Concrete FloorsWhen people visit our new home, they are often surprised that we have concrete floors throughout the house. The main floor has polished concrete and the basement has acid washed concrete (the upstairs has dragon board (another post all together) and the stairs are stained/sealed wood).

Given the popularity of wood, carpet, and tile, we are often asked why we opted for concrete. The answer, in one word, is maintenance.

Who came up with the brilliant idea that putting fabric on the floor for people to walk on was logical? That's what carpet is and families all over the world who require all inhabitants and guests to leave their shoes by the front door can attest to this silliness. (As can those raking in the cash to clean those carpets like http://www.thesteamteam.com/.)

Wood floors look great, until they get scuffed, scratched, or, heaven forbid, get water on them. We have wood floors through most of our last house. They were beautiful to begin with, but got scuffed up in high traffic areas quickly. And when we had a leak in the ice maker, it absolutely buckled the floors in the adjacent hall.

In Boca Raton, all the rage was ceramic tile flooring. The bigger the better. We had huge tiles through the main floor of the house we built there. It's the easiest surface in the world to clean. If only it weren't connected by grout. Grout is a nightmare to clean and sucks dirt and grime out of thin air like a vacuum. If you've got it, you might need some ceramic tile cleaning tips, pronto.

But if your floor is concrete, either polished or acid stained, cleaning is simple and doesn't take a special set of directions. Here is all you need to know:

  1. Vacuum or sweep when dusty
  2. Mop with a neutral cleaner when dirty

That's the kind of house cleaning and maintenance I'm into. Quick and easy. And that's why we chose polished concrete and acid stained concrete for our flooring.

P.S. If you have radiant heating, they aren't cold, either.