Bare concrete floors inside the house

[StoneHeartFarm]

As the others have explained the energy efficiency of concrete floors depends on where you live. Sitting here a few miles West of Wingnut, my experience has been that only the low end houses have all concrete floors, since a full slab pour is cheaper than either a basement or traditional crawl space, many people have opted for this flooring system in their cabins. The problem comes when winter sets in. Concrete is not an insulator but a conductor of heat. It will provide thermal mass, only if kept separate from anything outside. A slab will collect heat from the sun and radiate (conduct) it back into the air. Unfortunately, if it is not well insulated around the outside edges and between the slab and soil, it will conduct heat to those places too. I've spent the winter in offices and homes with slab floors. It can get pretty tough in some of the older places that don't have enough insulation.

On the up side, I've never been there, but my guess would be that a slab floor would be the best way to go in Arizona, and much of the Southern US.

SHF

PS. Bill W-- that is a beautiful floor! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[wasabi]

We have concrete floor in our entry way. During construction, the floor was scored and "seeded" with rock salt....the result being a smooth surface, but with occasional bubbles and pits. My wife is a high end designer who works with such decisions daily. Her opinion, which I share, is they are great for highlights, but not a good way to go for vast expanses.....why?....too bloody hard on the feet and legs!!

We are going to use a lot of concrete in our mountain home for thermal mass, along with hydronic heating zones.....but will incorporate embedded stringers in the concrete to allow us to put down wood flooring, with characteristic warm look and more comfortable "give".

 

[cstocks]

Wow! Great idea, Bill, about cutting the grooves before starting on the walls. Looks good! Wait'll my wife see this picture! Did you do your floors this way for aesthetic or functional reasons or did you do it to save money? Did you save any $$$ by doing your floors this way?

Too all:
I was not aware this concept in flooring was so popular. I only made this post at my wife's request. Now it looks like something I will be checking into with all seriousness. Anybody have any negative stories or comments to make on this subject? I want to hear the bad along with the good if it is out there...

 

[yooperdave]

There is much more than just colors and patterns. You can also get textures such as old wood planking, bricks, stones, you name it.

This also works well for outside sidewalks and driveways.

Combine a texture with a color and you have something very special. As you might guess, there is a premium for adding textures.

My $.02 worth

Yooper Dave

 

[TxBilly]

Bill
The studs are pre-cut to length and are color-coded to tell the framer at a glance that they are studs. Depends on the supplier of the studs as to the color.

 

[TxBilly]

<font color=blue>Did you do your floors this way for aesthetic or functional reasons or did you do it to save money? Did you save any $$$ by doing your floors this way?</font color=blue>

Yes to all. It of course does cost more than concrete, but the speed at which it can be done and the material cost saves quite a bit over a ceramic tile. My builder had done this at several other homes and when the CFO saw it, that was it. The common method in this area of the country is a slab foundation, so the concrete is already there.

 

[Boone]

I have been doing research for this type of floor. To work best in cold climates the foundation needs to be insulated with 2 inches of DOW blueboard. Under the slab needs to be covered in plastic and insulated with 2 inches of DOW blueboard. The slab needs to be on well drained soil. I intend to use radiant in floor heating. Once the slab is heated it should take a long time to cool down as it releases the heat into the room.

 

[JIMCT]

Here in CT a number of companies have started up in the last 10 years doing colored/textured concrete outdoors. This works very well in wet areas such as swimming pools and has advantages over tile and pavers (cheaper, not as slippery, less likely to crack and loosen in winter).

I see no reason why this product could not be installed indoors, keeping in mind the previous comments about cold and heat conductivity.

 

[cstocks]

<font color=blue>What I like is to have the pigment worked into
the entire concrete mix.</font color=blue>

Dan,

This is an interesting idea. How would this be done? Would the pigment be worked in as the concrete was being poured?

 

[chim]

We have done projects requiring red concrete for pouring protective envelopes around underground electrical conduits. Some specs allow it to be sprinkled on top of the pour, and some require it to be mixed in. For that, we had them add the color at the batch plant as the trucks were loaded..................chim