…… Floor covering for concrete slab house?

B

bluelady

Veteran Member
Ugh, complications. We're soon going to move into a paid-for house that belonged to my mom and has been lived in by one of the other of our kids since she passed away. We plan to repaint everything, do minor necessary repairs, make it "ours". No money really, but none of that takes much.

We're having a debate, though, on the living room/dining room flooring. It is currently wall to wall carpet, not ugly, over slab concrete. Dh scrounged a bunch of 3/4" solid oak flooring for free, enough for the living room at least. Turns out though it's a big issue on concrete...needs some kind of vapor barrier which is not a problem, but also a 5/8" plywood subfloor. That's a total of 1-1/8"!! House is tiny, low ceilings, right on the ground. None of the doors would open!

Plan B is to use the oak for wainscoting and although I hate carpet I figured we'd just clean it well, we have our own cleaner. However dh insists on tearing it out, and I can't say I blame him. I've seen what's under carpets...LOL! Plus dd and her friends had cats.

But now what? Flooring costs money! Plus again there are apparently issues with what and how you put things over concrete. The kids put laminate in the bedrooms and I don't know if they did it "right", though I don't know of any issues. Costs money though, living/dining are 240 square ft. Vinyl tiles aren't much cheaper and it keeps saying how careful you have to be over concrete. I'm almost thinking of painting the concrete and getting rugs so it won't be cold but that costs, too.

Anyone btdt with concrete floors or have any cheap creative suggestions?
 
Conrad Nimikos

Conrad Nimikos

Who is Henry Bowman
...We are in N. Fl. Most houses here are slab. When we were building our place we had ceramic tiles laid. Bought them at an odd lot place for under a dollar each. Very good investment; especially with pets and/or children. Our builder went bankrupt so we had to do it all ourselves. Buying odd lots we spent less than the builder had allocated for the floors.
 
I

imaginative

keep your eye on the ball
Yeah, the T&G floor would be a disaster.

Laminate flooring would work (still needs the vapor barrier) and I see it all the time at give-away prices.

I've become partial to 'naturestone' (epoxyed pebbles) on ground floors and basements, but it'll cost about $5- $6 s/f.

Here is something that I really want to do- looks easy enough....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bx4gXJ4jkE

http://www.all-things-concrete.com/ac... How to stain concrete video. Create beautiful floors using a combination of acid staining with faux finishing techniques. Faux finishing with acrylic stains helps hide scars, blemishes, and imperfections while creating a beautiful, unique finish. Then protect it and make it shine with epoxy concrete sealer.
 
B

bluelady

Veteran Member
Conrad, did you glue the tiles right to the concrete?

Imaginative, we may end up with laminate (though I was so hoping for real wood!) but we can't even afford that now as we have so much we must do in the house we're selling. I can't see what you linked on my iPad, but I've seen and like the special concrete effects. It wouldn't cost too much and would look much nicer than bare concrete. We'd still need some kind of rugs though on concrete or on ceramic tile, as it gets COLD here in winter. Rugs are $$$, but I've seen where people hem carpet remnants.

It seems like any kind of laminate or tile would be close to $1/sq. ft. or more. If I can't figure anything out we may just have to clean the carpet and do something else down the road. I was really hoping though to do it once before we move in the furniture, and be done with it!! After work today I'm going to Home Depot and the carpet store to see what remnants they have on clearance. We could still put in a nicer floor later if we want but at least the icky carpet would be out.
 
Conrad Nimikos

Conrad Nimikos

Who is Henry Bowman
...Cleaned real good then glued it.Later a sealant was put on it. Seven years and no problems so far. Floor is cool in summer and cooler in winter but we wear slippers in what winter we have.
 
B

bluelady

Veteran Member
Update: pulled up the edge of the carpet and found....vinyl flooring or linoleum underneath!!!! It's not exactly what I would have chosen, kind of a dark red alligator design!?!, though it will coordinate well enough. Not sure if it's in the dining room also. Living room is full of paint, tools and parts of things so it will be a while before I can pull up the carpet. I should have been smart enough to check earlier, because after years of my mom living with bright red carpeting in her bedroom that she quite disliked, we found a light-colored vinyl under it. (At least we had painted over the Pepto Bismol-pink walls in there...what were they thinking? :)

Anyway, I'm quite thrilled that for $0 I can get rid of carpeting with years of dirt and ??? in and under it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top