Pandemic home remodeling is booming: try microcement. Colors: FF7001, GR2 [photos]
Working and schooling from home for the foreseeable future has prompted some homeowners to consider major home renovations. Many people were left without work for months, so many decided not to indulge in stagnation, to awaken a DIY enthusiast and use this time for something useful. Others were simply forced to adapt their homes to study or remote work, or to beautify, refresh, reorganize them so that they could have a pleasant time in them. DIY stores were open most of the time, and large chains were launching new outlets and additional online order pickup options. People refurbished to a great extent. In Poland, the greatest increase in sales was recorded by wallpapers, paints, laminate flooring and bathroom accessories. The microcement was also very popular.
Mr. Sebastian Duda, a photographer by profession, decided to finish the house and photo studio with Festfloor microcement. Check out how he did it and what challenges he had.
1. Why did you decide to use Festfloor microcement in your home and studio?
I always wanted to have a seamless floor without joints and thanks to the microcement it was possible. The problem was that in my city (Wrocław) and in the vicinity such things are expensive – not the material itself, but its implementation. The costs range from 200 to 250 PLN per m2. Therefore, I was looking for various solutions for a long time, until I found the Festfloor company by a friend from Krakow. It turned out that their products are suitable for DIY projects.
Thanks to the fact that I bought the training and saw how it’s done live, I immediately knew that this was it.
And thanks to the fact that I have microcement and not panels, the floor looks more luxurious.
2. How many square meters have you made? In what rooms is the microcement placed?
The top of the house and the entire photo studio at the bottom are in gray microcement, because gray is a neutral color in photography. Gray is a kind of bridge between black and white. The gray background blends in favorably with the other colors of the photographed objects without distracting from them.
I made the downstairs, i.e. the studio – 120m2 floors, the entire garage (studio) – walls and floor, laundry room and all walls downstairs, vestibule, kitchen and pillars. A total of over 130 m2 of walls.
I also have a room for photos of water and various liquids, paints etc. with a drain in the middle of the room. Thanks to the fact that I used microcement on the floor everywhere, I do not have to worry that it will flood my house, wash panels or parquet. I also made two photographic backgrounds of microcement.
On the walls I used the Festwall Life system (color GR2), and on the floor Festfloor Go! (FF7001).
Read more: Festfloor Life or Festfloor Go! – which product should I choose?
3. How long did you work with microcement? Did you have helpers or did you do everything yourself? How did you prepare for this project? What was the cost of the investment?
I started making the microcement after the screeds were laid – after heating the floor and when the frosts ended. It was April 2020, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Stay at Home campaign. It was a time when I decided to take a break for a year and finish the house by myself. The works lasted about 3 months. The walls first, then the floor. I varnished the floor with one coat of varnish and waited for the kitchen furniture to be assembled, and only in February 2021 did I apply a second coat of varnish. I did all the work with my cousin Rafał, who has been working on construction sites for 10 years. He was for applying, making interesting textures and patterns, and I was for sanding. It was with him that I attended the training. The cost of the microcement was about 17,000 PLN. The cost of the labor is the payment of the cousin. Thanks to the fact that I was doing alone with my cousin, I saved about 45,000 PLN. (as I mentioned, the cost of making a square meter of microcement in Wrocław is 200-250 PLN).
4. What advice could you give to people who are considering self-application of microcement in their home or workshop?
I recommend training. I wouldn’t have tried without it. Thanks to such training, all my doubts were dispelled immediately.
5. How long have you been using the microcement? How is it working? What are the advantages and disadvantages of microcement in your opinion?
The Festfloor microcement itself is of highest quality. It looks best on the wall, but it is a two-component microcement Festwall Life with pigment. It has one disadvantage: it has to be applied quickly because it dries quickly. So we did not make the floor with it, because with 2 people we would not be able to achieve 120 m2. So we chose Festfloor Go! for the floor.
Microcement gives a lot of possibilities and that’s what interested me the most. I like challenges and thanks to it I was able to prove to myself that you can have a floor that looks expensive, with less cost but with my own work.