MaryL wrote:

I posted a question about this to another newsgroup but didn't get any
answers, so I hope I may have found the right NG for solutions this time.

I am having a sunroom added to my house -- starting in 2 or 3 weeks. It
will really be an additional room, with the ductwork of my existing central
air/heating system extended to include that room. The contractor assures me
that I have an adequate unit to do that (which will involve an addition of
approximately 320 square feet).

At present, I have two sets of French doors that open to the area that will
become the new sunroom. The windows have started to fog, so I am going to
have these metal doors replaced with wood interior French doors. The
threshold will be removed so the new patio flooring can be flush with the
interior floor, and approximately 1 inch will be cut off the bottom of the
doors to provide air circulation when they are closed. The existing patio
(really, just a slab of concrete) is in very poor condition and will be
removed. It will be replaced with a larger area of concrete. This time, it
will have both rebar and mesh for support. I also specified that we use
footers (hope that's the right term) because the soil here is very sandy.

I was originally going to use tile, but the contractor recommended scored
concrete. I looked at some of his samples, and it looks very nice. The
concrete would be stained about 3 weeks after it is poured. He says the
stain will penetrate about 1/4", so I should not have problems with the type
of white scratches that show up on unfinished concrete when furniture is
moved around. I also want to be sure that this will be easy to clean (and I
have cats, so there could be "accidents"). It will be sealed with an epoxy
sealer.

Do any of you have experience with this type of produce? Is it easy to
maintain, especially after a few years (light traffic area)? What about
scoring versus plain? If it is scored, we will use a thin line to emulate
tile (not the wide grout) and grout will be placed in the scored areas. Is
it likely that this will create a problem in future years with cracking and
lifting, or is this an unncecessary concern?

Thanks,
MaryL




There are numerous ways to finish concrete to use as a finished
floor. Your best bet is to educate yourself on the various
finishes, decide on the one that you want, then negotiate with your
builder or a subcontractor to do what you want to do.

Here is a great place to learn about this:

http://www.concretenetwork.com/

Good luck,

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX