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Textured Concrete floor redo SteveB 04-29-2008
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Posted by SteveB on April 29, 2008, 9:00 pm
We bought a house that has a textured concrete floor. As I understand it,
they use soft cement, and put a sheet of vinyl over it, and do things to
make it come out looking like natural stone. Then stain and seal.

Fast forward to today. Walls removed, and no stain on concrete. Long white
lines where walls were. Cut marks losing their grout. Holes where plates
were shot in. White spots where the chemicals in the concrete seem to be
leaching up.

We decided today we're carpeting the whole mess.

How do we get it flat? I would ass-u-me that one would use a filler and a
wide knife and a long straight edge and get it as close as one could. Then
padding and carpet.

What would you use for filler? Any hints on how to apply it so that it gets
pretty flat, and you don't use tons and tons of it? Brand names? Formulas
for mixing it myself if it's just a Portland/sand mix?

Is this a DIY job, or one for the floor guys, providing their price is
reasonable?

Thanks.

Steve



Posted by John Grabowski on April 29, 2008, 9:39 pm

> We bought a house that has a textured concrete floor. As I understand it,
> they use soft cement, and put a sheet of vinyl over it, and do things to
> make it come out looking like natural stone. Then stain and seal.
>
> Fast forward to today. Walls removed, and no stain on concrete. Long
> white lines where walls were. Cut marks losing their grout. Holes where
> plates were shot in. White spots where the chemicals in the concrete seem
> to be leaching up.
>
> We decided today we're carpeting the whole mess.
>
> How do we get it flat? I would ass-u-me that one would use a filler and a
> wide knife and a long straight edge and get it as close as one could.
> Then padding and carpet.
>
> What would you use for filler? Any hints on how to apply it so that it
> gets pretty flat, and you don't use tons and tons of it? Brand names?
> Formulas for mixing it myself if it's just a Portland/sand mix?
>
> Is this a DIY job, or one for the floor guys, providing their price is
> reasonable?
>

There are machines for grinding and polishing concrete such as those used
for terrazzo floors. I don't think that they are for a homeowner to use,
but an experienced concrete finisher should have the know how. I think
grinding it down to a smooth even surface would be better than dash patching
that much texture.


Posted by Wayne Boatwright on April 29, 2008, 10:09 pm
On Tue 29 Apr 2008 06:39:53p, John Grabowski told us...

>
>> We bought a house that has a textured concrete floor. As I understand
>> it, they use soft cement, and put a sheet of vinyl over it, and do
>> things to make it come out looking like natural stone. Then stain and
>> seal.
>>
>> Fast forward to today. Walls removed, and no stain on concrete. Long
>> white lines where walls were. Cut marks losing their grout. Holes
>> where plates were shot in. White spots where the chemicals in the
>> concrete seem to be leaching up.
>>
>> We decided today we're carpeting the whole mess.
>>
>> How do we get it flat? I would ass-u-me that one would use a filler
>> and a wide knife and a long straight edge and get it as close as one
>> could. Then padding and carpet.
>>
>> What would you use for filler? Any hints on how to apply it so that it
>> gets pretty flat, and you don't use tons and tons of it? Brand names?
>> Formulas for mixing it myself if it's just a Portland/sand mix?
>>
>> Is this a DIY job, or one for the floor guys, providing their price is
>> reasonable?
>>
>
> There are machines for grinding and polishing concrete such as those
> used for terrazzo floors. I don't think that they are for a homeowner
> to use, but an experienced concrete finisher should have the know how.
> I think grinding it down to a smooth even surface would be better than
> dash patching that much texture.
>
>

I totally agree. Skim coating or using a filler to flatten the floor can
give you problems later with the skim coat separating or flaking off and
just making a general mess under the carpet.

--
Wayne Boatwright
-------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 04(IV)/29(XXIX)/08(MMVIII)
-------------------------------------------
Countdown till Memorial Day
3wks 5dys 4hrs 55mins
-------------------------------------------
Fat person: Nutritional Overachiever
-------------------------------------------



Posted by Pete C. on April 29, 2008, 10:10 pm

John Grabowski wrote:
>
> > We bought a house that has a textured concrete floor. As I understand it,
> > they use soft cement, and put a sheet of vinyl over it, and do things to
> > make it come out looking like natural stone. Then stain and seal.
> >
> > Fast forward to today. Walls removed, and no stain on concrete. Long
> > white lines where walls were. Cut marks losing their grout. Holes where
> > plates were shot in. White spots where the chemicals in the concrete seem
> > to be leaching up.
> >
> > We decided today we're carpeting the whole mess.
> >
> > How do we get it flat? I would ass-u-me that one would use a filler and a
> > wide knife and a long straight edge and get it as close as one could.
> > Then padding and carpet.
> >
> > What would you use for filler? Any hints on how to apply it so that it
> > gets pretty flat, and you don't use tons and tons of it? Brand names?
> > Formulas for mixing it myself if it's just a Portland/sand mix?
> >
> > Is this a DIY job, or one for the floor guys, providing their price is
> > reasonable?
> >
>
> There are machines for grinding and polishing concrete such as those used
> for terrazzo floors. I don't think that they are for a homeowner to use,
> but an experienced concrete finisher should have the know how. I think
> grinding it down to a smooth even surface would be better than dash patching
> that much texture.

The concrete surfacing grinders are readily available from the big
rental houses like United Rentals. You of course have to buy the grinder
inserts to go with the machine rental since they are consumable items.
After you grind it reasonably level, I'd put down self leveling
compound, which technically you should be able to do without the
grinding if you can tolerate the increase in floor height. With carpet
going down and the expected thresholds, the extra height may not be an
issue. As for DIY, I can't say, since *everything* is DIY to me.

Posted by Jim Elbrecht on April 30, 2008, 8:58 am

-snip-
>There are machines for grinding and polishing concrete such as those used
>for terrazzo floors. I don't think that they are for a homeowner to use,
>but an experienced concrete finisher should have the know how. I think
>grinding it down to a smooth even surface would be better than dash patching
>that much texture.

I used one a couple years ago. If I remember right it was about a
12" disk- like a kick-ass buffer.

I needed to grind about an inch of tar & mortar?/soft-concrete? off a
floor of what was once a cistern. Only 10x10, but it made quick
work of it and did a decent job.

In a living space I would probably hit it with a skim coat of
self-leveling portland underlayment. If it all seems to be solid I
might just go straight to the skimcoat.

I used whatever HD had for a different job. It was only good up to
1/2" thick. Three years of traffic on that one & it seems to be
holding up good. [we used those carpet squares so I occasionally lift
them and check the floor underneath.]

Jim

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