apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just primed, stained and sealed a concrete floor in one room of my apartment and it came out great - although maybe not as shiny as the pics posted here - I used "wet look" concrete sealer. It was about $60 in supplies from home depot and took me a weekend to do. My concrete was in good shape to start with, it had previously been covered with carpet.

While I like the look of the polished concrete in certain spaces, that last shot of the bathroom looks like a set from the horror movie "Saw." Not exactly what I'd call "cozy".

I have a polished concrete floor in my kitchen and bath and while it looks cool, I totally regret it. For one thing, it is very uncomfortable to stand on for long periods of time, and since it is hard to cook without standing, inevitably my legs start to hurt whenever I'm cooking. (Which led me to believe this is one of those New York things for People Who Do Not Cook.) Also, once the cat knocked a bottle of olive oil onto the floor and it stained the finish. When I called the guy who installed it he said "oh yeah, oil is one of the worst things to get on concrete." Well, it's a kitchen! Oil on the floor is bound to happen sooner or later, cat or no. (Again, unless you are a Person Who Does Not Cook.) So now it's uncomfortable, not so pretty anymore, and expensive.

Christy, I'd been thinking of putting in a concrete floor when I redid my kitchen, but decided against it for the very reasons you mentioned. One thing I'd thought about, though, was getting some roll-up industrial matting cut to the length of the galley for high-impact use - say, a cocktail party or dinner party, rather than just unwrapping and plating a Chinese food delivery...

sounds like Christy should have done some research.
i thought everyone knows that you don't want an ultra hard surface in a kitchen.

We have concrete floors throughout our loft -- everywhere except the bathroom, which is tile -- and we love them. Especially because our puppy is only 98% housetrained and still has occasional accidents, which are ever so easy to clean up. In the future, we may put down wood floors, but for the time being, the concrete is great for us. It does stain and develop spots and cracks, but in our industrial loft, we consider it part of the charm. We've had no trouble with cooking or party spills yet, though the stains probably wouldn't bother us anyway.

I have been fantasizing lately about concrete floors, but you all just reminded me of my first home in college, in a giant cooperative house with concrete floors and I was describing to my mom about how hard it was to hop out of bed and land on my slippers every morning (hop, because my bed was on top of my dressers, another thing I don't miss much) so as not to encounter the cold floors. My parents, in their infinite wisdom went out that weekend and bought me a giant white (okay, not that much wisdom) carpet remnant. And a carpet pad.

Note to self: concrete flooring is cold and hard.

I considered polishing the concrete floors in my next apartment, which is in a reinforced-concrete mid-century high-rise in NY. My main reason for deciding against it is that noise transmission through concrete is nearly 100%. That makes it okay for businesses, but not so good if people live downstairs.

But really, it's best where it's being done most: mid-century ranch houses in warm Western states. Much better than asbestos tiles or hideous wall-to-wall carpet.

We have concrete floors and countertops and I've spilled everything you can imagine on them. From my experience, the brand of sealer you use makes a HUGE difference. Our countertop sealer is some sort of magic stuff because nothing seems to stain it. That sealer's very glossy and I had to take steel wool to it to get a less shiny finish.

The floors are not sealed but I think they get better looking with every stain and imperfection. Although I can totally understand that not everyone has the same aesthetic and not every decor style could handle the mottled look.

Concrete isn't much different than tile or stone floors...except there aren't any grout lines to deal with.

If you'd like some cushion, what about a Chilewich floormat to stand on? They wipe up easily, so they should work fine in the kitchen. They have a polyurethane backing, which should provide some cushion.

I was planning to add (before I got carried away remembering my cold, cold concrete floors in college) that I have wood floors (plywood, painted, hence my frequent fantasies about almost any other kind of flooring) and I find them hard for long spells of dishwashing. I have a small (washable) rug in the kitchen to stand on, it is a thick rag rug (actually, I have two, so they can be washed) and it makes a world of difference.

Also worth noting: the thing I really hated about my cold concrete floors was the cold. I've been in homes recently with in-floor radiant heat and that is a whole different ball game. Warm floors aren't cold.

Free consulting, especially for floors like these, don't guess, talk to the people that do military hangers,department stores and your grandmothers garage. Getting the right product is only half of the problem, the correct application is as important. 877-738-7325
www.vseal.com

Concrete could work. Don't give up. Radiant floor heating and a stain that will hide... well... stains. It's a great look and terribly durable.

We just bought a house with stained concrete throughout the main level. We put area rugs down with the foam rubber pads that we used on our hardwood floors and they seem to have stuck to the concrete in spots and left marks/spots of rubber on the concrete. I've been advised that we may have to strip the floors and re-apply sealant and wax. Any ideas on how to deal with this without all that expense and inconvenience? Also, what kind of pad should we use under our area rugs?

I love concrete! ... It's unfortunate but there aren't many that know how to do it right for residential application. When combined with in floor heating, I would say I prefer concrete over any stone floor. Professional commerical sealers shouldn't let anything get through with staining. And as for people thinking it's cold, you can tint the concrete so that it is lighter in colour or consider concrete tiles which are now available like eco-cem from coverings http://www.coveringsetc.com/ ... getting excited to0 finally move to nyc, just 19 days left till I relocate to NYC and hopefully encourage more concrete flooring applications.

hey folks, couple of short notes: if you are honing the floor, you are going to expose the aggreate, totally different look than diamond finished concrete. if you seal the concrete countertops, make sure you use a FDA approved sealer, some of these sealer used on floors are, well, for lack of a better term, toxic and should not be around food. period. that said, the old 5 second rule for dropped food on the floor....

good point stewart! - went through this experience with a client, as soon as you grind the floor, you may achieve a smooth finish but will have a very textured appearance ... it's a challenge to try to achieve both after the floor has aleady been poured in place. Patience is important when considering a concrete floor, the beauty of the floor is the natural imperfections ... a natural character concrete. still worth it ...

Hi,
I'm thinking of putting a concrete floor with underfloor heating into a newly converted loft apartment and was just wondering what people would recommend... Am slightly worried about the comment on how hard it can be to stand on it for long periods of time whilst cooking but surely this is pretty much the same as tiles? Really like the idea of how easy it would be to clean and think it just looks far more interesting than tiles etc. So basically am wondering what's the best approach..

I have done acid staining on the floor and have now put a water base sealer from Pioneer Eclipse on it.. it is pretty dull and shows the mop marks..Has anyone used this product along with the TOPCOAT by Eclipse and if so.. how long is the cure time.
thank you

Some people are a little ignorant here. First to the guy that said concrete flooring transfers 100% of the sound is completely false. First off any concrete floor above ground such as in an apartment building, have sound dampening mats underneath them. This goes for any type of flooring material. To everyone that says they dont like it because its cold and too hard to stand on, have you ever stood on tile, natural stone..etc that is used EVERYWHERE?? Whats the difference?
Sealed concrete is not "polished concrete" Polished concrete is achieved by mechanicaly grinding and polishing the concrete with diamond tooling to a mirrored finish. Sealed concrete is just that...sealed concrete, not polished. Polished concrete (besides granite and maybe terrazzo) is one of the most durable and longest lasting flooring materials available...this also is determined on how skilled the installer is.