Guidelines for Laying Cement Concrete Floor

As we all know the flooring is one of major concern in construction, and if you choose to lay simple cement concrete floor in your home than here are some helpful tips and understanding about the said floor. 

There are two methods for laying cement concrete flooring:-

1.  Laying concrete floor with strips
2.  Laying concrete floor without strips 

1. Laying Concrete Floor with Strips

• Lay base coat of 100 mm thick in the ratio of cement concrete 1:8:16 ( 1 part of cement, 8 parts of fine sand and16 parts of brick blast) or 1:4:8 on compacted earth under the floor. 
• Divide floor area in suitable panels with the help of strips. The depth of strips should be equal to the thickness of floor.
• Keep the length of   panels not more than 2 meters and the area should not be more than 2 square meters. The panels should be uniform in size.
• Place cement concrete in the panels and level it with the help of straight edge.
• Float the toping with wooden float to render even and compacted surface.
• Lay cement slurry/floating coat on compacted surface. The top surface then is finished with wooden float.  
• Test evenness of the surface with straight edge and make it true to required slopes.
• Take care to see that the strips are not damaged by laborers while laying concrete. Keep the tops of strips visible clearly after finishing with cement slurry.
• Do curing atleast for 10 days.    

Materials Required for Cement Concrete Flooring

Base Coat

• Brick blast  40 mm size
• Fine sand 
• Cement

Floor Toping/Top Layer

• Cement
• Coarse aggregate/Bazri  12.5 mm nominal size
• Fine aggregate i.e. Coarse sand
• Strips (Glass strips, Aluminum strips)

Ratio of Cement Concrete Mix

For Base Coat

It may be 1:8:16 ( 1 part of cement, 8 parts of fine sand and 16 parts of brick blast), 1:5:10 or 1:4:8 as per site requirement. The thickness of base coat should not be less than 100 mm. It may be more according to the requirement of site as per load coming on the floor.
   
For Toping

Cement concrete 1:2:4 ( 1 part of cement, 2 parts of fine aggregate and 4 parts of corse aggregate) mix used in cement concrete flooring. The thickness of floor toping varies from 25 mm to 50 mm according to the requirement of site condition.  In some cases it may be 75 mm.

Precautions for Concrete Floor

• Maintain the quality and size of coarse aggregate including the quality of sand.  Check the requirement with specifications while mixing concrete either by hand or by machine.        
• Check the strength of floor by checking cube strength. 
• Verify the thickness of floor.
• Ensure general quality of finish-roughness, lines and levels where cement concrete flooring with a color topping is laid, the color should be uniform and is of proper  quality .
• Verify the type of hardener used with the thickness of topping.
• Lay flooring in bathroom after fixing water closet.
• Don’t do concreting during cold weather when the temperature falls below 4 degree Celsius.
• Remove the concrete damaged by frost.

Advantages of Concrete Floor

• It’s cheapest flooring.
• The material is easily available in any location.
• It’s easy to lay.
• It is easily maintained.
• It possesses good wearing properties. 

Disadvantages of Concrete Floor

• The floor is hard and cold.
• It has limitation in color and design.  The flooring is not so durable as Terrazzo or Marble flooring.