We are about to build a slab on grade house in Yellowknife, NT Canada. We’ll install radiant in-floor heating. We’d also like to stain the concrete floor rather than install another flooring material.
Our main concern is about keeping the concrete clean during construction, prior to application of the stain. Accoustic sealant will likely be one of the worst offenders. Any ideas on how can it be removed?
Does anyone have any advice on keeping the floor clean, and cleaning up prior to staining? Any other words of wisdom on this subject would also be appreciated.
Replies
AnnL, why are you building a slab on grade with infloor heating in Yellowknife? I also take it the concrete floor will be the finished surface.
Hi David,
We are building on a 52' x 106' City lot which is completely bedrock. We've blasted to knock off less than a metre of rock to obtain a level pad for the house. This was the most economical way to develop this lot.
So, yes, the slab on grade will be the main floor of the house, and the floor for the attached double car garage.
paper. lots and lots of construction paper,
We used paper also.At home depot they sell a paper by all the tarps and plastic,it is redish in color and is labeled as roofing paper.It is cheap and tuff,might be called rattan paper.
Make sure your carpenters don't go crazy with chalk and tell all subs that it is a finished floor.
Nice floor,Brownbag.
Here is a old trick from the Southwest...sand sand sand sand sand
Cover all the floors with sand...any kind of sand but you can get it by the truck for for a few bucks...trust me it works...its also easy on the feet and it never ends up in the dumpster at the end of the job. Card board, paper, plastic and hope can't match Sand.
Mick
Hi Mick,
Great idea. We saw it used in Gabon Africa. At the time, I didn't realize it's purpose. We might just give that a try. Once finished, we can just sweep it out the door and use it for fill in the yard.
Glad to help
just my .02 cents
We smother the whole house in sand to cover up the red brick floors. Kind of strange the first time you walk in, but it works. Still have to watch the plaster guys and sometimes painters or stray cats...and don't drop a wayward screw...gone for ever.
Mick
Great looking floor. What grid did you follow? What stain did you use? Did you do it yourself or have a contractor do it? We will be doing the work ourselves. Did you acid wash your floor at any point?
Interesting, what are you placing for insulation between the bedrock and slab?
David,
We are going to follow the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation (CMHC) recommendations found in their technical bulletin "Slab-on-Grade Construction", Technical Series 00-127 (http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca).
We removed all topsoil to bedrock and levelled the site with blast rock. (This layer should be a minimum of 4" thick of well-graded rock or gravel compacted to a minimum of 98% density.) This granular subbase will provide a capillary break & help to dampproof the slab.
2" rigid insulation will be placed vertically along the exterior side of the slab to prevent heat loss in that direction. The insulation will also be extended horizontally out from the edge of the slab to reduce the dept of frost penetration. This insulation skirt will be sloped slightly to drain water away from the slab, and have a cover of 2" clean gravel topped by 4" of backfill. 2" Rigid insulation will also be placed under the entire building footpring. Between the slab and the rigid insulation under the footprint will be a 6" layer of compacted sand.
1. you can fight it, cover the whole floor/slab with osb get some truss plates and lock em all together and spend a ton of $$, you can go to the cardboard box supply house and get sheets of cardboard... some are 5' x 12' and tape em all together (it will never hold up...
2. what i do... leave em alone let people drop their tools use your floor as a work bench let stuff fall where it may... then before the baseboard is installed but everything else is done painting... everything... use a commerical floor scrubber/buffer with red or green pads lots of soap & water & grease cutter scrub and wet vac everything... anything thats left after becomes "character & endearing features" in your floor...
are you just staining or are you scoring any design in your floor?... oh yeah the sooner you can stain new slabs the better...
pony
We are going to both score a pattern and stain the floor. How soon is soon to stain the floor? If we wait until the walls have been painted to stain the floor, it could be 6 or more months.