I’m an architect in chicago, designing a nice single family home. the owner’s are interested in concrete floors, which i’m excited about, but not sure how to design properly. any advice to steer me clear of major oversights down the road will be very appreciated!
in the basement, it’s fairly simple: the structural slab can have radiant heat, and even be stained for color and finished properly. obviously this is more expensive then your typical structural slab, however hopefully the increase in both concrete labor and material out weighs the addition of another finished floor.
the first floor is more challenging, and I’m hoping it can be accomplished without creating too much additional expense. i intend to install 16″ tall wood trusses for the floor structure (min L/480). i’d like to have a finished concrete floor in many rooms, including radiant heat. how thick does the slab need to be? what is the additional dead load on the floor structure? is special decking required? assuming the concrete is colored and patterned, should i expect this to be overly expensive?
as a comparison for the first floor, I’d expect to spend $20-$40/SF on stone flooring anyway & that on top of 1 1/2″ light weight concrete for radiant heat.
Thank you!
Replies
Curious,
Welcome to Breaktime.
I sense a certain unexpected degree of sensitivity here in the fact that nobody has tried to answer your questions. Normally, the crowd here would be all over it.
The sensitivity (I might be imagining this) is probably because most of the people here are carpenters and we frequently are accused, and convicted on perfectly reasonable evidence, of beating up on architects. Well, I say, they were asking for it.
Well. you seem to be doing a bit of that here. (If I was strong on tact, I'd'a bin a diplomat. I build houses, though.) You've really never run into this before?
You've got a truss designer involved. Tell him you want to put a concrete overpour on your main level. He'll take care of the truss design, though you can certainly tell him what depth trusses you would prefer, if it's possible. No unusual subfloor is required. Fasten down wall plates before pouring.
A concrete depth of 1 1/2" is almost universal in this type of application. You need enough to cover the pipes and enough over that that the thin slab will not crack over every pipe in the floor. Cut the slab in the doorways. It might be useful to plan the cuts before laying out the pipes and then put pipes elsewhere, even though the cuts do not need to be very deep. Keep that slab wet as long as you can manage. Cover it, Soak it and soak it again. After the mix proportions, nothing contribuites more to the quality of concrete than proper curing.
A local subcontractor can give you rough numbers over the phone in minutes for a sf price on staining or stamping.
Good Luck
Ron
I do this alot... but in my case it's old construction and i'm doing it for several reasons
in old building where i need to level the floor, i need a fire rating between floors... i need to limit sound between floors... and i want a cheap finished floor...
on top of true 2.5 x 12 heart pine 12-14" on center spanning 14ft (sitting on 12x16 heart pine beams...) decked in 2x6 T&G pine then 1x4 t&g pine (sometimes 1x2.5 oak) I'll usually place 1.5" to 3" lightweight on top of this for a finished floor...
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