Polished concrete in a family room?

Just wondering people's opinions on whether you'd recommend polished concrete in our main family room? It's a late 70s extension and currently has carpet squares which are awful. We were thinking of putting a floating timber floor but have seen that polished concrete looks really good. I worry that it will be too cold though in winter. Not really concerned about stuff breaking on the hard surface, although other people have mentioned that....

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Jason

We've gone with a polished concrete floor in our new backyard games room @ShawnWilkey. We're happy with the look and feel. We're finding it surprisingly warm underfoot.

I take it you are thinking of polishing an existing concrete slab? If you were putting down a new floor you could obviously investigate in-slab heating.

I think for a family room you would also want to consider a rug, especially if its an area in which family members typically sit on the floor such as when watching television or playing games. But you would probably want a rug anyway even if you went for timber or tiles.

I'll pop a photo of our floor below. Hope it helps.

Jason

Andy_Mann

@ShawnWilkey, I totally agree with @Jason on his experience & suggestions, with the proviso that your existing floors are concrete. If your family room has a Northern aspect, you'll get thermal gains from the sunlight, the thermal mass will hold it & release that warmth into the room of an evening.

If your family room has a Southern aspect, then underfloor heating (I love the concept) would be advisable. Trouble being that it will require a concrete float over the in-floor elements & your existing floor, so will raise your floor level. If that's a non-factor, & the expense is outweighed by comfort, then it's a winner.

Eastern & Western aspects will need shielding/shading from the Summer blazes, but can work for you in Winter.

We had quarry triles laid in our Southern aspect entry, & it continued down the central passageway when we built in '75. Yes it's cooler, but virtually a constant temperature year round, so if it were a room, dressing appropriately & having scattered rugs on the floor, it would be fine.

ProjectPete

I love the concrete look @ShawnWilkey. Id have slight concerns about the winter cold but i tend to go for style over comfort sometimes haha.

A rug should help like @Jason said and given i like a gadgety thing or two I'd be looking at the heated flooring.

I also love timber though so a nice timber finish would be lovely too or floating boards.

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