ᐅ Basement without additional floor covering / cleaning of the concrete slab
Created on: 13 Sep 2022 20:38
H
Hendrik1980
Dear Forum,
After two years of planning, the construction of our house has finally begun.
Our basement will be used exclusively for the laundry room, storage, pantry, and utility room. Mainly for cost reasons, we have decided to forgo heating, insulation, and plastering or painting in this area.
However, we are now wondering if it was a mistake to skip the screed and an additional floor covering. Does anyone have experience with a basement where the bare concrete slab forms the floor? Is it practical to clean this concrete surface regularly by damp wiping and removing coarse dirt?
After two years of planning, the construction of our house has finally begun.
Our basement will be used exclusively for the laundry room, storage, pantry, and utility room. Mainly for cost reasons, we have decided to forgo heating, insulation, and plastering or painting in this area.
However, we are now wondering if it was a mistake to skip the screed and an additional floor covering. Does anyone have experience with a basement where the bare concrete slab forms the floor? Is it practical to clean this concrete surface regularly by damp wiping and removing coarse dirt?
S
Smialbuddler14 Sep 2022 14:31ypg schrieb:
Well, I think this would be considered a construction defect. I believe I’ve read about something like this before. Especially when it involves only a few centimeters (inches), it creates a tripping hazard, which is partly controlled by the brain. Of course, it’s not ideal and should have been avoided in new construction.
But countless owners of older homes have become very accustomed to these kinds of things, learn to recognize their tripping hazards, and after a while can’t even say where something is actually off.
Of course, that’s a classic case of survivorship bias, and visitors should always be warned properly.
But to carry that small deviation from the norm with you forever—such as having a sandy basement floor included in the ground floor? That wouldn’t be my priority. 😉
W
WilderSueden14 Sep 2022 14:34This is not really a defect but rather an issue with the requirements. The client requested a basement with a raw concrete floor. After it was completed, they realized it was a bad idea and now want a finished floor. If the staircase is already finished, it will no longer be possible to adjust it for even step dimensions because the requirements changed in the meantime. And of course, it would be smarter to modify the staircase if that is still possible.
Hendrik1980 schrieb:
Our basement is intended solely for laundry, storage, pantry, and utility rooms. Not least for cost reasons, we are foregoing heating, insulation, and plastering or painting work here.
However, we are currently wondering if it was a mistake to skip screed and an additional floor covering. Does anyone have experience with a basement where the raw concrete slab forms the floor? Is it possible to clean this concrete surface daily by damp mopping and remove coarse dirt? I honestly can’t think of a better place to save money. I have already lived comfortably with bare concrete garage floors and over twenty years in a multifamily building (from 1972) with such a floor. If I mop a basement floor, I’d better see a doctor. Sweeping was no problem and did not wear the surface. There was no sand brought in from the basement. The floor in the stairwell had the same covering as the above-ground levels, and then a ramp made of mortar at the transition between the stairwell and basement hallway. That worked flawlessly. However, back then we were talking about about 4 cm (1.5 inches) screed thickness.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Smialbuddler schrieb:
But just because of such small deviations from the standard, should the basement floor be permanently integrated with the ground floor? That wouldn’t be my priority 😉 It was not a judgment but rather a suggestion that a few centimeters (inches) more can be more than expected and can make a difference.
The original poster can look into that.
I would first seal it with a special coating before something happens in the opposite way:
Tolentino schrieb:
Yes, I meant purely the visual impression; the brain thinks the foot has to compensate, but it doesn’t, and then sooner or later the floor causes trips = stumbling... 
WilderSueden schrieb:
The builder insisted on a basement with a raw concrete floor. After it was finished, he realized it was a bad idea and wanted a proper floor.We had the same setup in our old house: a concrete slab with nothing on top. Then we did it ourselves by pouring leveling compound and gluing on the cheapest leftover tiles we could find, then grouted them. The stair stringers still rest directly on the slab to this day.
It has lasted for 30 years.
ypg schrieb:
I would first seal it with a special coating,I had both in garages: one with raw concrete flooring, and the other with a waterproof coating. The only difference was the puddles from melting snow dripping down: in one case, it dried slowly (usually about two days until there was nothing left to see), and in the other, it was quickly wiped away with a squeegee.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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