Has anyone lived with concrete floors?

[heartlikealion]

I'd loose a tooth probably! My mouth ached when I read this. :)

A few weeks ago I broke a tooth. This past August I broke my toe. We're starting to rethink our awesome money saving idea. 

 

Ok now that you brought it up, this is really what was running through my mind earlier. My kids both fall a lot and one literally just lost a tooth and got stitches in her mouth about a week ago :( She fell in her play area which is foam padding on top of wood floors, but she hit her sippy cup or a toy. Anyway, just the thought of falling on concrete scares me. I think back to the concrete kitchen and the tile kitchens I've been in and I know when a dish hits the tile, sometimes the tile cracks. But the concrete, well, that doesn't. So that makes me think it's harder.

 

[Bluegoat]

I think even without in floor heating, you can reduce a lot of the issues with the floor being really cold, and moisture and such, so long as it is properly insulated.  I would still consider the in floor heating though, it is very soothing.

 

Between wood tile and concrete, I would probably go with the concrete if you like both aesthetically.  I think all the issues with heat and hardness and such would be about the same - tile also has all of those issues.

 

One type of floor I have seen but never lived with is actually a kind of clay floor, which looks similar to concrete and is also cheap.  It's supposed to be much more forgiving flooring.  It seems to be more of a thing among natural house builders, so a conventional contractor might not know anything about it.

 

As far as slipping - I would look into some texturing options.

[Bluegoat]

Ok now that you brought it up, this is really what was running through my mind earlier. My kids both fall a lot and one literally just lost a tooth and got stitches in her mouth about a week ago :( She fell in her play area which is foam padding on top of wood floors, but she hit her sippy cup or a toy. Anyway, just the thought of falling on concrete scares me. I think back to the concrete kitchen and the tile kitchens I've been in and I know when a dish hits the tile, sometimes the tile cracks. But the concrete, well, that doesn't. So that makes me think it's harder.

 

 

I'm not sure it is - the tile is more brittle I think.  I think the concrete has - more tensile strength? - that may not be the right word.

[ktgrok]

I agree that if it was tile or concrete I might go concrete, as as least then there is no grout to clean. I hate grout with a passion. But I'd want something with more give than either of those. 

[heartlikealion]

I'm not sure it is - the tile is more brittle I think.  I think the concrete has - more tensile strength? - that may not be the right word.

 

That could be it. I'm not sure if one type of flooring is better for the back, but that would be a consideration as well as others brought up.

[Jean in Newcastle]

These might be more expensive (I have no idea though) but my dream house would have cork or rubber floors. 

[kitten18]

My BIL had a house on the central coast with concrete floors.  They were beautiful and they loved everything about them.  They did have the gel rugs in the kitchen.

 

 

We have porcelain tile on our first floor and I love it.  We desperately need to rip out all our upstairs carpet and I think we're going to put wood tile up there (we have it in two rooms downstairs).  Our wood tile is fairly dark and the grout is dark and the grout lines are very, very thin so it doesn't have grout cleaning issues that you have with most other tile.

We've had tile in the kitchen since the kids were babies. Yes, I've broken a few dishes, maybe 5 or 6 in 12 years.  

 

We have two dogs (one little one that sometimes goes to the bathroom in the house) and we have completely ruled out all wood floors (including cork and bamboo).  There is really nothing that will hold up to big dog claws or the moisture of dog urine.

I love the durability of tile.

[Scarlett]

Ok now that you brought it up, this is really what was running through my mind earlier. My kids both fall a lot and one literally just lost a tooth and got stitches in her mouth about a week ago :( She fell in her play area which is foam padding on top of wood floors, but she hit her sippy cup or a toy. Anyway, just the thought of falling on concrete scares me. I think back to the concrete kitchen and the tile kitchens I've been in and I know when a dish hits the tile, sometimes the tile cracks. But the concrete, well, that doesn't. So that makes me think it's harder.

 

 

 

Not harder.  Just less structural integrity because of the grouting that connects the tile.

 

Back to the floor being too hard to stand on....I spent about 6 hours on my boss's tile floors on Monday and my feet were aching by the end.  I think it would be rare to spend 6 hours on your feet working straight in your own home...because I know I never feel that way at home....unless of course I spend the entire day cleaning. Yikes going in circles.

 

I think concrete and tile would be the same on the body.  And to me it hasn't been that big of a deal.  

[Tap]

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Edited May 24, 2016 by Tap

[Garga]

My kids each have their birthday party in the church "multipurpose room" (like a huge ugly gym). It has concrete floors with a thin carpet over it. My feet hurt SO BAD at those parties from standing on the concrete for a few hours. And I was wearing slippers through the whole party, so I wasn't barefoot. Maybe if you wore supportive sneakers or something it would be ok? But will everyone in your family do that? If anyone wants to kick off their shoes and wear slippers, it will hurt.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Garga

[BlsdMama]

As people who just pulled out concrete in order to get ready for a new patio, I would wonder how bad it is when or if you feel like making a change?

 

It's one thing to pull out tile but I can't imagine removing concrete if you later decide you want something else.

[TammyS]

 

 

We have cats too. In fact that's one of the problems. One of them has started to pee in two spots.

 

You've probably already decided, but in case you haven't, don't get concrete.  We bought a house with an enclosed patio with a concrete floor.  The previous owner had let her dog use the bathroom in there.  We knew it, but figured it was concrete, no big deal, we'll clean it up.  OMG.  You cannot get the smell out.  It sinks into the concrete!  I contacted several concrete people and they said the best you could do was seal over it to reduce the smell, but even the seals are porous and you'll never totally get rid of it.  We ended up putting thick vapor barrier over it (black plastic) and then carpet over that.  

 

You do not want cats peeing on the concrete.  Your house will smell forever.

[waa510]

Yes, the only thing that bothered us was the hardness of the floor and the breaking of all the things b/c I'm hopelessly clumsy. It took weeks for our feet and the kids' to toughen up enough. We were seriously hobbling along with thick slippers on constantly for a few weeks as our feet were just not used to it at all! It was painful. I also dropped plates and cups and destroyed a lot of dish-ware. I've always had way too many dishes so it wasn't an issue, really, but just a pain to clean. YMMV if you aren't as clumsy as I am. :)