Concrete Floor grinding - Any advice or tips?

Oh, and Robbie, when you're done with the grinding, vacuum the whole floor - sweeping will just put more dust into the air and by then you're going to have had enough of the dust. I've got a cheap Ryobi vac I bought from Bunnings years ago for that sort of thing.

 

That looks like a pretty rough concrete slab. I would think it's going to be very difficult to get that looking good. Obviously if you don't succeed then you can always tile over the floor. Problem with tiling after the fact is all the hard work and expense you will have exerted.

Do realise that you can now get porcelain tiles that look like polished concrete floors. I think that this would give you the look you desire without that wasted effort.

Some of the tiles that are available

DARK CONCRETE MATT FINISH 600mm x 600mm PORCELAIN FLOOR TILE** SAVE $$$

LIGHT CONCRETE MATT FINISH 600mm x 600mm PORCELAIN FLOOR TILE** SAVE $$$

BRUSHED CONCRETE IVORY MATT FINISH 600mm x 600mm PORCELAIN FLOOR TILE** SAVE $$$

 

Yup, just levelling a few holes, not the entire floor.

Thanks!

 

I think the plan was always to tile over it, Andy. He's just getting the slate up now and sealing it against dust then putting a new kitchen in ASAP and tiling next year.

 

@Handyandy

The end goal for me is to tile in 3 - 6 months, so i just want to get the floor as livable, level and dust free as possible, so what I'm doing is just temporary.

The only extra work i will be doing is filling some holes in the slab and sealing the whole area. Not too much effort or cost.

 

Can I use Crommelin Concrete Floor Sealer, instead of Bondcrete, to prime holes before filling them?

 

I suspect there are a dozen products out there you can use. Bondcrete is the most common one. It has been around forever and it's available everywhere. That's why it gets mentioned.

 

Personally we tile the kitchen florr before installing the kitchen.

Two reason the first is if you want to change the configuration of the kitchen you won't have tiling gaps.

Secondly and more important is if you have a slow leak then without tiles in place the water will just sit under your kitchen and potentially rot everything. If the floor is tiled then the water will show up on the floor.

 

We have put quite a bit of time, effort and money in our current kitchen, i dont see us changing the configuration while im still living there thats for sure. If we really wanted too, i would keep a few sqm of spare tiles to fill gaps.

Would you be able to elaborate on the slow leak and how sealed floors v tiles would cause issues?

My old kitchen must be about 25-30 years old. Tiling was done around the kitchen (like im doing now) and there didnt seem to be issues.

My tiler said there are no wrong or right ways to do it, in terms of tiling first v after.

As far as i remember my kitchen installer telling me, he can raise the kitchen a few mm to cater for when you tile after.

 

Regarding a sealer, it looks like BondCrete would need about 24 hours drying time, which wont really be a practical option in our house due to the areas which needs sealing and with young kids.

Crommelin Conrete Floor Sealer drys in 4 hours, which is probably what I'll go for.

 

I would be filling the hole with the levelling product while the Bondcrete is still wet.

 

My concern i guess is when i seal the entire floor area of my house (35-40sqm), which is why I am looking for a product with the quickest drying time as it will be difficult to keep the kids (and us) off the floors for 24 hours, which is the time Bondcrete requires fully dry.

 

Im not concerned about the drying time for sealing the holes

 

Sealing the whole floor is just a temporary dust measure. I would be diluting the Bondcrete with water - maybe 4:1. That's going to speed up the drying.

 

Yup, the ratio of 1:4 was what i was told when i called Bondall technical support.. they suggested 24 hours dry time.

 

Gee. Must be that funny water down in Adelaide.
Do a test on it today. Just pick a bit of floor out of the main traffic area. Put a fan near it when it's done so you get some air movement.

 

Just finished sealing holes with Bondcrete (1:3 ratio), then filled them up with Ardit floor leveller..

I'll be grinding the floor in 2.5 days time, so should be plenty of time for the leveler to cure.

 

Reading through the thread and seeing your photos it seems that you are committed to your course of action and I wish you all the best.

Cheers

 

Just a long overdue update..

Had all the slate removed, something i never want to have to go through again! lol