor covering because of the listing of out building, so long term it has to be stone out there (i thought so but was not sure) and in the study it can be stone or wood. (which is a cheek because it was lino when we bought it..). Hard floors suit us with the dogs, and its why we have to save up again so we can get the right stone and wood.

I suppose that stone would be a bit cold in the living areas, but OK in the kitchen. Can you put down underfloor heating, because then you could use one floor surface throughout.

lostinrates

andygb wrote: »

I suppose that stone would be a bit cold in the living areas, but OK in the kitchen. Can you put down underfloor heating, because then you could use one floor surface throughout.

No. We originally wanted underfloor heating and spec'd for it, but the other indiosyncracities of the house make it not practically viable there. (very high ceilings, open fireplaces etc etc). We will wear slippers in winter and have floor rugs. Its ok. Its an old house, so this sort of thing is to be expected.

Originally we were gutted that putting in the underfloor heating was deemed a waste of moneyheee, it was the thing i really wanted most, as we had to lift the dloors up etc anyway, but there was no point putting in somethiong which would be ineffective, and i am happy now, we wanted an old house, we are getting an old house. Its actually amazing how much warmer it already is with the insulation put in on the inside in those rooms, even though no windows are on its the warmest part of the house!

I think windows go in next week.:j

born_blonde

If you seal it and then put some vinyl on top that should be an easy to maintain low cost solution that can be removed easily when you are ready. I recently purchased 18 sq m of vinyl for £160. It's cushion floor so warm as well.

Badrick

I'd be inclined to seal with pva to keep the dust down as others have suggested, because if you should decide to tile at a later date, it won't need scarifying to the same extent.

sonastin

Just make sure that the concrete is well and truly cured before you seal it. Although it "sets" pretty quick, it can take a surprisingly long time for it to cure completely. I'm not entirely sure of the consequences but OH couldn't seal his garage floor for a couple of months after it went down. With the weather we've had over the "summer", it might take longer than expected to be ready for sealing.

thriftwizard

I also live in an old house, not listed but "of special architectural interest" - i.e the planners will slap a listing on it if we attempt to do anything they disapprove of! We live with an assortment of slate & tiled floors where there weren't floor boards (which are now covered with nice easy-to-clean laminate) and have had to resort to painting some areas of concrete in an attempt to match the colours of the quarry tiles in that area. But the concrete had been down for a couple of years when we moved in, so that's not really much help to you! Doesn't look too bad, though.

When you do come to buy flooring, we used Wickes riven slate tiles, which worked out quite cheap, look very authentic and hide the dirt beautifully :-) with a houseful of damp, sweaty, muddy young people & pets. Never got round to grinding them down to a smooth & shiny surface (floors, not kids) which you can do with a hired machine over the course of a weekend, but it's still an option 12 years later if we ever want the kitchen to look posh.

floss2

OP, I would seal at least, as any marks that appear on unsealed concrete will not come off...paint it if you really can't stand the thought of sealed concrete until you are in a position to do what needs to be done to it.

V.Lucky

We are currently in the same situation as you, we have bare concrete floors. However, we have underfloor heating. Does anyone know if you can do the PVA trick with underfloor heating?

Thanks.

john257

Painting concrete can be a little daunting. Especially because most of us have never painted a floor before. I was concerned about durability. Floor painting is not suitable in durability and beauty of home.Old people don't like it very much.

zcrat41

Concrete floors often need 3 - 4 months of curing before any treatment can be applied.

We've just used the Coovar system - google it, it has great product specs and guides and a useful helpline that will talk you through what to do. Will properly seal and clean your concrete and you could easily live with it for a while till you save up for beautiful new lovely flagstones (v jealous of this!). We've used coovar in a number of properties and it the paint has lasted for 8+ yrs so far with no maintenance needed.