ᐅ Basement without additional floor covering / cleaning of the concrete slab
Created on: 13 Sep 2022 20:38
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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?
WilderSueden schrieb:
I would recommend tiling the utility room (to ensure it gets finished on time) and doing the rest of the tiling later as a DIY project. Otherwise, cleaning raw concrete can be quite unpleasant. The problem will be the already planned staircase if the distance to the last step isn’t correct. Or is there still a way to adjust it?
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borderpuschl14 Sep 2022 08:38"Unfortunately, the damage has already been done. To fix it properly at this stage, I could level the floor slab with a self-leveling compound (a few millimeters) and then install tiles or a PVC floor covering on top. This would mean that the height of the last step would no longer be accurate, but the deviation would be minimal. Once the staircase is installed, you can measure the last step—it won't fit exactly to the last millimeter anyway. Also, how do you plan to finish the staircase? Will you cover it or leave it unfinished?"
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WilderSueden14 Sep 2022 08:40ypg schrieb:
The problem will be the already calculated staircase if the distance to the last step is not correct.
Or could something still be changed about it? Is it really that bad? Without the screed layer, the buildup probably doesn’t exceed 3 cm (1.2 inches). The deviation isn’t ideal, but in my opinion, it’s still acceptable if you consider the alternative that the basement will never be properly cleaned again.
Ideally, of course, this would still be factored into the staircase design.
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motorradsilke14 Sep 2022 10:08I would also tile it yourself. Affordable tiles from the home improvement store installed with a leveling system can be done by (almost) anyone. The thickness will then be less than 2 cm (0.8 inches), which shouldn’t be much of a problem for the stairs.
If you really don’t feel confident and don’t have anyone to do it, install a PVC floor covering.
I’m afraid that just using concrete paint won’t make the floor even enough. Of course, you can also grind it, but that will probably take more effort than the other options.
If you really don’t feel confident and don’t have anyone to do it, install a PVC floor covering.
I’m afraid that just using concrete paint won’t make the floor even enough. Of course, you can also grind it, but that will probably take more effort than the other options.
WilderSueden schrieb:
Is it really that bad?Well, I think this would be considered a construction defect. I believe I have read about similar issues before. Especially when you’re dealing with differences of just a few centimeters (inches), it can create a tripping hazard, since this is partly controlled by the brain. You can feel this slight inconsistency when walking on steps that are supposed to be uniform, which can cause someone to trip. But I’m not entirely sure about this either.Similar topics