ᐅ Slim slab or exposed concrete

A cast-in-place concrete slab looks very similar to a precast concrete slab – there is usually little difference in price, but the effort involved is often avoided.

hauk_w. schrieb:
Thanks for your answers, I want to avoid plastering and painting, and wallpapering is out of the question.....

According to several structural builders’ quotes, the cast-in-place concrete ceiling costs quite a bit more than the precast concrete ceiling.

Any other ideas?

Have a nice evening,
Wolfgang

Why should the ceiling be more expensive? For us, it was cheaper, easier for the electrician and the mechanical ventilation installer, and it was also faster since we weren’t dependent on delivery from the concrete plant. Of course, it involves more work for the structural builder.
The ceiling is then monolithic and doesn’t consist of separate parts with joints that also need to be filled and smoothed (which is important if you want exposed concrete).

Hello,
what have you decided?
What speaks against leaving the precast concrete floor slabs as the final ceiling?
At least, that is my plan. Of course, you need to think in advance about the placement of ceiling outlets for pendant lamps or spotlights and coordinate this with the shell construction contractor. But isn’t the look of the untreated precast concrete ceiling acceptable? Has anyone done this and maybe has photos of how it looks?

And leave the joints like that as well?

You can see it if they haven't been plastered.

Yes!
I’m not sure if I’m completely off track here, but in the end, isn’t it just a matter of personal taste how the joints look?
Either I can’t find any photos showing the final result, or simply no one does it because the surface must be leveled and plastered anyway.
From what I keep reading, most of the unevenness gets fixed during leveling, plastering, and sanding, so the final appearance isn’t as expected if the joints aren’t addressed.
Or are there other reasons why closing the joints is important?

You definitely need to fill and sand the joints, and then fill again – especially with grazing light, otherwise it looks strange.
Leaving it completely untreated would mean a gray mottled appearance... of course, that’s a matter of personal taste, but I found the transition from gray to white to be quite nice and satisfying.