Have you heard of quartz carpet? It is a composite of quartz aggregate and resin, uv resistant no fade, soft underfoot, seamless indoors or outdoor use and can be installed over existing concrete floor, ply etc so evening a miss matched floor is easy. Mid century have some stunning leftovers like large elongated space, timber detailing and panelling and innovative material application for their time. When we restore them today often in respect to them we more often upgrade these innovAtions while still feeling at home. Remember cork floors, they felt great, insulated well and laid easily, but look outdated now, Quartz carpet has that same feel, but much sexier! evolution surfaces website can help. Their polished concrete veneer is also interesting. Good luck. ML Design

Like most things there are more than one way of achieving a similar outcome. 2. & 3. An existing slab can be polished or a screed of concrete can be laid and polished (over an existing slab). Both are acceptable. Concrete can/does crack hence they add expansion/control joints and suchlike to control the cracking. 4. is tricky to answer without being on site as there is too many variables. 5. More than likely to be slippery as it's a 'polished' surface. Even outdoor tiles with a course surface can be slippery. 6. Polishing is time consuming. The machinery is that grinds the surface is expensive. It is quite popular so theres a few companies doing it so shop around and look at the different options. Polished concrete looks great but you won't really know the outcome until actually completely ground and sealed. Have a look on YouTube too see how it's done.

we have decided to go with concrete floors in our new build. the foundations have just been done, and the team came through and power floated the floor. It rained the next day, which showed us the full effect of what the floor will look like (the builder said its good for it to rain too as means less likely to crack) and we LOVE it! so much so that i rang the builder and asked him to be careful on the hallway floor too as we want to continue the concrete finish up there as well. We arnt going for a ground floor as i find it a bit too busy and we are wanting a more relaxed industrial look. This is the photo i supplied the builder and it looks pretty much the same. The finish is achieved as soon as concrete foundation is poured. they "buff" the concrete, which "burns" the top, giving it quite a organic look. once this is done, the floor needs to be protected from chips etc while they build, then all that needs to be done is sealing once the build is finished. it came in alot cheaper than tile, or wood, but more expensive than carpet. our house is north facing with a lot of glass on that wall. the architect told us that the thermal mass from the flooring will be awesome! keep us updated on what you choose. :)

We have polished concrete floors in our house (including kitchen) and in a rental property we have. I have noticed the rental house has grease marks on the kitchen floor, that I'm working on removing. This has not happened in my house as I clean spills immediately and clean frequently. I'm wondering if this is normal for polished concrete floors or if they haven't been sealed properly? At the time of the build, everyone I asked said these floors were a breeze for maintenance. Now I'm a bit worried because of this grease issue. Is this normal or could something be wrong?