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?
A decoupling mat cannot compensate for the permissible irregularities of a concrete slab according to DIN 18202 Table 3, row 2, nor for the "usual roughness" after its production.
Therefore, the flatness and the post-treatment method (e.g., mechanical grinding) must already be specified in the concrete slab's contract documents.
If this was not the case, the concrete surface must be assessed individually.
However, this is only possible if a mechanical surface treatment has been performed beforehand (shot blasting for large areas, brushing or grinding for smaller areas).
In principle, tiles or natural stones can be installed using the medium-bed method on a sufficiently load-bearing and adequately flat concrete surface. But there are several important considerations even then, which is why these tasks should not be undertaken by a layperson without professional guidance (such as adequate pre-wetting).
Regards, KlaRa
Therefore, the flatness and the post-treatment method (e.g., mechanical grinding) must already be specified in the concrete slab's contract documents.
If this was not the case, the concrete surface must be assessed individually.
However, this is only possible if a mechanical surface treatment has been performed beforehand (shot blasting for large areas, brushing or grinding for smaller areas).
In principle, tiles or natural stones can be installed using the medium-bed method on a sufficiently load-bearing and adequately flat concrete surface. But there are several important considerations even then, which is why these tasks should not be undertaken by a layperson without professional guidance (such as adequate pre-wetting).
Regards, KlaRa
Hendrik198019 Sep 2022 19:53Thank you very much for the many comments and suggestions! Last week, I spoke with our concrete contractor and our construction manager. Both still independently consider our plan unproblematic for a simple utility or storage basement. By the way, the basement will be insulated at the side walls as well as the ceiling. To even out unevenness, 5mm (0.2 inches) of leveling compound is planned, followed by a special concrete coating.
The basement stairs will also be left in their unfinished state. Only the top step will have hardwood flooring, like the rest of the ground floor.
Our main concern is to prevent the floor from shedding sand and making it so that you always come out of the basement with dirty feet. In my opinion, it is sufficient if the basement can be swept. Surely, everyone has different expectations. I was assured that this is possible, and apparently some members of this forum can confirm this as well.
In the worst case, I will have to tile it again in a few years.
The basement stairs will also be left in their unfinished state. Only the top step will have hardwood flooring, like the rest of the ground floor.
Our main concern is to prevent the floor from shedding sand and making it so that you always come out of the basement with dirty feet. In my opinion, it is sufficient if the basement can be swept. Surely, everyone has different expectations. I was assured that this is possible, and apparently some members of this forum can confirm this as well.
In the worst case, I will have to tile it again in a few years.
Hendrik1980 schrieb:
The basement stairs will also be left unfinished. Only the top step is planned to have parquet flooring, matching the rest of the ground floor.Then be extremely careful to ensure that nobody miscalculates the step heights.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
What, now? Is your basement being insulated *inside*, since walls or ceiling are mentioned? For an older building, okay, that makes sense, but for a new build, this is... not ideal.
Is there still a plan for how you intend to manage moisture in the basement area, and more importantly, how to keep this moisture away from your living space?
Is there still a plan for how you intend to manage moisture in the basement area, and more importantly, how to keep this moisture away from your living space?
Hendrik198022 Sep 2022 15:41Harakiri schrieb:
What, now? Is your basement being insulated *from the inside*, since walls or ceiling are mentioned? For older buildings, sure, that’s necessary, but in new construction, that’s... not ideal.
Is there still a plan for how you intend to manage moisture in the basement area, but more importantly, how to keep that moisture away from your living space?Why insulate from the inside? No, the basement walls are insulated from the outside, and the ceiling to the ground floor is also insulated. Only the floor/floor slab is not.
I was told that, also due to the controlled ventilation system, there won’t be any moisture problems.
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