When you think of installing concrete around your home, you may only think of a bland and dull walkway or driveway. However, concrete is actually becoming a popular option for use inside the home, and exterior concrete is no longer grey, boring and downright industrial. Note a few advantages that you may not realize about poured concrete and concrete tiles, so you can know if these are the right choice for your home's interior and exterior surfaces.
Versatility of shape
One reason that concrete is becoming so popular for use inside the home is that it's very versatile in how it can be shaped, more so than real stone or even wood slats. Concrete can be poured over a very large flooring area and easily worked around awkward areas, such as a rounded foyer or interior columns, and then stamped to create the look of individual tiles. The concrete is then buffed, painted, or stained to create the look of marble, slate, or another high-end material.
Being able to pour concrete around those awkward areas saves you the work and expense of cutting and trimming actual stone or timber tiles. You can do the same for your property's exterior; concrete can be poured around a curved driveway or worked around a tree much more easily than trying to cut large stones to fit the space.
Colour and pattern
Another advantage of concrete, either poured or as tiles, is that you have complete control over the colour and pattern you choose. Stone tiles will always have some variation in colour and grain pattern, and vinyl and laminate tiles may be limited in the designs they offer. With concrete, you can have the surface painted or stained so that all tiles look alike and so it easily matches your home's interior or exterior.
All flooring areas
Inside your home, you may not want to use timber slats or smooth stone in the kitchen and bathroom; timber will absorb humidity and then expand and shrink, cupping and bowing in the process, and smooth stone can be very slick when wet from that humidity. However, if you choose concrete for your home's interior, you can typically have it poured throughout all the rooms of the home. You can then have a completely uniform look throughout the entire home, or opt to easily coordinate the paint and stain colours so that all of surfaces coordinate, both inside and outside the home.