Concrete Floor for my Bathroom

Howdy everyone,

First home purchased a few months ago and its now the bathrooms turn to be revamped. But shoestring is the budget. The space is small but the flooring has rotted, buckled, tile wall within the tub is crumbling down, 1914 this place was built. The bathroom needs to be fully gutted, including the flooring and flooring base. Walls ripped out, replaced with sheet rock etc. Full on sledge hammer demolition then start over from ground up scenario. Luckily were talking a very small room tho.

That being said...tile and installation is no longer inexpensive and even if it were, am interested in something more unique. Concrete has been on my mind as of late and far less expensive than tiling. Specially if most work is DIY. Tub is going perma and to be replaced with a self enclosed steam shower that alleviates the need for water proofing the ceiling, walls, etc. Saving a ton of money too.

Walls im just gonna sheet rock and paint. Concrete floor is what I am wanting to do, possibly a colored style like seen all over HDTV and DIY shows, sites etc. I am totally green to all this but have learned a crap load in the few short months ive been at it. But in the areas of concrete, tile, counter tops etc. Bathroom is square space and given the substrate is going to be ripped out and replaced it could be retro fitted as such to support the weight of proposed concrete floor.

Question is to all this.... having seen several similar flooring solutions on HDTV and Bathtastic, frame the space so to create a "mold" so to speak, mix and poor the concrete, use the pie server thingy to smooth out bumps, bubbles etc, let it cure for a week or whatever, and BAM new floor, seal it, then continue with the rest of the updates.

Am I fooling myself into thinking it cant THAT tough of a project to successfully pull off? Am I better to hire someone privy to concrete n stuff and pay the extra or ?????

Or have any of you a different solution for the floor that would still follow a modern, industrial, almost commercial even look?

Two words: Wonderboard

As a 'green' DIYer I wouldn't touch it. Don't do it. Finishing concrete to make it look like a showroom floor like the TV shows do is an art. To have a pro do it it would cost more than a DIY tile job. You say the room is small. You can get inexpensive tile for like a buck a piece for 12" tiles. A 10x10 space would be $100 in tile. Of course you also have the cost of the thinset, backer board, grout, and misc stuff. My point is that tile doesn't need to be an expensive proposition. It is easier to do than concrete.

a 10x10 space, with 3 inches of concrete would be almost 1 cubic yard of concrete. Thats like 42, FORTY TWO, 80 pound bags. Dry it weighs in at 3360 pounds. Set-up it could weigh 3700 pounds (almost TWO TONS) depending on the concrete used. Point is, your structure would need to be enhanced to carry the load, possibly even additional foundation footers could be required. Oh, and there is NO WAY you could mix that much concrete from bags and not have the crete from the first bag set up before you finished the last bag. That means delivery. Figure at least $100 per yard if you cart it in the house yourself.

So, yeah, the concrete WILL be more expensive than tile.

If you want cheep, consider some vinyl sheet flooring.

Totally agree with handyguys!