A Free Guide On Innovative Concrete Flooring Ideas

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.

96 thoughts on “A Free Guide On Innovative Concrete Flooring Ideas”

  1. Hello,
    I own a auto repair shop and I recently epoxyed my floors I bought the epoxy from Home Depot.It is not as shiny as I thought it would be, I have entered shops where the floors looked like an ice skating rink.What can I do to make them shinny? thank-you

    Reply
  2. Hi Charles,
    You should call the manufacturer and ask them. I would guess that either the flooring needs buffed or needs a sealer. I don’t know what the manufacturer would recommend as I don’t know what product you used, but I’m sure they’d know. ;~)

    Reply
  3. Hi there. My husband and I are going to be building a house soon and we would like to use mostly Hickory wood and acid stained concrete flooring throughout. My question is about the place where the 2 meet. I know it will be covered with something, but what and will it be awkward going from one floor type to the other as far as hights? Thanks.

    Reply
  4. Hopefully not, it depends on what the contractor does as far as a transition – there’s quite a few options. I’d discuss it with your contractor, but I’m sure you would have been included in any discussions of what to use. Schluter has some examples so you can get an idea of what can be used, I know there are others as well. I’m sure everything will be just fine.

    Reply
  5. We have laminate floors in our den and kitchen but would like high gloss concrete. How should we go about this task?
    Suzie Savannah, Ga

    Reply
  6. Hi Suzie,
    Is the flooring underneath the laminate concrete? If so, just remove the laminate. Are you wanting to paint, epoxy or stained concrete? You do whichever treatment you want and seal with a high sheen (gloss) sealer, probably have to be buffed to bring out the highest gloss. You need to get the concrete ready for whichever application you choose. You can find more info on each of these processes by using the search box in the upper right hand corner of the page.

    Reply
  7. Hi
    I’ve bought a house and the one bedroom has a concrete floor but I don’t know if it’s finished or not because it makes a lot of dust on the surface and when sweeping it makes more – its almost like sand you’re trying to sweep away. It’s also stained – how can I repair it or get rid of the dust – what can be done with it?

    Reply
  8. Hi Ina,
    It sounds like your concrete has efflorescence. Efflorescence is the loss of water (usually as evaporation to air) in an aqueous solution of salts, leaving behind crusts of solid salt crystals, called efflorecent salts.
    So, in short, you have moisture under your slab somewhere and the moisture works it way through your concrete bringing up these salts with it.
    There are several ways to attack this problem, but to find the best way it’s probably going to be best to find a conctractor to help. I really can’t help because it’s going to take a bit of detective work to find out why this is happening and I’m not there to do it. Solution might be as simple as installing French drains so that water is carried away from the house, meaning less moisture in the dirt under the slab to something along the lines as using a plastic film vapor barrier and having a new, thin layer of concrete poured.
    Aldon makes some good products for efflorescence, they also have a very good page describing eff and explaining what their products do and why as well as lots of photos. That page is here.
    You can also check out http://www.aquamix.com – they have products for eff as well.

    Reply
  9. I’ve run across a cement/concrete looking topcoat, I believe, that has a bit of a spring to it. It’s not hard like regular concrete. I’ve only seen it used in commercial retail applications so it must be extremely durable. I would love this in my home but I’m not having any luck tracking it down. Are you familiar with this product?

    Reply
  10. Hi,
    I had put polished concrete floor in my newly purchased condo. However, the floor got cracked and sometimes i can here different foot steps under the cracked part. Some of my friends say it looks natural, gives the floor character. well, I am talking to the contractor since it is under warranty. Contractors are willing to help me and come up with some options, but try to minimize their responsibility at the same time. They said concrete shrinks and expands naturally, so it is kinda natural to be cracked. Is it true?

    Reply
  11. Flooring Lady and Katie, my wife and I have a house of concrete flooring and it does have cracks. As hard as our contractor tried to compact the soil before pouring our foundation the ground still settled. I think the crack has been made worse by having let the concrete cure too quickly.

    I have a neighbor who took the slow-cure path and doesn’t have floor cracks. My concrete man says that concrete just tends to crack, period. The more expansion joints in the concrete the less the problem, but it still tends to crack.

    I’m guessing the “footsteps” you are hearing are echoes within the substrate, though that’s only a guess.

    Reply
  12. Hi Darlene,
    I would go with using a vinegar/water solution (1 part vinegar to 15 parts water or more). I’ve found that the best thing to do is to put it in a spray bottle (though not necessary!) and use a microfiber mop. I also use a separate clean, dry mop head to use afterwards to sort of ‘polish’ my floor afterwards.

    Reply
  13. I’ve tried to stain concrete basement floor with acid stain(it looks terrible). Can the floor now be painted over? If so, how do I prep and what kind of paint should be used? Can it be sealed and waxed after painting? Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Hi Angie,
    Just out of curiosity, how did your stained concrete turn out? FYI it’s not supposed to be evenly stained. Once sealed/finished it should look more like stone. The floor can be painted over and sealed. There’s more info elsewhere on the site under the categories Painted Floors and Painting Kitchen Floors.

    Reply
  15. Cleaning Lady,
    I recently had my living and dining area concrete floors, stripped of old carpet and then painted with a high gloss paint. Now that it is time to clean the floors and keep that high shine, what should I use?

    Reply

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