polished concrete floors

We are going to owner build a new home and I have always wanted to try polished concrete floors ,but am starting to worry the concrete will be very cold to stand on in winter. Has anyone had experience of living on concrete floors without underfloor heating. Where we are building only has electricity available so cant have my usual fabulous blaring gas ducted heating and partner has had underfloor heating twice (once electric once hot water) and says they arent worth a pinch of the proverbial. Input please
 
Hate hate hate polished concrete floors. Cold. Ugly.

Can't believe I'm reading that someone didn't like radiant heated floors. We've had them in two houses, and it was the best heating ever. If I ever build again I wouldn't hesitate to go with radiant heating in a concrete slab with tiles on top.
 
Fernfurn

Had them in a place for 2 years every person that came over thought they were the best thing ever but at 6am in the middle of winter they were Freeeeezing.

Jezza
 
House sat for two weeks with concrete floors. Cold. Ugly. Not too soft for children to land on. Slippery. They remind me of 1970's public toilet blocks down the beach.
 
Not exactly polished concrete but a mate did his downstairs bar and pool room in smashed glass, the whole floor was a design and it was covered in a poly resin looked great.

Suited a bar and pool area but could not see me doing it throughtout a house.

Just my 2 cents worth
Brian
 
I have seen it done whereby they just leave the top rough and polish that off which leaves half of the stones showing. Looks fabulous, just like polished terrazzo. It is down the beach and I thought a warm cream colour thrown on the top layer would look nice, although the one I saw was raw concrete colour. I wonder if the cracking problem was on concrete layed, whereas this will be the actual slab so if it cracked there would be a major problem. I think I better get a quote for underfloor heating though. When you said that was good, was it actually giving off heat in the house, or just taking the chill off the concrete?
 
Radiant heating (we had copper pipes in a concrete slab) warms the floor but the warmth just keeps rising, so the whole house is warm.
It's very gentle continuous warmth - no air currents blasting anywhere.

We had it on an auto timer so that the floor would start to warm in the early hours of the morning. The house kept warm the whole winter that way.

Total bliss.
 
I have seen it done whereby they just leave the top rough and polish that off which leaves half of the stones showing. Looks fabulous, just like polished terrazzo. It is down the beach and I thought a warm cream colour thrown on the top layer would look nice, although the one I saw was raw concrete colour. I wonder if the cracking problem was on concrete layed, whereas this will be the actual slab so if it cracked there would be a major problem. I think I better get a quote for underfloor heating though. When you said that was good, was it actually giving off heat in the house, or just taking the chill off the concrete?

I love polished concrete but have to admit having it coloured with extras thrown in like stones, glass etc looks more acceptable for more conservative people. Yes it does look just like terrazzo, a look no different from tiles really. We are building soon and are seriously considering polished consrete, although hubbie wants black and dark pigment can seriously alter the strength of concrete, so I believe, so its hard to get anything really dark. Consider a topping slab so the colour doesnt have to be put all the way through.
 
I think it depends on the style of house. My friend helped me reno my first ever IP which was a 2BR townhouse (small) and I FREAKED when I came home and found a concrete floor. Carpet was laid within weeks. It just looked stupid in a small floor area and I'm a fan of a contemporary look, but in the right context.
 
We are going to owner build a new home and I have always wanted to try polished concrete floors ,but am starting to worry the concrete will be very cold to stand on in winter. Has anyone had experience of living on concrete floors without underfloor heating. Where we are building only has electricity available so cant have my usual fabulous blaring gas ducted heating and partner has had underfloor heating twice (once electric once hot water) and says they arent worth a pinch of the proverbial. Input please

There is a unit for rent in Kew atm with concrete floors in living areas. I noticed you are in Melbourne so maybe you could "inspect" the place and check it out when used in a residential context. For a commercial context try walking around your local Bunnings for a few hours ;-)

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-unit-vic-kew-404458512?tm=1269987389&c=87399435

Wokka.
 
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