Bare concrete floors inside the house

   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #1  

cstocks

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Well, maybe not exactly bare but pretty close to it.

My wife and I just watched a show on HGTV where the folks were building a new house and did not put flooring over the bare concrete in one room. The contractor made a few cuts lengthwise and widthwise with a circular saw to make the floor simulate the look of stone. Then, after vacuuming and cleaning the floor thoroughly, he stained it and sealed it. The finished product looked pretty good, and according to the narrator the floor is energy efficient.

I can see where a few bucks might be saved by doing this instead of putting down flooring or carpet but I have a hard time seeing how it would be energy efficient. It seems to me that it would be cold all the time. That might be fine in the summer but not so good in the winter. I would also think it would be hard on the feet and legs. Flooring like linoleum, hardwood/Pergo and carpet do add at least a little more cushion than bare concrete.

Has anyone done this in their house or seen it done in anyone else's house? Is it energy efficient? Would it be as efficient as ceramic tile or is ceramic tile even energy efficient? What do you think of this concept?
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #2  
cstocks,

Yep, I have seen it done and I want it done in my house.

I have seen a couple of houses, one of which was a very
high end house that had the colored concrete. There are
a couple of ways to do it that I know. One is staining as
you mentioned and the other is to put color pigment into/onto
the concrete. Some people just throw the pigment on the
concrete after it has been poured and worked the color into
the concrete. What I like is to have the pigment worked into
the entire concrete mix. This way the color is all through the
concrete instead of the top layer.

I have seen red, yes red and a green. We have seen some
samples that where tannish/brown that we liked. A good
color to hide the clay on our land. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I supposed the concrete floor could be hard on ones legs if
you had to stand on the floor all day but I prefer to sit on my
couch when I'm at home. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif The concrete floors can
be very energy efficient if the house takes advantage of a
passive solar design. The sun can warm up the concrete
for free. A four inch pad is what is recommended. Radient
flooring can also be installed into the concrete to provide
heat at your feet. The heat can also be sun powered as well.

Putting down tile on the concrete is just fine from an energy
efficient perspective. What you do not want is wood, carpet, etc. This assumes a passive solar design. Radient flooring
is supposed to work with wood but I don't think its optimum.

Later,
Dan McCarty
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #3  
I didn't see that show, Chris ... but I'm sure my wife probably taped it (she goes through 2 tapes a day ... getting a bit much!) ...
Anyway, I guess it would really depend on WHERE the house is and what's heating the floor. As Dan noted, it can be used as "thermal mass" if it gets the right exposure and the house is somewhere where the frost line isn't at minus 6 feet /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif.
Before moving to Michigan, I've never had a house that was without a basement and mostly they were all bare concrete (the basement floors, that is). But since they were below the frost line, they were ok to walk on .... not warm, mind you, but not freezing either. Slippers work fine/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. Never had a problem with cold floors, they were cool but that was great, at least there was somewhere in the house that was a bit cooler.
Ceramic Tile? Would strike me that it would depend on whether the ceramic tile were laid on the aforementioned concrete /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif or on a wood subfloor. But, either way, the ceramic tile itself isn't thick enough to be an effective thermal mass ... so i'd vote for "colder"

pete
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #4  
We used concrete flooring in our office...mainly for the visual effect. Stained concrete floors, and even concrete kitchen counters are becoming trendy these days...especially in higher end homes and offices. Not only does it look cool, but it is very durable. Wear and tear and imperfections only add to the visual appeal. It's not for everybody though. As for being more energy efficient, I can't see how; unless as previously mentioned, it absorbs radiant heat from the sun. I don't think concrete has a very high r-value?
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #5  
My wife and I built our house in 2000, and had ceramic tile laid throughout the whole house. We love it. It is a tad rough on brooms, but it is tough. ( Keep in mind that with a tile floor, everything you drop breaks... ) We chose a sealed non-skid surface that provides traction, but won't absorb liquids ( except the grout.. for which we had to apply grout sealer to.

As said, we love ours and would change it if we could. A few through rugs in strategic places take care of all the 'problem' spots.

Soundguy
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #6  
I have these type floors throughout the entire house. After the concrete was allowed to "cure" for a couple of weeks, the contractor cut grooves on 24" centers at a diagonal to the walls (diamond pattern). He then used a stain that we chose called faded terra cotta. Then a couple of coats of a sealer. Once dried, put the wall plates on the floor and proceeded with the construction.
After construction, another coat of sealer after a good cleaning. The floor temperature is not an issue where I live, except in the summer and then it is cooler. We use throw rugs on it as we would if it were tile. Works great from a cleaning standpoint and the appearance is a kind of "old floor" look. Interesting thing is because the groves were cut on the entire floor before walls were put up, the apprarance of tile is perfect and you can see the same "line" from room to room. Attached is a picture after the stain and sealer have been applied and the walls are going up.
Billy
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #7  
Sorry - here is the attachment
 

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   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #8  
Nice floors. Those red studs, isn't that a termite treatment? If so, how come the bottom plates are untreated pine?
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #9  
Why are the wall studs red?

Or I could have been a smart alec and said "Oh, I see you used redwood for the wall studs." /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
 
   / Bare concrete floors inside the house #10  
I thought about that when I was raising kids. Bare concrete, floor drains and a centralized high pressure pump with remotes in each room. You could have a high pressure hose and wand and just go from room to room. I think women would be hard to sell on the concept, though. Most of them don't have a practical bone in their bodies! ;)
 
 
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