Hi Chris The cheapest option is Grind & Seal, but we usually recommend Mechanically Polished Concrete for inside of a home. This is by far a better option, if you were to go for a Matte or Satin finish it is less expensive than a higher gloss finish. Mechanically Polished Concrete does not have a top coat sealer requiring drying and curing time and does not need re-applying in the future which will save time and money in the long run. Because Polished Concrete does not require drying or curing time it can be used as soon as the process is completed unlike the Grind & Seal option. All floors are slippery when wet, a non slip agent can be added to a top coat sealer which would be the Grind & Seal method which we do apply in a shower area if there is not a shower base. Polished Concrete in Matte and Satin finish does have a very good slip rating, has no grout lines as with tiled floors where dust can get trapped therefore it is a wonderful easy to clean flooring solution. Hope this helps, I have provided some details regarding the 2 main processes below There are 2 different finishing processes / methods that are commonly called Polished Concrete, they are very different so it is important that you know the difference & which process/method you want and which is being used on your concrete Polished Concrete - 12 to 17+ step process During this process the concrete is ground to the desired level of stone exposure. After grinding the concrete surface, the Polished Concrete process begins. This process has a densifier applied in multiple stages that is absorbed into the concrete which hardens and strengthens the concrete. A Polished Concrete Floor is Polished in Multiple stages in a Refining Process using diamond tooling & resin pads. A penetrating sealer is applied in the final buffing stage to complete the process The "Polished Concrete" process has "NO TOP COAT SEALER" applied therefore there is no drying or curing time required so your space can be used as soon as the process is completed Grind & Seal (a 3 to 4 step process) This is NOT Polished Concrete. Grind & Seal is often referred to as Polished Concrete, this is the cheaper substitute that gives a "Polished Concrete Look" With the Grind & Seal method the concrete is ground to the desired level of stone exposure and a TOP Coat Sealer is applied such as water based, solvent based, urethane, acrylic or epoxy requiring 5-7 days to dry & cure

write to him and say you're not satisfied with the work and can't pay for such a poor job after you already gave him a chance to fix the problem but it's still not good enough... send photos of each problem area and ask what he suggest could be done to fix them (keep duplicates of all emails or letters).....he may ask for another chance to fix the problem or may decide not to ask for the rest of the money...the only consolation is that you will have a poor job for half the agreed amount and/or you may decide to give him another chance. Unfortunately crooked tiles can be a problem in lots of houses where walls are never straight but a good tiler expects and will compensate for this.. removing tiles can break them and damage the surrounding tiles so i hope you've kept some spares and if necessary explain the problem to your tile supplier to recommend another tiler to try and fix the problem ...hopefully the rest of your reno will go well, best of luck to you

Hi there, okay what you need to do is the cut the floor out to the dimensions of the shower base you require and frame out a new floor allowing enough to add screed to create fall the the drain and the tile plus glue and to allow for the thickness of the timber screen so best work this out from the expected finished height of the tiled floor. I would expect to drop the floor around 100mm to the floor joist then add Sycon sheeting the joist and edges. Add some gal angle to the internal and external corners of the shower base. At this stage you can lay villaboard sheeting to the rest of the room and now screed the shower base with fall 6mm over a 1 metre is AS for Victoria but we allow 20mm with a shower base so that's 20mm from the finished tiled floor to the grate it is a bit but we find it works well. Now that the screed has been laid you can waterproofing according to AS3740 once this is done you just need to tile. Hope this helps you out. please get back to me if you need any more advice or help. Regards Laurie

Hi, I am at same stage of renovating kitchen, regional Western Australia, harder to get different but I have found these at my local tile shop, that had to be ordered in, not up yet but our house is 1960 build and I had the red brick exposed with glass over the top, while very unique and lots of positive comments it was in a chimney location and debris fell behind and I have had it replaced once to clean it up and it happened again so I am afraid it is going, I am covering with same stone as bench top in fire place but I am using some marble tiles on other area. I wanted the stone behind stove top for cleaning purposes but I love the tiles I have selected I hope they look as good once up, I agree about not wanting house stuck too much in 50/60, my bricks were red and I found it quite dark when cooking as well, I am looking forward to clean white behind stove, I actually found the harshness of the old brick a bit depressing.. I don't think industrial look is for me .. I love your lights I think I actually had them on my list... the whole look looks fabulous, I hope you are surviving, I have had enough of cooking in the laundry but I must say I could write a book on the creative gourmet using $29 electric frying pan from target, I have fallen in love with it. :)