The very words concrete flooring may create a sense of dissatisfaction in your minds, as we have always known concrete floors as rough and plain flooring. However the trend has now changed. Concrete flooring has evolved from the olden styles to completely innocative and break-through designs in the recent trends.
While you might dismiss concrete flooring as just a way to hold up more decorative flooring, you're missing out on a simple way to bring bright colo and life to your home. Most interior designers and construction specialists are selecting concrete flooring ideas over tile or marble designs to suit the expectations and the taste of the present generation customers.
A Flexible and Cost Effective Flooring Option
Most homes have some area where they have concrete flooring. Whether it's the garage, basement, or even main living quarters, there are opportunities to create a warmer, more inviting living space without having to spend the money to layer over it.
Using Your Concrete Flooring Help You:
- Save Money as installing concrete flooring is comparatively less costly than other modern flooring ideas.
- Be more flexible in your decorating
- Use the solid surface for support
Why Some People Decide To Cover It Up:
- The Surface is too hard for their purposes
- The concrete is stained beyond repair
- The surface is uneven
Stained Concrete Flooring
Stained concrete flooring is a great look, when you do it intentionally. This flooring is a marvelous colar mass for passive solar-heated homes, as well as a good surface for radiant floors. But having concrete may not be the look you wanted in your home. In that case, applying a stain is the route to go.
Acid stain, one staining option, is not a paint or coating agent, but a coloring process involving a chemical reaction. You get a beautiful mottled look to your floor with this finishing approach. And you could even score a pattern or design into the concrete before it's stained to add interest. Once the stain is dry, be sure to apply a protective coat or two, so the stain wears evenly.
is a marvelous solar mass for passive solar-heated homes, as well as a good surface for radiant floors. But having concrete may not be the look you wanted in your home. In that case, applying a stain is the route to go. Acid stain, one staining option, is not a paint or coating agent, but a coloring process involving a chemical reaction. You get a beautiful mottled look to your floor with this finishing approach. And you could even score a pattern or design into the concrete before it’s stained to add interest. Once the stain is dry, be sure to apply a protective coat or two, so the stain wears evenly.
Adding a smooth look and cleaning concrete floors becomes easier when they are stained.
Painting Concrete Floors
Concrete flooring in homes can also be painted. This approach to decorative concrete flooring can be a money saver. You don't have to spend additional money with other flooring options, you just start with cleaning concrete flooring and decorate them as you wish - paint, stain, or etching.
These floor designs can be made with stencils or well-placed painting tape in order to use certain colors in certain areas. A polished concrete flooring scheme can look sophisticated and classic.
Add a nice cocktail bar and a billiard room and you have a great place for entertaining and relaxing. Consider a checkerboard pattern by putting tape over the opposing color, letting the paint dry, and then painting the bare areas. Cover with sealant and you're done.
Easy Maintenance
Maintaining a stained or painted concrete floor basically requires regular cleaning and a gresh coat of sealant every few years. Talk about a low maintenance flooring! The shine stays put with regular sweeping and mopping. Though removing concrete flooring is a tedious process, maintaining these floors take less effort and stays stronger for a long time.
Easy Repair and Installation
Concrete flooring repairs are easily done by the honeowner or by a local concrete floor installer. A professional is probably the better person to tend to the repairs. There are several options and a professional will be able to suggest the best concrete flooring ideas for your situation. You can patch the problem, do a concrete overlay, or even an epoxy coating could work - depending on the problem being repaired.
Hollow Core Concrete Flooring
If you are building a new home or office, consider hollow core concrete flooring. It...
- Lets you build more quickly
- Reduces sound transfer between floors
- Spans longer spaces without support
- Is lightweight and fire resistant
- Allows design flexibility
If you are planning to paint or stain your flooring, this is just another interesting option. The average price for this flooring is determined by the square footage of surface that you want to cover. Some people even have their original flooring taken out in order to pour a smoother surface - but this is the costlier option. If you can simply clean the floor, it will save you time and money. But there are those that don't like the hard surface and support that concrete provides.
A working area is great with the hard design, but in a playroom or a workout room, it might not be the best choice. Always try to save the original flooring if you can, because the options are endless — just like your ideas.
One must be careful in selecting concrete flooring designs, as there are numerous designs available int he market and could be quite confusing too. However these designs are customized to meet the requirements of costomers of all tastes and budgets.
I just had my concrete floors stained, some areas where concrete was very rough are dull looking (wax did not take very well); what can I do or use to shine this area up?
It sounds as if you are saying the concrete surface is an uneven smoothness. If that is indeed true, it will always have different looks between the smooth and rougher surfaces — kind of like velvet that has been brushed against the grain.
You could try stripping the wax off the concrete and applying a concrete polyurethane. My thought is the viscosity of the urethane would fill in the texture of the concrete and give you a more even reflective surface.
What is the best thing to use to mop concrete floors? I like to use ammonia, because I feel it cleans it better, but there is not much shine.
Thanks!
Ammonia is pretty harsh. I personally try to not use it for my cleaning because it can be harmful to your health. Have you tried a 10:1 water:white vinegar solution for your cleaning? And be sure the water and mop stay clean — ie, change the water frequently. See what happens with that and let us know, please.
I need to paint the cement floor in our children’s playroom. It sees a lot of activity. What do you think would be a good color? If it is glossy, would it be too slippery?
Be sure to use a low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint; Sherwin Williams has one that I like a lot. I personally love bright, vibrant primary colors for kids. I think a bright pattern would be good. It could be geometric patterns, trains/cars, flowers, or even a race track. And then, especially since it sees lots of activity, be sure to seal it with several coats of a water-based polyurethane (water-based has lower VOCs so won’t pollute the air the kids breathe). I think the paint won’t make the floor slippery, but I don’t have experience with a glossy floor so can’t be positive.
We planned to lay hardwood flooring and used several bags of leveling compound over the cement floor, but didn’t cover the entire thing so it is blotchy. Can it be stained or painted?
Also, what kind of mop works best to clean cement floors? It’s really stained and dirty, and it seems like a sponge mop would shred.
I’m not understanding: you gave up on using the hardwood flooring and are going to use concrete instead? Yes, concrete can be stained and painted. and the kind of mop really depends on your surface smoothness. A string mop may be your best bet, though I can’t be sure at this point.
That’s right. Husband didn’t know how to do it, but wouldn’t admit it, then moved out. I can’t afford to hire someone and don’t want to do it myself, so am considering what I can do with the concrete floor. Unfortunately, it’s partially covered with leveler, so I assume I can’t stain it?
Since I can’t see it I have to just shoot in the dark about your options. I don’t know if you can stain leveler or not, nor do I know how durable leveler is as a flooring surface. Given all of that, my thoughts about your options include:
1. stain and seal the floor you presently have, getting a faux-painted look — could be very cool
2. have linoleum installed
3. install carpet and padding
4. go with a bamboo floor installation
The first choice is probably the fastest and cheapest, but may be the least durable.
Let me know what you decide to do and how it comes out.
We are going to try to paint our concrete flooring in our home, it is 9 yrs old and I am scared we will mess up. Just need alittle advice! We want to use the non skid surfacing additive to our paint, mostly to the baths, kitchen and laundry areas, will this be too rough and since we are in our early 60’s should we apply to all floors? Does the temperature have anything to do with when we paint?
I like your idea of the non-skid surface. I’ve seen it used effectively outdoors and just hadn’t translated to its usefulness indoors. I guess it hadn’t occurred to me indoor floors would be slick!
Having never personally worked with the additive I can only guess that there must be different styles or types of additives. The additives I’ve seen are rough and I wouldn’t enjoy them in my home. I’d want something softer than the “sand” that’s often used. Your paint supplier must have some ideas there. My Google search for alternatives came upon several options, the most exciting to me was iPaint.us”. Look around and see if you can find products that fit the bill for you.
Temperature does matter, and your specific paint will tell you the right temperature to work in. Generally you don’t want to paint when the surface is less than 40 degrees or is going to get that cold in the following couple of hours.
Please let me know what you find about the additive.
We had some water damage to our walkout basement. The carpeting that was down there was all ruined and has been removed. We think we have fixed the underlying problem, but don’t want to reinstall carpet. We are thinking of doing a faux stone paint job instead. My question is: What kind of prep work is needed to prepare the concrete? Right now it has remains of adhesive and some carpet tack strips.
I like your solution. It makes good sense in a variety of ways.
First of course finish cleaning the floor of the carpet job and then consider washing it with STP (sodium tri-phosphate) and maybe something to kill any possible remaining mold spores. After it’s dry from all this cleaning, test to make sure it doesn’t have a moisture problem. Do that by taping a clear plastic square — say 10-12″ — making sure you have a good seal around the edges. Leave it there for several days and look for condensation. Condensation means you still have a water problem and dry means you don’t.
Priming the floor will help the paint cover better, but consider other approaches as well. You could also stain or use an epoxy paint. Stain and paint will need a polyurethane top coat but epoxy won’t. Let me urge you to use low VOC products so you don’t impair your interior air quality.
Have fun!
Can we use two colors on top of each other to create a different design and what kind of paint rollers are the best? I have looked at the paint rollers with the holes and I’m wondering if that would work or not to make a different color design? Is the stain as pretty as the paint and can you stain on top of each other to make a different texture design?
Yes, you can use two different colored paints to create different looks. I don’t know about using two different colored stains together though.
Having never painted concrete myself I don’t know what the best rollers are for the job. Your paint supplier should be a great source for that answer.
I love the clerks at every Sherwin Williams I’ve used across the country; they should be able to help you with your paint, stain and roller questions.
My basement floor is already painted but I don’t like the color or the painted look. I have been looking at different floor solutions but all seem very expensive. Can I use stain over the paint that is there(its beige)? Would I have to strip the entire floor to stain and wax it?
Thanks
I don’t think you can successfully stain over paint, though I guess it would be an interesting look. But if you are looking for the stained-concrete look you’ll need to strip the paint off the concrete, which may not be possible to do completely. And once you get the stain the way you want it using polyurethane rather than wax will be more durable and less hassle.
I have stained floors. I got the stain from Home Depot so it’s not acid stain and I put one coat of sealer on top of it. Now it’s all scratched and chipping in some places. I was wondering what I could do to fix this and keep it from happening again because other concrete floors I see look so smooth and shiney. Also, what should I mop with to keep it from looking cloudy or hazey?
What exactly is chipped and scratched: the concrete itself or the top coat?
What are you cleaning with right now? Cloudy and hazy looks usually mean there’s a residue of the cleaner left on the surface, but sometimes the cleaning product is actually reacting to/with the surface that’s getting cloudy. Knowing what you are using may help us figure out what you can do to avoid the problems.