Cheap/low/no cost floor covering ideas?

We've decided to put our proposed house extension on hold for a couple of years while we sort some things out and save money.

Part of that discussion ended with a loose agreement that we should fix up the current crappy extension at a very low cost to make it a little more comfortable for the next few years.

So basically, a thorough clean, a coat of paint, maybe make a few low dollar repairs or improvements (pretty much if it's over a grand it's off the table). We don't mind throwing some labour at it, but really I don't want to throw money at something that will end up demolished. If it can't be repurposed elsewhere after its use here or wasn't ultra cheap, I just don't want to spend money on it if at all possible.

I can come up with workarounds and cheapskate options for nearly everything, but the floor coverings kind of stump me. I'd like it to look presentable, be easy enough to clean but not cost a fortune.... Bare carpet glue covered concrete just isn't very nice.

Any cheapskate suggestions that you guys can vouch for?

Cheers

Vinyl rolled flooring, or commercial low pile carpet and a bucket of glue are cheap and presentable.  Super cheap is rent a sander to get the surface flat, then paint.

Is it a standard size so you can just buy a throw rug at Home Depot to cover most of it ?

We're pretty happy with the stained concrete in our house in the main living area.  But it was new construction and I'm not sure how easy/possible it is to get from where you are to that.  

The master bath has crappy, sticky tile. The room will be rehabbed in a few years. But what to do with the dingy tile? Few quarts of mistake paint from the hardware store, careful masking of the walls and we have this:

Splatter paint. Not for everyone, but its neat, and it won't be around too long to get sick of.

If you feel safe running a floor machine they make a great disc that will remove the carpet glue. HD rents them. The disc will smooth the concrete some too. Once you get the glue up an acid stain and clear coat will run you about $2 a sqft

edit: just saw where you are located, I don't know the equipment rental situation down under

Peel and stick vinyl tile in the close out section 

I don't know if you can get it down South, but we got the cheapest laminate for my daughter's room before she was born.  We figured, go cheap.  She'll destroy it as a kid and we won't care.

She's 16 now and it looks exactly the same.  No damage whatsoever.

It was under $1 sq/ft.

Habitat For Humanity stores around here always seem to have pallets of laminate for cheap.

My calibrated eyecrometer says they're not enough for a whole house but probably plenty for a single room.

There's some great ideas in here, thanks folks. I think I got myself stuck in a channel of trying to find one solution for several small areas.

Unfortunately, I think anything involving grinding or sanding and showing off the concrete is out. There's at least 3 different concrete pours in here, maybe 4. 1 of which isn't level to the other so someone's used a bunch of leveler to try and blend the transition.

Paint is potentially a useful option for a couple of areas, if not all. The bathroom floor was already painted, but it needs redoing pretty badly. I don't mind the splatter paint look, but my partner isn't a fan. Though it did make me think about stenciling. At least that way the detail should help hide some of the ordinary surface.

Roll vinyl could work for the kitchen/dining area, there's some roll vinyl already in the laundry and entry and it's serviceable, definitely better than the bare concrete. Bonus is, once I've finished with it in the house I could roll it up and take it out to use it as floor protection in the workshop.

I wouldn't mind some loose lay vinyl plank or laminate, but I'm away from the cities so pickings are slim and bargains can be hard to come by.

Euclid chemical has some products in their Increte line that might do the job for you and handle the slight transition slope. I think Tremco sells their stuff down there. It used to be called Thincrete but I think they replaced the product line when Euclid bought Increte.  It is an overlay that goes on about 1/4" thick and you can use tape to put patterns in it and it can be sprayed or rolled on. It wears better than concrete and comes in any number of colors.

Never thought of stenciling. That would be rad

In reply to Appleseed :

There's some pretty cool options for stenciling I've found so far. We're looking at trying something like This because it's somewhat similar to encaustic tile designs that we've been sorta keen on. This way we get to try the look for cheap and see if it's too much in real life as opposed to pictures.

In reply to daeman :

About 12 years ago I was offered a truckload of 18"(?)-square commercial carpet tiles that had been removed from Purdue University for free. It weighed down my 1/2-ton pickup to the point in was nearly on the bumpstops. While many of them were worn pretty badly, there were still far more than I needed for our space. They're also easy to install, as the adhesive backing was still good enough to hold them for most tiles  

I don't actually remember how I found these, but if you start asking around commercial flooring contractors in your area you might find some. 

Ultimate cheap... paper bags.  You could also buy rolls of craft paper.

Start by filling gaps in the seams of the subfloor (or if it's T&G boards just lay new luan first)

Tear up hundreds of brown paper bags and mache' them to the floor with glue/water.  4 coats of poly.

You can even cut it in strips or shapes to make it look tile-like or wood like.

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to daeman :

About 12 years ago I was offered a truckload of 18"(?)-square commercial carpet tiles that had been removed from Purdue University for free. It weighed down my 1/2-ton pickup to the point in was nearly on the bumpstops. While many of them were worn pretty badly, there were still far more than I needed for our space. They're also easy to install, as the adhesive backing was still good enough to hold them for most tiles  

I don't actually remember how I found these, but if you start asking around commercial flooring contractors in your area you might find some. 

I have a similar stack of carpet squares at the theater that I use for putting down backstage to quiet actors' footsteps.  I happened to be right place/right time when the science museum was redoing their floor and got three pallets for free.

OK, that book one is really darn cool. Maybe I'll have to try that in my workshop for the entry room.

In reply to dculberson :

I built a show set for the theater a few years ago where book pages were the wall treatment.  Turned out great.

A roll on bedliner kit or a gallon of Flex Seal would fit in your budget requirements 

I put my skilsaw on a 45 and cut grooves in plywood to look like planks and painted them with heavy garage floor paint. Looked awesome and stood up to three kids.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

 

 

You can even cut it in strips or shapes to make it look tile-like or wood like.

 

 

My office wall is wallpapered like this with 1940s era Modern Mechanix magazines.

How the construction / flooring section of the local Gumtree look like?

In reply to ShawnG :

Love that idea.  There was a restaurant in Greenwich Village that the stalls of the men's room were covered with playboy pictures from the early years, and the way they overlapped the pages kept it frustratingly appropriate for all ages.  As a 10 year old on his first trip to the Big Apple, that one stuck in my brain.

Wow.  That is an interesting effect.

Thank you for sharing!