Reasons Why You Should Choose Concrete Floors

When it comes to flooring your homes and offices, one of the best flooring decisions you can make is to “concrete” them. Concrete floors are made by pouring the slab surface directly onto gravel or dirt bed.

With solid flooring, there is a variety of finishing options available for you. You could choose to polish your floor smooth and have it shiny, glossy, or mirror-like. You can have it textured to provide traction and more friction.

Also, if you’re a fan of nature and you want your floor with a natural look and feel, you could have them painted or stained to reflect just that. Whatever finishing options you choose, having solid floors under your feet is always a good idea.

Concrete can also offer some of the most elegant, stylish, and colorful floors you have ever seen. If you’re wondering why you should make your floors concrete over other flooring options, here are reasons to get you rolling;

living room with concrete flooring

3 reasons why you should go for concrete floors

Ease of maintenance

The materials used in solid floors make them easy to maintain. One main component is cement. The cement paste binds particles together to form a tough and stiff surface, making the floor solid and easy to maintain. Unlike carpets that hold on to dirt and stains, solid floors shrug off most dirt, stains, spills, and grit.

With just a little sweeping and damp mopping, you can very quickly rejuvenate their colorful and elegant nature and even keep them looking new again. If it’s a polished concrete floor, its glossy and aesthetic properties can make you feel like you’ve never used it, even when it’s already a few years old in your home. For solid floors in interior residences, they could go more than ten years looking elegant without needing a reseal.

If your floor begins to settle or crack because it’s getting old, you could patch, grind, and refinish the firm floor to rejuvenate its elegant looks.

High durability of concrete floors

If you’re a pet lover, having a rigid floor can save you the stress and headache of scratches or chips on the floor. Pets (especially cats) love to scratch. But with a rigid floor, you should not be worried. Also, damages from heavy foot traffic and pressure from falls (of heavy objects) will have little or no impact on your floor.

Solid floors can take all you throw at them and still maintain their look and feel for years. This floor type is perfect for industrial environments and commercial establishments or places of high traffic.

Concrete materials are highly resilient, secure, and can withstand heavy industrial machines, high temperatures, or even the risk of scratches and chips on its surface from pointed heels.

Endless design options

Unlike the past, modern floor designs and finishing techniques have transcended rigid floors from their old bland looks to more luxurious and eye-pleasing aesthetics. Gone are the days when firm floors are limited to the sidewalks and parks.

They’re now in homes and offices, providing a robust, elegant, and modern look with concrete floor polish. You could finish them with colors, stains, aggregates, textures or even make them polished and glossy – whatever works for you.

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Design options for floor finishing

If you’d love to have your floor colored or texturized to match the tone and feel of your interior, there are various techniques available to help you achieve that.

  • Integral color: this is typically a color pigment added to your cement during the mixing process before installation. Adding the during this stage helps to achieve a uniform coloring throughout the entire thickness of your cemented floor. The pigments are available in dry and liquid form.
  • Stains: help to produce a translucent finish style with a unique visual appearance, just for you! You could use either an acid-based stain or a water-based cement stain. They both work just fine.
  • Dyes: concrete dyes are translucent color solutions that penetrate the mixture but do not react with it. They lend more vibrant shades.

 The main difference between a strain and dye is that while a stain reacts with a concrete floor to produce results, a dye will only permeate the material and not react.

concrete floor living room
  • Colored hardeners: These are added to fresh concrete to provide surface-level color. Color hardeners are specialized colored overlay mix that consists of silica, cement, and pigment. The color hardener (a powdered substance) is sprinkled onto the surface of the concrete and given time to absorb moisture. One additional benefit of color hardeners is that It makes the slab surface denser, thereby strengthening it in the process.
  • Paints: This can help you mask surface discoloration. If your rigid floor is getting older, paints can also mask signs of wear and tear in it. They equally extend the life of your floor by preventing further damages. Paints make it easier to clean and maintain solid floors, reducing maintenance stress and cost.
  • Texturized or stamped: While the cement floor is wet, it can be brushed, stamped, or even embedded with specific glass beads to give a three-dimensional texture.
  • Geometric divisions: This works with high-end rigid floors. They could be laid out with geometric patterns that have each segment colored or texturized uniquely for artistic effect.

Concrete floor compatibility  with Heated floors

If you have new construction or your cement is poured over an existing slab, you might want to add radiant heat to it. This is done via electrical cables or hot water tubes embedded in the concrete to provide your home with a warm feel. Solid floors work perfectly well with radiant floor heating systems owing to their intense thermal conducting properties.

Endnote

Concrete floors provide stylish and aesthetic options and yet are economical. The low-maintenance properties make it highly economical in the long run. Unlike most available alternatives, you only need to keep it cleaned from time to time. If you’d love to take your maintenance skills to the next level, try waxing your floor every three to nine months. Your floor can go on to serve you for decades without needing to do any significant repairs.

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