My 1950 ranch house is built on a slab foundation. Currently it has sheet vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bath, and wall-to-wall carpet in the other rooms. I visited a coffeeshop recently that had a beautiful polished-concrete floor and wondered if it was possible to seal and polish my house’s slab and use it as the floor, augmenting it with throw rugs. Is such a thing feasable?
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I think it's possible. Depends whether vapor barrier was installed under slab to keep moisture from coming up through. May also be hard to get the vinyl and adhesive off the slab. But I think once you did, you could acid wash and dye and seal the concrete. You may want to ask this on the Breaktime forum and get the advice of contractors and concrete guys over there.
Totally Possible, 1. You clean, scrape, grind, if necessary the surface smooth and relevel to flat, (may be high one side to the other, if to high let go) 2. acid wash floor building supply house will know what your looking for, 3. seal the floor with the best sealer you can afford, (dont go cheap here), 4. Pick out your new finish at go to town, the new sealer will controll moisture transfer from the slab and your wear and tear will deal with the surface, good Luck, The Blueductman
If there is no asbestos in the mastic and you can remove all the surface mastic then a terrazzo grinder may work to smooth the floor.