ᐅ Exposed Concrete – Advantages and Disadvantages?

Hello,

can anyone tell me about the advantages and disadvantages of exposed concrete?
How does it compare in terms of cost?

It would be great if someone has experience with this, as we are also interested.

Hello, yesterday our ground floor was erected (yeah!!!).
The wall where our staircase will be installed remains as smooth formwork concrete without plaster.
At least, that’s what we would like, but the surface of the wall is somewhat patchy.
I don’t find it a problem, but my wife would prefer it to look more even.
By the way, the wall was explicitly sold to us as non-exposed concrete quality, so everything should be fine.

Now to my question: does anyone know if I can, for example, sand the wall with a drywall sander without ruining the surface with its beautiful small pores and air bubbles? Anyone with experience sanding concrete?

Good evening,

One00 schrieb:

The wall to which our staircase will be attached will remain as smooth shuttered reinforced concrete without plaster.
At least that's what we would like, but the wall’s surface is somewhat blotchy.
I don’t find it bothersome, but my wife would prefer it to look more uniform.

So your wife wants the "jack of all trades"...

One00 schrieb:

Now to my question: does anyone know if I can sand the wall, for example with a long-reach sander (sometimes called a "giraffe" sander), without damaging the beautiful small pores and air bubbles on the surface? Anyone experienced with sanding concrete?

Cast concrete is comparable to a natural stone – you either like it or you don’t, because every piece is unique. Stay away from all kinds of sanding tools—you can only make cast concrete worse by trying to improve it. Exposed concrete is a completely different and much more expensive option.

Regards, Bauexperte

Thanks for the reply. My wife isn’t expecting a miracle solution; she just wants to get rid of the stains.
These stains are really only superficial, appearing where the walls were placed next to each other after pouring.
So they aren’t directly related to the concrete itself, because it looks great in other areas.
I’ll try washing them off.

So, after the damp spots have dried, the wall looks significantly better.
Tomorrow, I will try scrubbing off the mortar residues that have formed with some water and then wait to see how the wall looks.