Property developers and owners in South Africa enjoy the luxury of choosing from different floor types which includes carpet, tile, laminate, hardwood, marble, vinyl and cement flooring. From this list, cement floors are now a common feature in homes, trendy restaurants, retail stores and modern offices. Research shows that cement flooring is fast gaining popularity in kitchens, bathrooms and outdoor living areas. This is largely attributed to the versatility of cement when considering unique design specifications. (homeinspirations.co.za)
Why are cement floors popular?
1. Low-maintenance
Every property developer and owner wishes to reduce the cost of maintenance in the long term. Cement has proven to be the ideal choice in this regard not only because of its durability but also because properly sealed concrete floors shrug off dirt, grit, stains, spills, and hard impacts. A quick sweep and mop are usually what you need to do to keep them fresh and clean.
2. Design
Cement floors have also proven to be easy to redesign. Concrete floors can be stamped with rubber stencils to give it texture but you can also use some colourful dyes to make the floor look like ceramic tile, natural stone, brick, even dirt!
3. Heated floors
Cement floors carry a notorious reputation of getting extremely cold during the winter seasons. The good news is that this floor allows you to add radiant heat — electrical cables or hot water tubes embedded in the concrete to create warm and comfy floors.
A cement floor can be given a new lease of life by adding on some measured patterns and designs which can be in form of colours, lines, shapes, or even swirls.
How can cement floors be made more appealing?
1. Colour
You must never underestimate the power of paint in creating the ideal space and outlook. You must also avoid limiting paint to walls and possibly the roof. You can make your concrete or cement floor look bright and appealing by adding some colour. You can also opt to use different shades of paint instead of one.
2. Screen printed art paper flooring
Your cement floor doesn’t have to be cold and boring. Imagine what difference screen-printed art paper can make. You can print a single image of your favourite picture and lay it across the entire floor area, or use a repeat pattern. For businesses, you can print the company logo and put in in strategic areas on the floor.
3. Paint concrete to look like brick
To achieve this, you can measure the floor and dissect it according to the size and shape of normal bricks. Then you can paint those dissected areas with brick red paint while leaving demarcated lines intact.
4. Stencilled cement flooring
A stencilled concrete floor is one of the best things you can do to your cement floor because it covers any floor defects and adds some much-needed beauty. This process varies depending on the type of stencil used, whether its applied directly to the floor or to an overlay.
5. Brown Paper Flooring
You can save a good amount of money allocated for new carpets by using brown paper flooring. This is done by using only brown paper bags and some polyurethane. You can choose to stain the bags for a variety in colours. This is more suitable for bedrooms occupied by teens who might like a floor covered in magazine pages. Even a nursery school for little children would get a new lovely feel through colourful storybook pages.
6. Leather belt Flooring
This cement floor beautifying process involves using old recycled belts to cover the cement floor. You can buy these belts from commercial manufacturers or collect by yourself which is a bit of a tough task. The belts are then cut to fit the measured spaces, you can use water-based glue to apply the vintage leather belts to the floor and achieve a custom-made leather belt cement floor.
The ideas provided above if well implemented will assist you with changing the look of your cement floor.
