Can I use my existing concrete slab for flooring...

Somerichs

Hi-

New to the forum. We just moved into a new house. In the room that will be my home office, I was thinking about pulling up the old, dirty, ugly carpet and just using the existing concrete floor as my flooring.

I'm only just starting to research the feasibility of doing so. I think it's doable, however I have not yet pulled up the carpet to see what kind of shape the concrete is in underneath. I'm assuming there'll be some cracks at the very least.

Can anyone give me some advise for proceeding? I know there are all sorts of acid stains, overlays, paints and other ways to treat the concrete and get it looking the way you want it to look.

What issues might I encounter upon pulling up the carpet that would preclude me from being able to use the concrete?

Can you point me to some good products for cleaning/prepping/finishing the concrete, or useful websites describing the process?

Anything anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Rich

rusty baker

You should be able to use it. You won't know til you get the carpet up. I personally don't like concrete floors because they are cold and they are bad on the feet, legs and back.

__________________
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Semi-Retired Installer
Installing since 1973

Gulledge

Removing the carpet is easy. Just get a utility knife, cut it into managable strips and pull it up into rolls. You may find the pad to come right up, or it might be glued down. The tack strips along the edge of the wall could be either glued down or nailed down or both. In either way, they can usually be pryed up without to much trouble.

Now, I'm with Rusty on the concrete issue. Cold, hard and unconfortable. The fact that you are even considering it, tells me you just want something, tough, durable and cheap. I would try Some type of linoleum or laminate before I stayed with the concrete. Google some pics of what I just mentioned. They have some nice office designs that may be tough and affortable.

Somerichs

Thank you for the responses, Rusty and Gulledge. The cold factor is probably my main concern regarding the concrete. It would only be the one room, though, which is probably around 12 feet square, and I can minimize it somewhat with an area rug (maybe) and also by virtue of the french doors that let in a fair amount of sunlight in the afternoon.

And you're right on another count, i do just "want something." we just moved into this house a few weeks ago; it was a short sale and the previous tenant had a dog and didn't take very good care of the carpet in this room, so it's stinky and not very attractive, and I also hate using a rolling office chair on carpet.

Was thinking using the concrete would be the cheapest (finances are a concern right now) and quickest alternative at the moment with a little elbow grease. May just be an intermediate solution until I can do something down the road, either a laminate or some kind of tile or "upscale" linoleum. I do like some of the things you can achieve with concrete, however.

Thanks again for your comments!

beerdog

I did this for two years in a main part of my house. The dog was getting old and destroyed the carpet. I pulled out the carpet....man did it stink. Then I etched and painted the floor with concrete floor paint from my Sherwin Williams store. Outside of the cold floor, there were no issues. The dog passed on and it is now carpeted.

When you pull that carpet it will release the ordors like nothing you have experienced before. You will not believe you were living with that odor.