Grove House: Polished Concrete Floors
One of the more "bold" design decisions for Grove House is to do polished concrete flooring throughout the entire house and studio. We debated on doing reclaimed wood, travertine (which is in our current home), wood tile and even marble but eventually decided to take a risk and do what we've always wanted to do, polished concrete. If in the years to come, we ever tire of it, we can always lay wood or tile over the concrete.
There has been a ton of planning involved in achieving the proper concrete floor, you can't just pour the foundation as you would in a normal house that would later be covered with another flooring material. The concrete has to be poured at a certain psi, there are decisions about using rock vs. pebble in the mix, a fiber mesh has to be added to the concrete, radiant heating has to be considered, saw cuts and joint seams are thoroughly planned as to keep stress cracks contained and to a minimum. The concrete also has to be pressure washed and dried several times to prepare for the next batch of steps....Densifiers are applied to keep the concrete from being "dusty" and polishing sealers and compounds are then burnished with an industrial machine, and joints are sealed with an industrial grade compound that is used in warehouses and hospitals. And all must be non-toxic, low VOC since we will be walking on it barefoot and living with it daily. Let's just say...it's not like ripping up your carpet and painting it. (Which my sister has done and is what inspired me to take the risk. I love her floors!)
During the rest of the construction phase...the entire floor has to be covered with wrap and plywood boards to prevent damage during the remaining build. It's been an interesting challenge but we are thrilled with the results so far. Here are a few progress photos....
The left photo is the day they poured the concrete. The next day, white chalk lines were made to mark the saw cut pattern. We chose to do 8X8 squares in the main part of the house and 8X10 rectangles in the studio, which is located in the far left corner of the photos.
Here they are making the saw cuts and what they look like when finished. They worked in their socks so as to not damage the floor. Such great guys!
I just loved this cowboy working on the garage....looks like he's branding it! The photo on the right is after the concrete has cured out more. You can see it's lightened up a bit. This was also after the first round of burnishing. After this, the saw cuts were sealed. The second burnishing and polishing will take place after the framing but before all the cabinetry goes in. More progress to follow!
Thanks for coming along on this journey with us. I've been a little MIA on the blog over the summer...building a house (and a ton of photoshoots) have kept me going non-stop. I want you to know how much I appreciate you stopping by!
Between posts you can always find me on Instagram! Are you on it? It's so much fun!
