We are looking for creative solutions for flooring over our slab foundation. The rooms it would include are the kitchen, dining and great room, mud and half bathroom. We would prefer engineered wood, or ceramic tile. We have 8 ft. ceilings and we are worried that either of these options would kill our ceiling height and budget (with all the subflooring we’d have to use.) It is a modest step-up home and we want something very affordable. We’ve considered just stamping the concrete and painting, but in the Rocky Mountains, this would be a chilly option!! It also seems too high end for the home. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks!
Tom
Replies
Flooring over concrete is not going to adversely effect your ceiling height. Some ceilings are as low as 7 ft, and flooring in a house is common practice... you would use up just as much or close to it if you put down carpet.....
You will probably get some other ideas but composite flooring is pretty cheap, and the underlayment is thin. Tile can be more expensive, but you can get discontinued tile for a good rate, just make sure you same a few in case of repairs.
No matter what the building is like, a floor that you take the time to do decently will always add a lot of value to the structure. The expense is up front, but it will pay dividends on the back end.
Do a mix.. but remember that tile will radiate that cold slab, Im hoping you have a reasonable heat system... they are also making thin electrical radiant that goes in the thinset. Just a thought...
regards, -zen
tile is permanent compared to engineered use grade 4 or 5 higher the number, higher the wear factor Laticrete makes a good product for tiling to concrete, can't remember name... 5 gal. pails of "milk" for dedicated bags of thinset level slab out w Ardex leveler, has base of portland cement drag 6' level around slab to find high/ low spots
Since you have a concrete slab, you can install most anything with very little preparation. On the other hand, if you had wood subfloors (like a secnd floor) you would have to be concerned with deflection of the floor which would be bad for tile.
Consider cork floor tiles. Sounds odd, but they are quite durable and work very well, even in a kitchen. Slightly soft and warm.
Any ceramic, porcelain, or stone tile would be easy to install. The down side of course is the hardness and coldness, and some people don't like the grout joints. You can't do anything about the hardness, but you can install electric heating mats under the tile. The mats can be used to heat the entire room, or they can just keep the chill off the floor. They will add about 1/8 or 3/16" to the flor height. The material will cost something like $10/sf. Or you can install a nice stone floor, and use area rugs.
A wood floor can be installed either as a nail down or glue down. If you nail down a solid wood floor, you will lose the thickness of the wood (3/4") and the thickness of a plywood subfloor, a minimum of a layer of 3/4" plywood. If you use engineered wood (basically plywood with a thick layer of nice veneer) you can glue it directly to the concrete and lose less than an inch.
Carpet works well. Lots of colors and textures. Warm and soft.
Stained concrete would be very basic and durable.
Oops ... you mention stamping the concrete ... has the house been built yet? If it is an existing house, you can add a layer of concrete topping and stamp & color that. You can also embed a heating mat in the topping.
Bottom line, ceramic tile gives a great balance of durability, color & tecture, and cost.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Ed-
good call on the cork, durable, warm and not out of line w budget
Great suggestions. Thank you all. Love the cork idea. We'll check it out.
check out http://www.dricore.com for insulation underlayment. not sure if you can lay ceramic tile over it (i'm guessing probably not) but will work with a lot of flooring options. just a suggestion...
m
I put cork 12x12s in my kitchen last year, (wood subfloor in chilly Buffalo, NY)...got the look I wanted but it weren't cheap.....while researching to get the 12x's in the colors I needed I found cork "planks"= cork facing on T&G underlayment engineered system, might work well for your application....got a lot of usefull help from Gabe on this forum...also read some flaming re adhesives...you could search the archives
Bottom line I love the feel & look...