polished concrete for basement room?

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

We own a 100-year old home in Montreal, Canada. The basement is unfinished and the concrete floor is very uneven. The ceiling is about 6" high in most of the basement.

A previous owner attempted to finish a room of approximately 55 sq.ft. where the floor is the most even and the ceiling is at its highest. They covered the concrete floor with 12" vinyl tiles.

We'd now like to turn this room into an office. We're limited in our flooring options due to the low ceiling and the unevenness of the floor. We're considering polished concrete over the vinyl tiles, to level the floor. It's also a durable surface for office chairs. We would do this only in the room we're planning to finish, not in the whole basement.

Does anyone have experience with polished concrete in a residential basement? Thank you.

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Comments (2)

3onthetree
4 years ago
More than likely your concrete slab is a "mud" slab (aka "rat" slab) - meaning just 2" thick and dumped in via bucket and roughly troweled out. Just enough to keep you off the original dirt floor. If so, I would not expect to finish or use the slab in any way as you intend.

Depending on moisture, the low ceiling headroom, and the condition of the slab your space can probably never be a real, permanent, space. So maybe just self-leveling compound and putting some vinyl planks or sheet vinyl down.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
No to concrete over the vinyl I agree a leveler compund and probably a carpet or vinyl This space will never pass code so do not spend a fortune on finishing it Is there even natural light down there ? Those spaces were never meant to be livied in only to house the furnace , HW tank etc. We had a 105 yr old house but the previous owners in 1946 had the house raised to do a proper basement space that is the only way to really make this liveable.
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