cottage has concrete floor in situ, is it OK to paint it?

[Wren]

Dear All

Rubble filled stone-walled cottage with two rooms downstairs. The kitchen has a concrete floor which was put in some time ago. Eventually we may want to do something different with the floor (e.g. relatively simple option of plonking down some terracotta tiles, or go the whole hog and something with limecrete and underfloor heating, who knows). But for now want to keep it cheap and simple so we can spend money on important things (like the guttering). So my idea is to use concrete floor paint in our very basic kitchen just to make it look a little bit smarter for now.

My concern is that in most places we are trying to use breathable solutions (e.g. limeplaster and limewash on the walls, and keeping the original stone floor in the other room), so is using concrete floor paint going to reduce the breathability of the concrete floor even more, or will it make little or no difference given that there is a thick layer of concrete already there?

Many thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Moo]

If it's concrete, and will eventually be coming up, don't give it another thought - paint away to your heart's content and concentrate on all the other really important things on your list.

 

[sarahj]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have a concrete hearth in my inglenook which has been painted with what looks like brick red tile/floor paint, which has a slightly shiny finish. However it comes off with any contact with water - very messy and annoying - does anyone have suggestions as to what kind of paint it is?

 

[Nemesis]

Cardinal Red I suspect - not really paint but a paint-on finish?

 

[andrew gayton]

Cardinal red comes as a polish usually.......... and is quite unstable, so yes sarahj's hearth is probably covered in this.

from my experience of floor paint in a workshop, longevity is not the best attribute.

 

[Willmat]

might be a chance of old floor under the slab if you're lucky. Might be worth investigating a small area?

as Andrew mentions, floor paint not good long term but in short term works fine. we were left with a slab (over the orginal brick tiled floor kindly also smothered in bitumen) where the previous owner had painted around her rug on at least 2 occasions and the multicoloured edgings were offensive to walk over after a few months and a tin of floor paint worked fine in the short term.

 

[andrew gayton]

willmat is quite correct; there may well be original flooring underneath. 'lazy' builders (fortunately for me) laid a very thin screed over my brick+pamment floors during an 80's 'modernisation to environmental health standards'.......... came up quite easily to reveal wonderful floors.

 

[Willmat]

if you're lucky might find dodgy 1980s plastic sheeting posing as a dpm for added 1980s environmental standards under the slab which would be handy if there is an original floor - it would mean only breaking the slab and as Andrews says this could be very thin.

a cheap demolition drill with a chisel end, or by hand depending how lazy you are, is ideal for excavating a small corner. if you don't find anything or do and want to come back to it later, can always fill it back in so its not a trip hazard!

 

[Nemesis]

Or you could just find concrete of course.

 

[SGray]

We have just excavated a corner of our sitting room to find slate (I think slate) under a layer of plasic and concrete. Quite exciting really but now what should we do? It wasn't our intention to go in for major works - we were only going to redecorate the sitting room! What are the chances of the original floor being salvagable?

 

[andrew gayton]

you will never know unless you uncover the floot in its entirety! nail biting time, as the more you uncover intact.........


'traditional' flooring was often covered to 'modernise'..... so is more often than not in 1 piece.... my last floor - floor bricks - only needed around 5 to make good....

thats your weekend taken up..... remember, if possible, only use a hammer and bolster... crack the screed first, then lever up with the flat of the bolster; less damaging.

post some photos after the event?

 

[Nemesis]

Of course, if you wish to keep your kitchen units in situ you could end up having what we have - an uncovered floor outside of the units, with the units now (until we can do something about it) sitting on top of the screed several inches higher than the floor.

As I am five feet two ish this has caused problems when working in the kitchen - I think I need to have made a duckboard to raise me up.

 

[Gervase]

5ft2in? :shock:
Blimey, I had a mental image of some strapping six-foot bint with a horned helmet and bronze breastplate!
Or was that Brunhilde?

But, to return to the topic - slate was commonly used around the edges of a room, with a central fill of quarry tiles or limeash, and it's the centre that's likely to be sh4gged. Not that it's a problem making good - quarry tiles are easy to come by, or you could just use limecrete as I've done in one rom (until such time as I get my rear in gear and cut and dress some more slate slabs!).

 

[Nemesis]

Alas, I am what is politely termed petite - in other words, can't reach anything on a top shelf, ignored when trying to buy a drink at a bar...

My mother found some old photos of me yesterday. The other half was kind enough to remark that those were the days when I was taller than I was wide.

Hmmmm.

 

[Sal]

The other half was kind enough to remark that those were the days when I was taller than I was wide.

Hmmmm.

oops - when does he get out of hospital?

 

[Wren]

Think we are not lucky this time (have already bashed a couple of holes in the concrete floor just in case there was something nice underneath but didn't look promising). Also quite a few stone slabs laid in the front garden which look suspiciously like they came from a stone flagstone floor. Also think the level of the floor would be higher than it is if laid on top of an original floor.
The lovely plastic sheeting sticking out at the edge does sound familiar.

Don't want to waste money on a lovely terracotta floor (or similar) now if am going to be changing things round later.
We've just recently moved in and the downstairs looks like a building site with furniture in it, got to do something, can't just be traipsing over a dusty concrete floor for the next few years.
Even if I did want to lay terracotta tiles over the painted concrete in a few years time then I am not sure how breathable terracotta tiles are anyway - I know you are supposed to leave stone slabs unsealed but I thought you were supposed to seal terracotta.