Sometimes homes need their concrete finishes remodeled and it’s one of those jobs that doesn’t happen very often as a homeowner. The good news is that when it’s finished it will look beautiful with today’s advances in the use of concrete finishes. It’s something that you wouldn’t think would be part of home ownership because it’s such a strong and hard material and it’s what we drive our cars on, but when you start getting cracks in the floor, it may be time to assess it for a remodel.
For others, you may simply want to remodel it for cosmetic reasons and enjoy an aesthetically pleasing look to your home. Take a look at these 3 signs that you may need to remodel your concrete finishes.
Cracking
One sign that it’s time to remodel your concrete finishes is that it’s beginning to crack. While not all cracking is a safety hazard, it doesn’t look great for your home’s design. It could mean there have been some issues that have caused cracking like moisture which you don’t want in the home.
Since the floors don’t bear the weight of the house, you don’t have to worry about it being a structural issue. Look for the type of crack you’re dealing with, whereas a hairline crack shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about and are likely from surface shrinking. If you find perimeter cracks, the concrete floor likely shrunk away from the foundation walls. If you find that the floor has cracked and started to slab upward, then you likely have an issue with soil expansion and this should be addressed immediately.
The good news is that you can simply get colored cement paste and patching materials to fill in most of these cracks and make it solid again, but if you were looking for a change that is more than some paste and an area rug, it may be time to remodel with something else.
Moisture
As mentioned before, moisture can get in the home and affect areas like your concrete floor. If you have a below-grade basement, the moisture may have been moving up from underneath the slab making it damp and damaging it. You can reseal the concrete to avoid poor soil drainage or a leaky gutter, but there also may be better materials to replace it with that will suit your family’s needs better.
It’s not working for your needs
Speaking of your needs, you may find that concrete flooring is not cutting it for your family’s lifestyle or overall design preferences. The hardness of concrete is not forgiving which means that glasses will be broken that fall on it and children may get hurt playing near it.
While a soft rug can help with this problem, you may find that a fresh floor is what your family needs. You can still enjoy a hard surface like a vinyl flooring option, but these won’t be so hard as to hurt someone that falls.
When you want those concrete floors
Some people are looking to start incorporating those concrete floors in the home. Whether you are looking for a fresh concrete floor to remodel an outdated one or you want to add one into your home design, these are going to be a beautiful addition.
They are now considered a luxurious finish because you can enjoy many different kinds of colors and stains, textures with rubber stencils, and it can even mimic other materials like brick, natural stone, and ceramic tiles. In your new construction, you can even add heated floors into your design; the perfect addition to a bathroom or basement.
What’s even better is that these are actually one of the lowest maintenance flooring options because they are durable and easy to care for with a little sweeping and mopping to freshen them up. A trendy option right now is the polished concrete style of flooring in which you get a smooth and more decorative surface than the traditional concrete flooring.
If you have any of these signs going on in your home, it’s time to reassess your current flooring and give your home an update. Use this guide to decide if it’s right for you!