Lowest cost concrete shed floor finish?

[nightsmithjones]

Hi everyone, I hope you are well, 

I have a two-bay shed (6m x 6m) that we are looking at converting into an office space. I have looked through a heap of projects on here of other projects and most are incredible. 

In our case though, we need to do something with the concrete flooring first (around eight years old, mostly clean. A few stains but not a total mess). Our criteria is as follows:

• Something that is as low-cost as possible (so we can use our budget on fittings)
• Something that will not show up dirt/footprints too badly but can be cleaned easy enough when needed
• Something that will not need to be removed or undone if we convert back to a shed
• In terms of my skills and equipment - low, and not much (happy to hire someone, just don't know what type of finish to consider)

We are in the Logan region in South East QLD.

Any suggestions or additional info I need to provide?

Thank you!       

[EricL]

Hello @nightsmithjones 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your shed flooring.

There are a number of options such as paint, timber flooring and hybrid waterproof flooring. Would it be possible for you to post a few photos of your shed flooring? We'll then be able to assess its condition. We can then make recommendations on what flooring to use. If you have a relatively flat concrete floor it might be possible to cover it with Rust-Oleum 3.78L Battleship Grey Concrete And Garage Floor Paint on the condition that there is no evidence of hydrostatic pressure occurring on the surface of your concrete floor.

Next would be the use of STRUCTAflor 3600 x 800 x 22mm RED tongue Flooring General Purpose Particleboard in combination with vinyl sheet flooring. A plastic covering such as builder's plastic will need to be placed over the concrete slab to create a moisture barrier and then the RED tongue is placed over it. The vinyl sheet flooring is then placed over the red tounge to give it a nice finish. The last suggestion would be the Hybrid flooring. It's waterproof and creates a beautiful timber floor like finish.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Nailbag]

Hi @nightsmithjones 

based on the option to revert back to a shed, the two options to me are, 1. Paint the floor as @EricL suggested or polish it. My preference would be to go the polish. It looks great more durable with no potential marks left from furniture. Either option doesn't require anything to be pulled back up and allow for rugs etc to quiet the room and not be so cold underfoot in an office environment.

Nailbag

[nightsmithjones]

Thanks @EricL and @Nailbag. 

I have added a couple of photos. 
I think the polish finish is the way to go. Thanks Nailbag. I am thinking something like as honed finish as it seems to be a little cheaper than a standard polish, and the result has a bit more character (from a brief web search). Do you know much about honed finishes?      

    

[EricL]

Hi @nightsmithjones 

Your shed floor looks excellent and putting a honed finish on it should be perfect for office use. My best suggestion is speaking to a concrete polishing expert and getting a few quotes to give you an idea of how much the going rate is. 

A honed concrete finish refers to a surface that has been ground and polished to a smooth, matte, or satin finish. It's achieved by progressively using finer and finer grinding tools until the desired smoothness and sheen are achieved.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Nailbag]

Hi @nightsmithjones 

Honed polishing is the DIY way to go, which you can hire the machine for around $460/24hrs which will be plenty of time.

Nailbag

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @nightsmithjones 

Polishing would be nice but to offer an alternative, how about carpet squares? 

Bookcase retrofit to create a garage library in particular step 6 shows the floor after the tiles went down.

No sealing of the concete as it has always been dry.

No glue was used, the existing leftover stickness of the carpet tiles was fine.

Recyled carpet tiles at $0.50ea I picked up from a carpet place, I didnt needa huge amount and they would have ex tiles come through that they would normally have to dispose of. They were all clean on top, some had sticky glue, some were clean. 

The tiles dont shift at all, I have had water in the garage and all I did was peel them up, stand them outside for a day and then they were put back into service, no mustiness at all.

Dave

[nightsmithjones]

@Nailbag Thanks Nailbag, I will check this out. 

[Nailbag]

Look forward to the results @nightsmithjones 

But failing that idea, @Dave-1 with the 2nd hand carpet tiles is also a very easy and cheap temp solution as well.

Nailbag