We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on? I'm
guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.

Greg wrote:
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on? I'm
guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.



Stamped concrete is as durable as, well, concrete. Yeppers on the settling.
I recommend you remove the tile first. check this stuff:
http://www.bomanite.com/

--
WARNING:

Do NOT under any circumstances take advice from an idiot named AMUN.

AMUN is a clueless moron regarding tile, electrical, HVAC and various
other construction issues. As things go AMUN will (thankfully) dissapear
as his kind usually does when confronted with their bad advice by
those who are knowledgeable in their respective fields.

"Greg" wrote in message
...
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?
I'm
guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.


As I understand this. Your planning on ripping out the tile and concrete
floor and putting down a stamped concrete finish. Wow, that is going to be
spendy.

Or are you talking about the concrete FINISHES that are available.

Tile cracking could be from the tile, from something dropped on the tile,
installation, improper bedding/thinset or ya the floor is settling. I would
choose anything other than the last mentioned on first glance. If the floor
is settling then I would be doing some serious walking away from the
property.
All concrete cracks now days. Better find out before you sign your bank
account away.

SQLit wrote:
"Greg" wrote in message
...

We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?

I'm

guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.



As I understand this. Your planning on ripping out the tile and concrete
floor and putting down a stamped concrete finish. Wow, that is going to be
spendy.

Or are you talking about the concrete FINISHES that are available.

Tile cracking could be from the tile, from something dropped on the tile,
installation, improper bedding/thinset or ya the floor is settling. I would
choose anything other than the last mentioned on first glance. If the floor
is settling then I would be doing some serious walking away from the
property.
All concrete cracks now days. Better find out before you sign your bank
account away.



The sky is falling the sky is falling!

??? Why remove the existing concrete? Bomanite's product can be
installed 1-1/2" thick over base slabs. They also have a 'thinset'
system that can be applied as thin as 3/8" and accepts imprinting tools.

As for the settling, it may be nothing more than stress fractures which
are common in just about all slabs. You'd be walking away from just
about every residential concrete slab in the universe.


btw, I have no interest in Bomanite other than I've seen the product and
it's a good one.


--
WARNING:

Do NOT under any circumstances take advice from an idiot named AMUN.

AMUN is a clueless moron regarding tile, electrical and various other
construction issues. As things go AMUN will (thankfully) dissapear
as his kind usually does when confronted with their bad advice by
those who are knowledgeable in their respective fields.
Until then - BEWARE

"Greg" wrote in message
...
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?
I'm guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years
I'm hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.


If you have a settling problem I would fix this first before pouring a
concrete slab. Stamped concrete in the kitchen wouldn't that be a
maintenance issue like mopping, sweeping and vacuuming where the dirt and
food particles get into all the nooks and crannies? Concrete is cold and
hard and I don't like walking on it. Our house is on a concrete slab but
none of it is exposed. Its covered by carpet, tile, laminate, vinyl, etc. I
rather have stamped concrete on my driveway than in the house. I does look
very nice though.

We are having the contractor over this week to go over things with us. From
what I understand and have seen on their site, it is poured concrete and
stamped with a prefab pattern. Then colored. Either acid or some type of
finish. The acid color reacts to the primary color and creates a unique
color. It looks pretty cool.

The guy said 6 to 7 dollars a square foot.


"SQLit" wrote in message
...

"Greg" wrote in message
...
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?
I'm
guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years
I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and
pour
it.


As I understand this. Your planning on ripping out the tile and concrete
floor and putting down a stamped concrete finish. Wow, that is going to
be
spendy.

Or are you talking about the concrete FINISHES that are available.

Tile cracking could be from the tile, from something dropped on the tile,
installation, improper bedding/thinset or ya the floor is settling. I
would
choose anything other than the last mentioned on first glance. If the
floor
is settling then I would be doing some serious walking away from the
property.
All concrete cracks now days. Better find out before you sign your bank
account away.

So you think it will be okay to just pour it over the existing tile? Or
thicker is better?


"G Henslee" wrote in message
...
SQLit wrote:
"Greg" wrote in message
...

We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?

I'm

guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years
I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and
pour
it.



As I understand this. Your planning on ripping out the tile and concrete
floor and putting down a stamped concrete finish. Wow, that is going to
be
spendy.

Or are you talking about the concrete FINISHES that are available.

Tile cracking could be from the tile, from something dropped on the tile,
installation, improper bedding/thinset or ya the floor is settling. I
would
choose anything other than the last mentioned on first glance. If the
floor
is settling then I would be doing some serious walking away from the
property.
All concrete cracks now days. Better find out before you sign your bank
account away.



The sky is falling the sky is falling!

??? Why remove the existing concrete? Bomanite's product can be
installed 1-1/2" thick over base slabs. They also have a 'thinset' system
that can be applied as thin as 3/8" and accepts imprinting tools.

As for the settling, it may be nothing more than stress fractures which
are common in just about all slabs. You'd be walking away from just about
every residential concrete slab in the universe.


btw, I have no interest in Bomanite other than I've seen the product and
it's a good one.


--
WARNING:

Do NOT under any circumstances take advice from an idiot named AMUN.

AMUN is a clueless moron regarding tile, electrical and various other
construction issues. As things go AMUN will (thankfully) dissapear
as his kind usually does when confronted with their bad advice by
those who are knowledgeable in their respective fields.
Until then - BEWARE

Greg wrote:
So you think it will be okay to just pour it over the existing tile? Or
thicker is better?




I would remove the tile.

"Greg" wrote in message
...
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?
I'm
guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.


I would not be so sure to lightly dismiss any "settling" floor in a 2 year
old house.

As others have pointed out cracked tiles might be a sign of
weak/insufficient floor joists that might be allowing the floor to
flex/bounce.
Or worse a poorly laid slab if this is slab on grade construction with no
basement. that may never stop settling.

Or nothing more critical than a shoddy install, or abuse by the previous
owners.

You would be wise to check that the existing floor (if joists) will hold
even 1" of concrete without additional support.

eg posts underneath, doubling up joists.

No one here will be able to give you a 100% answer as we can't see it.
If anyone claims to know it all from an internet post, I'd take their
opinion with a grain of salt.

Besides, the contractor you have mentioned coming in will likely want to
examine the joists and/or correct any possible structural defects before he
even starts the floor.
His evaluation will rate higher than anything posted here.

You really want to grill him as to how long he will guarantee the job too,
and get it in writing.

And then get a second quote, and compare them.

Pointless to rush the job if you will only have another cracked floor next
year.


AMUN

On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 12:49:32 -0700, "Fred" wrote:


"Greg" wrote in message
...
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?
I'm guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years
I'm hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.


If you have a settling problem I would fix this first before pouring a
concrete slab. Stamped concrete in the kitchen wouldn't that be a
maintenance issue like mopping, sweeping and vacuuming where the dirt and
food particles get into all the nooks and crannies? Concrete is cold and
hard and I don't like walking on it. Our house is on a concrete slab but
none of it is exposed. Its covered by carpet, tile, laminate, vinyl, etc. I
rather have stamped concrete on my driveway than in the house. I does look
very nice though.

A few thoughts.

I'm in Tucson and almost all houses here are slab on grade. I did an
addition to my (custom) house, including a garage. There were over 70
tons of engineered fill placed under the garage slab and I had 1/2"
rebar on 2' centers installed by my concrete contractor (a friend of
mine). He said they hardly ever use rebar or even mesh in garage
slabs. My slab only started showing hairline cracks after four years.

A neighbor is having a house built and they did the slab ten days ago.
I walked over there today and it's already cracking. No rebar, no
mesh.

So who knows what is going on under the OP's place, assuming it's slab
on grade. The cracking may be over with or it may go on forever.
Some areas here are now using post-tensioned slabs because of
expansive soils.

As to concrete floors in general, my house, with the exception of the
sunken living room is all done in brick pavers, tight-laid on a sand
base over the slab. Just like you'd do a patio. We absolutely love
them.

If I were to build another house, I'd have colored, stamped concrete
through out. I have carpet in the living room and if it wasn't for
the fact that I have two steps down and adding thickness to the floor
would be a safety/code issue, I'd put bricks in there too.

We don't find the floors cold; I walk around barefooted a lot.
Maintenance is an occasional mopping and a semi striping and a fresh
coat of Johnson Fortify once a year or so, even in the kitchen. If
you want dirty, unhealthy floors, lay carpet.

There is a new "in fill" development in an older part of town were
some high-priced builder is building "solar, environmentally friendly"
houses. They are using some kind of colored toweled on stuff over a
plain slab. It looks as if they put down masking on two foot centers
to created "scored" lines. It actually looks pretty good, except this
fancy builder put the baseboards in first and then spread this crap
around. There is bare concrete in all of the insider corners. Yuch.
But what do you expect for $250 a foot anyway.

I'm sure the mix also plays a part in whether or not the concrete starts to
crack. I guess someone could apply saw joints if they didn't mind the lines
down the slab.


"Wes Stewart" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 12:49:32 -0700, "Fred" wrote:


"Greg" wrote in message
...
We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has
cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on?
I'm guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2
years
I'm hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he
could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and
pour
it.


If you have a settling problem I would fix this first before pouring a
concrete slab. Stamped concrete in the kitchen wouldn't that be a
maintenance issue like mopping, sweeping and vacuuming where the dirt and
food particles get into all the nooks and crannies? Concrete is cold and
hard and I don't like walking on it. Our house is on a concrete slab but
none of it is exposed. Its covered by carpet, tile, laminate, vinyl, etc.
I
rather have stamped concrete on my driveway than in the house. I does look
very nice though.

A few thoughts.

I'm in Tucson and almost all houses here are slab on grade. I did an
addition to my (custom) house, including a garage. There were over 70
tons of engineered fill placed under the garage slab and I had 1/2"
rebar on 2' centers installed by my concrete contractor (a friend of
mine). He said they hardly ever use rebar or even mesh in garage
slabs. My slab only started showing hairline cracks after four years.

A neighbor is having a house built and they did the slab ten days ago.
I walked over there today and it's already cracking. No rebar, no
mesh.

So who knows what is going on under the OP's place, assuming it's slab
on grade. The cracking may be over with or it may go on forever.
Some areas here are now using post-tensioned slabs because of
expansive soils.

As to concrete floors in general, my house, with the exception of the
sunken living room is all done in brick pavers, tight-laid on a sand
base over the slab. Just like you'd do a patio. We absolutely love
them.

If I were to build another house, I'd have colored, stamped concrete
through out. I have carpet in the living room and if it wasn't for
the fact that I have two steps down and adding thickness to the floor
would be a safety/code issue, I'd put bricks in there too.

We don't find the floors cold; I walk around barefooted a lot.
Maintenance is an occasional mopping and a semi striping and a fresh
coat of Johnson Fortify once a year or so, even in the kitchen. If
you want dirty, unhealthy floors, lay carpet.

There is a new "in fill" development in an older part of town were
some high-priced builder is building "solar, environmentally friendly"
houses. They are using some kind of colored toweled on stuff over a
plain slab. It looks as if they put down masking on two foot centers
to created "scored" lines. It actually looks pretty good, except this
fancy builder put the baseboards in first and then spread this crap
around. There is bare concrete in all of the insider corners. Yuch.
But what do you expect for $250 a foot anyway.

On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 14:17:34 -0500, "Greg" wrote:

We are buying a house built in 2003. The tile in the kitchen has cracked.
Instead of replacing it, we are thinking about this stamped concrete
process. Anyone know anything about this as far as durability and so on? I'm
guessing the reason the tile cracked is due to settling. After 2 years I'm
hoping it has stopped. Anyway, the guy my wife talked to said he could
either pour it directly over the existing tile or remove the tile and pour
it.


Examine the cracks closely. If there is any sign of vertical
movement, then you should stop with all plans to overlay the slab
until the problem is fixed.
If the crack is minimal and there is no vertical movement, then any
floating floor should work with minimal worries for years.