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.
We have a stained concrete floor that to me the color is ugly. Can this be stripped and restained and if so where do you start in finding out how to do this ourselves.
Hi Priscilla,
I presume that you sealed/finished the surface to make it more durable? If not, you definitely need to do that first so you don’t ruin your wonderful paint job – make sure it’s compatible with the type of paint you used so you don’t have a gooey mess.
I like to use a vinegar solution (1 part vinegar to 15 parts water or so) to clean floors – it’s cheap, disinfects and environmentally safe. I use a microfiber mop and follow up with a dry microfiber mop or rag if there’s any streaks or smudges to kind of “polish” it.
Hi Cindy,
Presuming your floor has been acid stained, this kind of process is kind of a ‘forever’ thing. Yes, it can be removed, but as you can infer from the article above, it won’t be easy. You’d either have to grind down into the cement to get below the stained level and then smooth it, have a thin layer of new concrete added, paint over it, or live with it. Acid staining is a chemical process – the acid reacts with the concrete. Now that it’s already been acid stained there isn’t enough left in the concrete for the acid to react adequately again. You can read more at Stained Concrete Flooring.
Hi,
We moved into our home in June 2007, and have 4,000 sq ft of concrete flooring. We opted not to stain and I love the soft gray color. It was sealed then waxed. The problem I am having is that in the kitchen area the floor has spots that are darker than the surrounding flooring. Usually the spots eventually fade but these have not, any suggestions? Also, how often do we need to have the floors re-waxed?
Thanks,
Luci
Hi Luci,
I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue as to what the darker spots are from – the only thing I can figure is that they were there before you sealed/waxed and became more apparent afterwards as this is often just a characteristic of sealers – they often enhance color (and stains, discolorations, etc.).
You didn’t mention what type of wax you used on your floor. General rule of thumb is 6 months to a year, dependant on foot traffic to the area of course.
Hey Flooring Lady!
It really didn’t turn out!?!? It looks GREAT when it’s wet, but once it drys it looks no different than when I started. I am starting over…TSP cleaning and maybe a different color stain. I am afraid the paint verses stain just won’t hold up. Headed over to look at your other information on painted floors!
Hi Angie –
You’ve lost me……what didn’t really turn out? I’m not following what you’ve done to your floor. I’m guessing you’re talking about stain? If it looks great wet and then not so great once it dries, it sounds like you’ll like the results once you seal it. I can recommend Diamond Coat Varathane Polyurethane – easily found at local hardware stores, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. It’s also the same product I recommend when you paint your floors. Another good line of produts for concrete can be found at aquamix.com.
So, we have about 1000 sq feet of a really lovely epoxy overlay on our indoor concrete floor. It was sealed and looked great for well..oh..about 3 days. Now it shows lots of scuffs and dust and the high shine is gone in all but the most underused areas. We’ve called the installer who really had no other suggestions then to try wax (which we don’t want to do because of the stripping issue later on). No matter what I use to clean it, it still is dull. Even tried renting a buffer but no success. Help! I want my high shine back!
Caroline
Hi Caroline,
You’ll need to call the installer to find out what it was sealed with – it wouldn’t hurt to find out what epoxy product he used as well. Once you know what products have been used then I can recommend what action to take. It’s possible that the sealer he used just isn’t that great of a product. It is possible to re-seal with a better product but you definitely need to know what was used first in order to prevent the possibility of a messy chemical reaction. ;~)
Hi Flooring Lady! My husband & I are building a new home & are hoping to have stained concrete. How does the concrete react to doggy accidents, toe nails, etc? How often will I have to do anything other than just dust & mop it?
We would love to install travertine but know that it’s not a great option with two small dogs in the house. Right??
Thanks,
Jessica
Hi Jessica,
There shouldn’t be a problem having travertine with two small dogs so long as they don’t have ‘accidents’ on the floor and you keep their toenails trimmed. Same with the stained concrete. Both types of flooring are sealed/finished. You shouldn’t have to do anything more than just dust & mop (only when needed). Stripping and/or re-sealing will depend on how much traffic the flooring gets. The biggest issue would be the doggie accidents – that’s going to ruin almost any finish. A clear coat epoxy might work, that’s something that would need investigated as I’m not sure if it would react to the accidents – I’ll bet it wouldn’t though.
Hello Flooring Lady,I recently moved into a condo and I belive that I have stained concrete floors. (They are concrete for sure)But not really sure if they are stained,colored, sealed etc.
I dust mop the floor and vacuum,BUT what should I use to clean the floors? I can not find any product that is green and actually cleans as well… any sugguestions>
Hi Natalie,
Yep! Good ol’ vinegar and water does wonders for cleaning. I use 1 part vinegar to 15 parts or more water. I use a spray bottle and a microfiber mop. I also have a second one to go over the area I just mopped again to dry it really well so there’s no streaks or smudges. A microfiber cloth will do just fine too – I usually just use my foot to wipe it over the floor.
If you use a regular mop, be sure to use a separate bucket for rinse water and keep that water pretty clean so you’re not just depositing grime back onto your floor.
Don’t ever use any type of mop and glo or orange glo type products. They soon create a nightmare! (Google it)
Hope that helps. ;~)
I have a scored concrete floor with a water-based sealer on it. We are now looking at stripping the sealer and refinishing our floors. Dirt just seems to be building up and I can’t get it off with anything. What kind of stripping agent do I use and any suggestions on a water-based sealer?
Hi Shannon,
I would recommend AquaMix products – check out their site at http://www.aquamix.com and look at their products for concrete. They also carry another line at big-box stores, but I can’t think of the name right at the moment. They have a toll free number and can help you with that. ;o) Good luck! They have good sealers too, another good sealer is Diamond Coat Varathane Polyurethane.
Hello: I own a small clenaing business. I recently got an inquiry form a coffee shop to clean their stained concrete floor. They vacuum and mop it regularly but the shine/luster has lessened especially in heavy traffic areas. It still is shiny under rugs, etc. They would like me to clean it and try to get some shine back. What do you recommend.
Thanks, Sandi
Hi Sandi,
I usually recommend cleaning with a vinegar/water solution (do a site search for the whole explanation). It really sounds like the flooring needs to be buffed.
Thanks for the information. What type of pad do you recommend to buff the floor with.
Thanks again,
Sandi
Hi Sandi,
Try buffing it with a white pad.
Hello Flooring Lady,
My problem is I used a water base sealer and after I had applied this product with a roller like it said to do per product instructions problem is now it looks white in most areas very little clear like it was suppose to be; in other words I must of applied to much or let the brush dry out but really have no idea what I did can this be buffed down to get a clear gloss look before applying the wax.
I am on a stand still and your suggestion would get us back to actually finishing the floor