by Select Sales Center Property 
For those who have just bought land and plan to build a house, or those who have bought a second-hand house and want to renovate it, many people have heard of and are familiar with exposed concrete houses, more or less. Currently, these beautiful, raw, cool, and unique houses are very popular.
Using exposed concrete as the main material, or what is currently called exposed concrete houses or loft-style houses. Let’s take a look at how many types of exposed concrete houses there are, what are their advantages, and how to maintain them. Find the answers in this article.
What is a cheap exposed concrete house?
Cheap exposed concrete houses or loft-style houses are houses that show the structure and walls of concrete work without using other materials to plaster over and decorate. This will show the rawness and true nature of the concrete structure clearly, indicating coolness, and unusualness, but with style.
How many types of cheap exposed concrete houses are there?
By material style or bare concrete houses are divided into 2 main types:
1. Cheap exposed concrete house, cast type
The cost and budget for construction will be quite high because the concrete is poured into a mold that is specifically made for casting exposed concrete walls. The type of mold used will depend on the needs of the homeowner and the design of the architect team. Either wood or steel can be used as the mold, depending on preference.
When the concrete has been poured into the prepared wall mold, leave it and wait for the cement to set. Then slowly and carefully remove the mold. After removing the mold, the exposed concrete wall will show its beautiful pattern.
2. Cheap exposed concrete house made of brick and plaster
Suitable for those with limited construction budgets but are passionate about loft-style houses or those who love renovating old houses to look cool in an industrial style. Build walls with other materials first, then plaster and destroy exposed cement as desired.
Nowadays, some technologies and innovations make painting and plastering in a loft style easy and can be done by yourself without any steps, according to the instructions on the packaging box.
Ideas for plastering a house with bare concrete in a cheap loft-style
The idea of plastering exposed concrete in a cool loft style is mostly divided into 2 main types: smooth plastering, polished plastering, and painting in a loft style on a smooth wall, which have different characteristics as follows:
1. Smoothing
It is the process of applying cement to the brick walls that have been built. Then start plastering from the top to the bottom until the entire area is covered. Before plastering the cement after the brick wall is finished, the technician will water the area that needs to be plastered to make it moist. This is to prevent cracks that may occur in the wall after the plastering is complete.
2. Polishing
After plastering the wall and leveling the surface to be even, sprinkle cement powder over the entire wall. Then sprinkle water over the entire area and polish with a steel trowel. The resulting polished plaster pattern depends on the technique and expertise of the craftsman. Leave for about 7 days and then apply a concrete coating over the entire area.
3. Loft-style painting
Clean the wall thoroughly, apply a primer, and let it dry. Then create the desired loft-style pattern by using a paint sweeper to create patterns in different directions.
4. Decorate the surface to create bare concrete walls using the Skim Coat technique.
Remove the damaged paint from the old wall with a paint stripper, then clean and apply the old cement primer. Leave the wall to dry completely. Then plaster with ready-made Skim Coat cement with the ingredients and standard formulas provided in the product user manual.
Then plaster the wall neatly. Now you will have a cool style exposed concrete wall as you wish. This technique has many products to choose from to decorate walls in various parts of the house and there are many colors to choose from.
5. What is interesting about cheap exposed concrete houses?
The interesting thing about bare concrete houses or loft-style houses, aside from their raw coolness, is that these styles of houses are also economical because they allow homeowners to save quite a bit on the cost of building the house. This is because they don’t have to spend money on buying materials to decorate like other styles of houses. However, this style of house emphasizes showing off the charm of brick walls, cement structures, and the beautiful and perfect electrical system inside the house.
In addition, if decorated with loft-style furniture that shows wooden textures and black steel structures, it will increase the interest of the house even more.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of cheap exposed concrete houses?
The characteristics of bare concrete houses are houses that emphasize decoration with materials from real textures, showing the beauty of the food structure, electrical systems, and brick and wood walls without smooth plaster, including showing the beauty of the pattern of the bare concrete walls.
Most loft-style houses are designed to have high ceilings, spacious living spaces, large doors, and windows, and emphasize decorations in tonal colors such as exposed concrete and brick orange.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Good ventilation | Limited storage space |
| Unique and distinctive design | Easy to create echoes |
| Flexible usable space | Lack of privacy |
Advantages of cheap exposed concrete houses
- Good ventilation due to high ceilings, making the interior of the house look airy and not stuffy
- Unique and distinctive designs that suit the lifestyle and preferences of the homeowner
- The usable space can be freely adjusted
Disadvantages of cheap exposed concrete houses
- Because the loft-style house is airy and spacious due to the high ceiling and no emphasis on partition walls, it is easy for the house to echo.
- The storage space is limited because the house is designed to have open, airy spaces.
- Because the space emphasizes openness and no emphasis on partition walls, it is not suitable for those who want privacy.
How to choose materials, construction steps, and maintenance
When choosing construction materials, you must choose from reliable sources and have experts to give advice, including a team of designers and contractors. Because if you get a team that is not qualified, in addition to the house being built not being up to standard, it will also cause the construction budget to go over the top.
Construction steps for a cheap exposed concrete house
- Prepare the area for construction
- Prepare relevant documents such as house plans, building permits
- Lay out the building plan according to the house plan
- Driven piles
- Foundation work, structural work, roof framework, plumbing work
- Roofing work, wall construction, door-window work, and electrical-plumbing work
- Floor work, equipment installation work until completion
- Cleaning and checking for neatness
Maintenance of exposed concrete houses
It is recommended to apply a coating agent to seal exposed concrete walls and prevent water absorption every 1-2 years to prevent moisture and dirt from sticking to the surface of the house and walls.
