Concrete Wall Finish in Bathrooms

[BoganInParasite]

Our home is just over five years old now and we are looking to update the look and feel of several areas. The dry area walls in our bathrooms are a smooth decorative concrete and we'd like to make them darker with a waxy/watery finish look while still being able to see the surface texture of the current concrete. While we don't have a need for it, anything that also provides a waterproof surface would be welcome. We've not been able to find any information for this type of finish on wall concrete online. Did try an iLoft Liquid Coating designed for walls but that has proved to be completely transparent. Nice smooth finish to the touch but nothing else. Wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge of a product they know is available in Thailand that may be close to what we are after. Thanks in advance.

[GammaGlobulin]

I really like this type of surface for floors.

Highly polished concrete can wear well, and looks great, especially with wood furniture....I think.

And, it seems quite utilitarian and low-maintenance for hot-humid climates where rugs and carpeting are less practical.

 

As to how the concrete is polished, I think you will need a concrete polishing machine.

But, of course, not every grated of concrete can be polished, according to my understanding.

 

 

https://www.geminifloors.com/polished-concrete-floors/

 

Walls or floors, same diff, and it is the beauty of the surface that I find attractive.

 

 

https://unugtp.is/how-to-polish-concrete-walls

 

 

Great look!

 

Especially for this climate.

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

If you are talking about using a heavy concrete polisher, which is what I would do, then here is a nice vid from Pennsylvania...

 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

Not sure the first picture of the OP is his actual bathroom, if it is, do something about those tiles.... for the love of god. At least put something original in terms of tiles there, while on it, put a rain shower in it as well

Edited April 16 by ChaiyaTH

[recom273]

 

@GammaGlobulin

 

I think polished concrete looks great - the wife doesn't.

 

My original idea was to have a polished concrete floor, in our new build, I contacted a member here who had got some local village builders to do his, and it looked great.

 

We looked around for quotes, the place we are building is 200m sq, we have about 80m sq of open plan and we had issues - the guys who can do a perfect job tend to work in commercial, and they can get easy money doing large areas such as DIY superstores and garages. They have the space to use those propellor floats, and cover large areas = more money/day. A couple of renderers told us they could do it, but tilers who could also do it (by hand) warned about the cost of the epoxy. I'm told that a really bad polish looks really bad .. the epoxy is expensive, liable to hairline cracks, wear with office chairs and needs yearly care. In end we found a nice cheap porcelain tile that has a concrete look to it and im really happy, we are at 50% completion. We have pretty pricey cotton tiles in the bathroom, the same color, I think that if I were using cotton throughout then I might look to microcrete or something similar, but the house tiles were peanuts. I am also told that areas of concrete aren't aesthetically pleasing, as they have no breaks for the eye. I would beg to differ.

 

I still have the dream. We still have a garage / workshop / store room to complete, 65m sq and had quotes of 20K THB labour plus materials, in comparison my tiler gave me a quote for 5K labour + materials - the cement would be roughly the same, but added the price epoxy needs to go on top. I'm told that epoxy goes cloudy in strong sunlight so you need to use some kind of other paint (we would use grey). 

 

Im always interested to hear others experience - I can't work it out because when you visit old village houses they all have floated concrete floors or painted with some kind of red rust paint, it should be cheap as chips and everyone should be able to do it.

[freeworld]

The product on your walls could be a specific loft type of decorative coating to provide those sorts of loft style concrete look finishings which consists of synthetic resins, mineral filler and admixtures.

• Sika Lanko (loft) https://tha.sika.com/en/lanko/loft-cement/lanko-loft.html
• TOA Loft https://www.toagroup.com/th/products/special-paint
• Beger shield Loft https://www.beger.co.th/en/product?category=5
• Nippon Paints https://www.nipponpaintdecor.com/products/?scroll=true&search=loft

 

The iloft waxy coating is a sort of clear glossy protective coating, non-solvent, water repellent and to prevent stains

which is applied over these types of decorative coatings, all the paint manufacturers have it for their products.

 

I don't know of any other method how to make that decorative coating darker.

 

One possibility is you could try a small sample with a clear water based epoxy coating.

 

An alternative is to redo the wall coating with a darker decorative concrete finish.

 

 

[ujayujay]

Use Ceramic Tiles.......

[john donson]

if you go dark, you will not be able to spot the swarm of mozzies hiding

[Dante99]

On 4/16/2024 at 8:26 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

If you are talking about using a heavy concrete polisher, which is what I would do

on walls?  The OP wants to do walls.

[GammaGlobulin]

2 hours ago, Dante99 said:

on walls?  The OP wants to do walls.

 

I understand.

However, the Original Poster also stated that he loves polished concrete floors, and may install and polish concrete floors, provided that he can convince his wife that this will have a good look for their home.

 

One thing to keep in mind, I think, is that some have stated that polished concrete can stain fairly easily and under some conditions.

 

I would worry about staining of concrete flooring, and therefore might opt for wood flooring unless I could solve this potential problem.

 

 

 

[BoganInParasite]

10 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

I understand.

However, the Original Poster also stated that he loves polished concrete floors, and may install and polish concrete floors, provided that he can convince his wife that this will have a good look for their home.

 

One thing to keep in mind, I think, is that some have stated that polished concrete can stain fairly easily and under some conditions.

 

I would worry about staining of concrete flooring, and therefore might opt for wood flooring unless I could solve this potential problem.

 

 

 

Hi, I'm the OP. I did not mention my wife nor anything about floors. I've not heard and read anything on polished concrete staining fairly easily but will keep it in mind.

[Dante99]

10 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

the Original Poster also stated that he loves polished concrete floors, and may install and polish concrete floors

I missed that, even on the second reading.  Now the post above explains.  Thanks Bogan.

 

10 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I would worry about staining of concrete flooring,

My garage floor has no staining after 15 years and we are not particularly careful about it.  There have been a few occasions when some small areas were scrubbed a bit with soapy water.

[freeworld]

On 4/16/2024 at 3:59 PM, BoganInParasite said:

darker with a waxy/watery finish look

Do you have any kind of pictures of this type of finish you would like to achieve?

 

Find a ref for info to achieve different finishes on concrete work.

https://www.architecturelab.net/types-of-concrete-finishes/

 

https://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/interiorfloors/stained.html

Edited April 19 by freeworld

[freeworld]

2 hours ago, Dante99 said:

I missed that, even on the second reading.  Now the post above explains.  Thanks Bogan.

 

My garage floor has no staining after 15 years and we are not particularly careful about it.  There have been a few occasions when some small areas were scrubbed a bit with soapy water.

I think the staining they refer are some techniques to introduce a type of finish, pattern or color to the concrete surface.

 

https://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/interiorfloors/stained.html

Edited April 19 by freeworld

[Dante99]

2 hours ago, freeworld said:

I think the staining they refer are some techniques to introduce a type of finish, pattern or color to the concrete surface.

 

https://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/interiorfloors/stained.html

From my reading I don't think so but hey we can certainly have different interpretations of some words.  Enjoy.

 

Consider the source???

Edited April 19 by Dante99

[freeworld]

22 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

From my reading I don't think so but hey we can certainly have different interpretations of some words.  Enjoy.

 

Consider the source???

Sorry, yes reading that again you are correct.

[GammaGlobulin]

10 hours ago, BoganInParasite said:

Hi, I'm the OP. I did not mention my wife nor anything about floors. I've not heard and read anything on polished concrete staining fairly easily but will keep it in mind.

 

Sorry.

I read this comment: 

 

"I think polished concrete looks great - the wife doesn't.

 

My original idea was to have a polished concrete floor, in our new build, I contacted a member here who had got some local village builders to do his, and it looked great."

 

And mistakenly attributed it to you.

Sorry.

 

By the way:  The staining I am referring to, unwelcome staining, is discussed in the YT video that I linked, above.

 

Apparently, some liquids, and chemicals, when coming into contact with the polished cement surface, can cause unwelcome staining of the concrete.  Then, there is also the issue of cracking in the surface of the polished concrete.

 

Still, polished concrete is very much aesthetically pleasing when it is as it should be, and maintained or protected properly.

 

 

[Dante99]

On 4/19/2024 at 4:35 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

Apparently, some liquids, and chemicals, when coming into contact with the polished cement surface, can cause unwelcome staining of the concrete. 

you could say that about any surface, not just concrete

 

On 4/19/2024 at 4:35 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

there is also the issue of cracking in the surface of the polished concrete.

never had cracking in over 20 years

 

On 4/19/2024 at 4:35 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

when it is as it should be, and maintained or protected properly.

We sweep ours and occasionally mop but the beauty of it is that it requires little maintenance and no protection.