Polished Concrete Floor - New Construction

[unheard]

I'm in the process of gearing up for a new house construction project.

I'm interested in some feedback from users who've installed such a floor option in their own house.

I've seen quite a few examples of polished concrete in commercial types of buildings but never in residential houses.

Is this option even available for a private house build in Thailand?

Thank you.

[EVENKEEL]

Has to be possible. I tried to have a new kitchen counter done with the polished look. It started out like they understood but didn't turn out right. 

[sometimewoodworker]

16 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Has to be possible. I tried to have a new kitchen counter done with the polished look. It started out like they understood but didn't turn out right. 

As you say it absolutely is possible, however it’s virtually impossible to find someone competent to do it

[EVENKEEL]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

As you say it absolutely is possible, however it’s virtually impossible to find someone competent to do it

I've seen restaurants with it and my gym has walls like this, ability to communicate was my problem.

[sirineou]

Not a good idea IMO, 

First it is the issue of having it done right, then you will have the issue of every crack that happens on the floor being visible, then if you ever decide to sell the house it will reduce  your pool of available buyers to those who would find such thing attractive, 

[Farma]

We have smooth polish like concrete floors in our attached double garage. There didn't appear to be much difference to the normal smoothing process of concrete.

 

I can only advise being very careful if near entrances. The slightest moisture on your feet and its like skating on ice. I've now laid 3M anti slip tape near the entrance.

[JackRussell]

We got both polished and unpolished concrete in our house in BKK. It looks good and is virtually maintenance free. Yes, you can see minor cracks and yes it can be a bit slippery. Not a problem for humans as long as the floor is a bit wet but our dogs had to learn to manage the unpolished floor.

[Robin]

There could be a good reason why most floors are tiled;  Thais understand how to do this.  (well sort of;  make sure you use non-slip flooring tiles, not the cheaper shiny wall tiles.)

[HeijoshinCool]

On 10/8/2021 at 4:10 PM, sirineou said:

Not a good idea IMO, 

First it is the issue of having it done right, then you will have the issue of every crack that happens on the floor being visible, then if you ever decide to sell the house it will reduce  your pool of available buyers to those who would find such thing attractive, 

.

Respectfully disagree.....

 

The cracks are what lend character, and the nice thing about concrete is if the buyer does not like it, it can easily be tiled over.

 

I do agree with the difficulty of finding competent workers. That would require investigation and verification. The OP needs to find a small-scale completed project that looks great after a period of time, and contact the contractor.

[Saanim]

Whether is it meant something like I have on my wall? This was made by a good village worker (chaang pun).

[unheard]

On 10/18/2021 at 10:42 PM, Saanim said:

Whether is it meant something like I have on my wall? This was made by a good village worker (chaang pun).

The wall finish displayed in the picture is actually quite popular around here but no, it's not polished concrete.

[unheard]

On 10/8/2021 at 4:10 PM, sirineou said:

Not a good idea IMO, 

First it is the issue of having it done right, then you will have the issue of every crack that happens on the floor being visible

I've discussed the polished concrete floor option with my builder.

His response was that even though they won't have a problem by going with that option, it would add a significant extra cost over the tiled floor and they'll drop any warranty that is normally associated with the finish of the floor (cracks, surface quality etc).

I think the surface cracks is a real problem here.

Small cracks might indeed offer some special character to the visual appeal but my concern would be a possibility of some huge single crack, going all the way across a room.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 minute ago, unheard said:

 

I think the surface cracks is a real problem here.

Small cracks might indeed offer some special character to the visual appeal but my concern would be a possibility of some huge single crack, going all the way across a room.

All concrete will crack, if properly poured all at 1 time, with a rebar grid in the concrete you will NOT get a single large crack. If improperly poured with part being added after the first section has started going off, you can virtually guarantee a crack along the join.

[bbko]

I found this Thai concrete company when I was thinking of staining a raw slab next to my patio. They have a good deal of info on polishing concrete floors (in Thai).

https://www.stamped-tools.com/

 

And they have a Youtube channel to show their products;

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUMNFGTWVXk7C7OtvXTOP-A

 

[HashBrownHarry]

On 10/18/2021 at 10:42 PM, Saanim said:

Whether is it meant something like I have on my wall? This was made by a good village worker (chaang pun).

very nice

[recom273]

On 11/3/2021 at 10:57 AM, unheard said:

I've discussed the polished concrete floor option with my builder.

His response was that even though they won't have a problem by going with that option, it would add a significant extra cost over the tiled floor and they'll drop any warranty that is normally associated with the finish of the floor (cracks, surface quality etc).

I think the surface cracks is a real problem here.

Small cracks might indeed offer some special character to the visual appeal but my concern would be a possibility of some huge single crack, going all the way across a room.

I will need to speak to my builder in relation to price, we are still in the planning and negotiating stage - We looked at decent concrete effect tiles at around 300THB/m with additonal cost of laying them. I have heard from others it was considerably cheaper.