Benefits of Concrete Flooring
Why choose concrete flooring for your home: Cost, health and environmental benefits and more
Concrete is an environmentally-friendly material that offers numerous benefits in the home. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing and easy to adapt to color and home interiors, it is also economical, versatile, and a healthier alternative to other flooring materials.
- CLEAN, ELEGANT LOOKS
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Concrete is natural , with a unique beauty that’s brought to life by different finishing and coloring techniques. Trowel patterns are popular for their swirled finish. Smooth, burnished concrete is another popular look. One of the most elegant treatments for concrete today is polishing. Penetrating stains can be used to enhance the natural variations in concrete and add a mottled, variegated look.
Concrete is a handcrafted, customizable product. Each concrete floor is unique, often customized with the input of the owner. There’s no predetermined color palette to limit designs. With concrete, the floor can be customized to blend with other architectural elements and to fit a given space.
Concrete harmonizes well with other building materials, such as metal or exposed wood beams. Concrete floors are a popular choice in restaurants and commercial facilities that want to achieve a modern or industrial look.
- GOING GREEN
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Concrete can be made with waste byproducts, which reduces the consumption of raw materials. The predominant raw material for the cement in concrete is limestone, the most abundant mineral on earth. Concrete can also be made with fly ash, slag cement, and silica fume, all waste byproducts from power plants, steel mills, and other manufacturing facilities.
Concrete floors can incorporate recycled products , such as crushed glass, bits of recycled plastic, marble chips and metal shavings. Concrete itself can also be recycled at the end of its long service life.
Concrete floors can optimize radiant heat transfer. Concrete flooring is ideal for use with radiant floor heating because concrete is an excellent radiator of the heat produced by these systems.
Concrete floors work great with passive solar designs. Concrete flooring is often a central component of passive solar home designs. The concrete slab absorbs the heat of the sun during the day and releases the stored heat as needed at night.
When installed properly, concrete is one of the most durable materials on earth . Properly maintained, your floor should last a lifetime. Few flooring materials have the longevity of concrete. Carpet, tile and even wood floors eventually need replacement, which uses up resources and creates disposal problems.
A Healthy Alternative for Those with Allergies Concrete is a great alternative to wall-to-wall carpeting for people who are allergic to animal dander and dust mites. Carpets can harbor dust mites and other allergens. Concrete is easy to keep clean with
periodic dust or damp mopping. According to the American Lung Association, controlling dust mites is very important for people who are allergic to animal dander and mites. Dust mites live deep in carpet and are not removed by vacuuming. There is also more demand for concrete floors because they won’t trap dirt and the surface is easy to clean.
Concrete floors won’t support the growth of toxic mold. Exposure to toxic mold in homes and buildings has been blamed for ailments ranging from headaches to severe respiratory infections and immune system disorders. Mold can thrive on any organic material, especially in warm, moist, humid conditions. In addition to carpeting, mold can feed on drywall and wood studs, joists, and wall sheathing.
When homes are heated with in-floor radiant heating, no dust or dirt gets recirculated into the air. With radiant heating, coils heated by electricity or hot water are embedded in concrete floors, warming the floor itself to deliver clean, even heat. No air is being blown around, as with forced-air heating systems.
- COST FACTOR
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Concrete floors are cost effective, comparing favorably in price to wood flooring and ceramic or quarry tile. Even the most elaborate concrete flooring designs, with intricate designs and multiple colors, are less expensive than most terrazzo, marble, or slate—often by a wide margin. Read more about concrete floor cost.
Although there are many flooring options that are initially cheaper than concrete, when you amortize the cost of a concrete floor over its lifetime, the price can be comparable or even lower than other high-end flooring materials. A concrete floor will rarely, if ever, need replacement.
You can do things with concrete that you can’t do with any other flooring material. You can’t put a price tag on the self-expression possible with concrete floors. Nothing is beyond the realm of imagination.
Don’t forget to factor in the costs for surface prep. The final cost for any decorative concrete surface treatment will depend on the condition of the existing floor. The total price will be higher for floors in poor condition that need a lot of prep work or complete resurfacing.