Another joke quote. What planet are these people on.

[flanagaj]

I want a power floated floor that will be acceptable as a finished floor without any polishing.  Received a quote today and they want £32k inc vat for 140m2.  I just cannot fathom how such ridiculous quotes can be arrived at.  In fact, I find it insulting that these companies even try and charge that amount.  It's 2 days work.

I know some on here have power floated their own floors, but it's not something I really fancy trying myself, unless I maybe do the garage floor first and then do the house if that goes ok. 
 

[mjc55]

Surely that is a mistake.

 

Name and shame I say.

[JohnMo]

They obviously don't want the work - move on to the next company 

[Alan Ambrose]

Don’t know how true it is, but I was told recently that power float skills are less and less common. Some people will try it on though if they have too much business / don’t fancy the job / think you’re a bit gullible.

[flanagaj]

7 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

Don’t know how true it is, but I was told recently that power float skills are less and less common. Some people will try it on though if they have too much business / don’t fancy the job / think you’re a bit gullible.

I might have to have a rethink and do the floors in the conventional approach of a concrete slab and then insulation and screed at a later date, if I cannot find a company who can do the floors at a sensible price.

[Jenki]

19 hours ago, flanagaj said:

I know some on here have power floated their own floors, but it's not something I really fancy trying myself, unless I maybe do the garage floor first and then do the house if that goes ok. 

I had never power floated, but budget said I had to try. and it was a fail. a few factors that didn't  help:

1, It was really warm, yes highlands and it was 26deg.

2, not enough people. I had help from a neighbour and son, but they just helped get the concrete in, once in they left, leaving me and the wife.  There just wasn't enough time to get the edges hand floated and the floors power floated.  It wasn't terrible, just not good enough, ended up having to level compound some of the edges and grind a few high spots. 

so we opted for LVT.  I one day might revisit and look at DIY epoxy.

[saveasteading]

20 hours ago, flanagaj said:

power floated floor that will be acceptable as a finished floor without any polishing.  Received a quote today and they want £32k inc vat for 140m2.  I

So you are building a very small industrial unit? 

These specialists do huge slabs, say 1000m2 in a day.

 

 

They would turn up with 8 workers ,concrete pump, 3 power floats and all the kit. 2 of them stay overnight for the final polish.

That isn't what you want is it?

 

PFF is not good for  a house. Can you explain why you want it?

 

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, Jenki said:

It wasn't terrible, just not good enough, ended up having to level compound some of the edges and grind a few high spots

That is hows ours ended up. Some self levelling compound and a grinder to a could high spots. I also had the option to have the whole polished with 2 guys staying overnight.

 

If I was doing a polished floor, I think I would get it done before any internal walls went in. But as the wife hates it, I had no option so a simple paddle float it was.

[-rick-]

5 hours ago, flanagaj said:

I might have to have a rethink and do the floors in the conventional approach of a concrete slab and then insulation and screed at a later date, if I cannot find a company who can do the floors at a sensible price.

 

That sounds like you are thinking of switching from an insulated slab to a non-insulated one. Thats a different decision to just changing how you finish the floor. You'd need to get the drawings all adjusted as your levels will be out and it might affect the heat loss calculations + SAP too depending what you are doing.

 

You can just top the insulated slab with a leveller and a normal floor finish if you just can't get the powerfloating done. That would save a lot of the rework of drawings etc, though you might need some depending how much height you are adding.

[saveasteading]

If you are insulating then screeding over the top , then the slab can be very ordinary in finish and level control. And thickness. The screed sorts it all out.

@flanagaj can we go back a bit? Where are you on programme, floor construction logic?

Who told you to go for power float?

 

As you see above, people have tried and had to grind and fill, which defeats the object of a 'finished' surface

[flanagaj]

4 hours ago, saveasteading said:

If you are insulating then screeding over the top , then the slab can be very ordinary in finish and level control. And thickness. The screed sorts it all out.

@flanagaj can we go back a bit? Where are you on programme, floor construction logic?

Who told you to go for power float?

 

As you see above, people have tried and had to grind and fill, which defeats the object of a 'finished' surface

I decided to go for a power floated floor as it’s got an industrial finish to it.  But I only want a PF finish, if it has that warehouse look.  Hence, why I want it done right.

 

Reworking the design is simple.  The FFL stays the same, but I just instead work out out the over site depth according to.

 

hardcore, sand blinding, membrane, concrete, insulation, screed.  No?

 

[Selexus]

Just had 400 sqm of raft foundation poured leveled and power floated, all in one sitting. 

Guys turned up at 6.30am and left the following morning at 3.40am. 

Really good job. 

£4k.

 

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, flanagaj said:

No?

Yes. And so much simpler and you keep control.

I've been responsible for hundreds of industrial floors, and would not dream of it for domestic situations.

[MikeSharp01]

23 hours ago, Jenki said:

1, It was really warm, yes highlands and it was 26deg.

2, not enough people. I had help from a neighbour and son, but they just helped get the concrete in, once in they left, leaving me and the wife.  There just wasn't enough time to get the edges hand floated and the floors power floated.  It wasn't terrible, just not good enough, ended up having to level compound some of the edges and grind a few high spots. 

so we opted for LVT.  I one day might revisit and look at DIY epoxy.

+1 to most of that:

 

We had power floated the garden room and it worked well we have an acceptable surface in there BUT the main house was not because:

 

1. It was very hot over 30^OC 

2. Much bigger roughly 3 times the area of the garden room. 

3. Not enough people, we had 5 working all the time, but only two of us had the experience on the garden room.

4. We didn't have a long enough floating bar - our hire people let us down on that, the long bar was not available, so we needed more passes which took more time than we had given the drying rate.

 

In the end about 70% of it was more than acceptable but 100% is the only answer unless you want level changes in your floor areas. It was a disappointing day but we knew the risks and accounted for failure in the plans - eg levels. 

 

As an idea of the cost of failure the flooring cost for us is about £18K more than it would have been had we succeeded which might put the £32K somewhat into perspective for you.

 

All in all my advice is not to try it yourself, look at the balance of costs and get a few more quotes.

 

 

[Mr Punter]

11 hours ago, Selexus said:

Just had 400 sqm of raft foundation poured leveled and power floated, all in one sitting. 

Guys turned up at 6.30am and left the following morning at 3.40am. 

Really good job. 

£4k.

 

 

There you go @flanagaj.  @Selexus is in Wiltshire too.  £10 a metre is a bargain.  I am amazed they will do it for that price.

[flanagaj]

11 hours ago, Selexus said:

Just had 400 sqm of raft foundation poured leveled and power floated, all in one sitting. 

Guys turned up at 6.30am and left the following morning at 3.40am. 

Really good job. 

£4k.

 

🤯 Hampshire is next door too!  Can you DM their details and share any photos of the finished job please.  400m/2 is huge!

[flanagaj]

37 minutes ago, MikeSharp01 said:

All in all my advice is not to try it yourself, look at the balance of costs and get a few more quotes.

I have absolutely no intention of trying it myself.  Getting it wrong is terminal and unlike most other aspects of construction, redoing it, is going to be expensive and time consuming.

[saveasteading]

22 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

400m/2 is huge!

NB.  If that was 150mm thick, then the concrete itself will cost 60m3 x £120. £7K ish.

So the 4k is obv for labour. 

Did it include all the kit?

What else was extra?

Did they cut contraction joints next day?

 

Remember that if it rains you have a problem.