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July 7, 2011

DIY Painted & Stained Concrete Living Room Floors

 

***This has been my most popular post, with many comments and questions.  I try to respond to everyone but many times I can’t because the email address for the commenter is listed as “noreply-comment@blogger.com”.  Here is a tutorial from another blogger that will show you how to fix this problem so I can respond to your comments:  Cinsarah's Tutorial.  

I mentioned in my last post that my mother in law is coming to town this month and we are trying to complete 1 zillion projects before she arrives.

Our carpet was absolutely horrible, disgusting, gross, vial, and any other gross words you can think of due to the addition of 2 wiener dogs to our family.  The carpet HAD.TO.GO! 

Rip Out Carpet

We don’t have the funds at this time to install hardwood floors so after pondering our DIY options we settled on staining the concrete slab. 

****NOTE****  We broke every rule there is regarding prepping and staining concrete floors.  Normally I would not do this but a friend of mine took the same steps in her kitchen (a few years ago) and to this day her floors are holding up perfectly!

Step One:  Rip Out Carpet

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

After the carpet was removed we realized our floors were in really bad shape.  The concrete has chips, cracks, mastic overflowing from the kitchen tiles, different textures and varying colors.  You can see the variation of concrete in this picture:

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

Step Two:  Remove Tack Strips

These things are pure evil.  I used a flat head screwdriver, hammer and a LOT of elbow grease to get these up.

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

Step Three:  Repair Floors

After removing all carpet and tack strips we were supposed to fill in any holes/cracks.  Since this is a “temporary” fix we skipped this step.  The cracks and rivets will add character!

Step Four:  Clean Floors

They say you are supposed to remove all grease and grime with a special cleaner but since my friend skipped this step and her floors are still great we skipped this step also.  Instead we swept, vacuumed and mopped the floors with a damp mop.  We saved money and time!

Step Five:  Tape Baseboards/Walls

You need to be very careful with the stain because it is very watery and splatters quite easily.

Step Six:  Paint Floors

The workers at Lowe’s and Home Depot will tell you that you cannot paint the floors with a solid color and then put the semi transparent concrete on top of the paint.  They are wrong!  We used Valspar exterior satin latex paint color matched to Mega Greige by Sherwin Williams.  This was paint we had left over from previous projects.  Painting the floors served two purposes: (1) it provided us with one uniform color to work with and (2) adds depth to the floors when the semi transparent stain is applied. 

This is our hall after we painted the floors. 

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

Step Seven:  Apply Semi

Transparent Stain

This process took a lot of trial and error.  We are working in sections so we painted a small area to test different methods of applying the stain.  We originally bought Quickrete semi transparent stain from Lowe’s but felt the stain wasn’t transparent enough so we switched to Behr’s semi transparent stain in the color Lodus. 

We first tried spraying the stain on the floor with a spray bottle then used a Wal-Mart bag and/or rag to dab the stain around.  It was very hard to get a somewhat consistent pattern and realized how much time it would take to achieve the look we wanted so we kept trying different methods looking for the easiest and fastest way to apply the stain.

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

We found the easiest and fastest way that achieved a great look was to roll the stain on top of the painted floors with 3/8” white woven fabric interior wall rollers.  This allowed us to layer the stain in light layers to add color, depth and dimension.  I used a paint brush to get the sides where the roller could not reach.  It is best to roll as delicately as possible in varying directions to prevent noticeable “roller marks”.

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

The semi transparent concrete stain dries EXTREMELY FAST so you have to work fast to prevent noticeable “seams”.  If you do get seams in the stain then you can keep going over the different sections layering color to make it look more natural. 

Step Eight:  Apply High Gloss

Sealer or Polyurethane

 

***UPDATE***:  (5/3/2012):  Please note with this step I am now suggesting to only use Polyurethane.  I used a high gloss sealer by Quickrete, that was fast drying, after a year we have random chips appearing everywhere.  My friend who has done this to her kitchen (a few years before I did) used polyurethane and has never had a chip in her floors.  The poly does take longer to dry but in the long run it is worth using it!

We used Quikrete’s Wet Look High Gloss Sealer from Lowe’s.  With 4 kids and 2 dogs running around we don’t have time to wait on polyurethane to dry so we went with the concrete sealer to finish the floors.  To apply the sealer we rolled it on the floors with the same type of roller we used to apply the stain.  This product also dries very fast so we were able to apply 1 layer, let it dry to touch and apply a 2nd layer in about an hour.

 

 DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

 

 

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room 

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room

DIY Stained Concrete Floors Living Room 

Has anyone else attempted a project like this? 

I would love to hear your experiences!

I link to these awesome blogs: Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou, Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife, Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design, Whatever Goes Wednesday by Someday Crafts, Hookin’ Up with HOH at House of Hepworths, {LTC} Link Party at Lemon Tree Creations, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Free For All at Young and Crafty, Frugalicious Friday by Finding Fabulous, I’m Lovin’ It at Tidy Mom, It’s a Hodgepodge Friday by It’s a Hodgepodge Life, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous at Remodelaholic, Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots & Jello, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different Act Normal, DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff, Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime, Catch as Catch Can at My Repurposed Life

94 comments:

Suze said...

Wow that's awesome! I never would have thought of that. And it looks great!

Patrice said...

What a great result! Thanks for linking up with Lemon Tree Creations today!

Erin @ His and Hers said...

Wow! That looks so much better. We've also pulled up a lot of gross carpet, and I agree that tack strips can be evil. I've found that a crowbar works wonders and actually makes it go pretty fast. Good luck with the rest of your zillion projects (I do the same thing when company is coming...) :)

gail@My Repurposed Life said...

great job michelle! Nice tute too. Thanks for sharing @ catch as catch can and linking back!
gail
Will be catching this next week!

Mandy said...

I am not quite sure how I cam across your blog, but I was looking at some of your ideas and then read over to your profile - I too am a mom of two sets of twins ( 5yr old boys and 19 mo. old girls). I am amazed at how you find the time - you have awesome creativity - I am curious about your dresser turned entertainment center. God Bless!
coloradotoms.blogspot.com

Gloria Fox said...

I think it looks great and especially as a temporary fix.

Nana's Fun Stuff said...

Found your blog from Gail's catch as catch can post and glad I did :) Your floor looks great!!! I have 3 pom's so I understand about carpet being trashed. I'm in the same boat but have plywood under mine. Hmmmm am going to have to think about what I can do with that route! Good job :)

Unknown said...

Ok, quick question. It's now been 20 days since you made this post. How has the finish held up on your floor? Does it scratch easily? My wife sent me to look at your blog because we are contemplating the same things for our floor. I am worried that the finish will peel. Especially with the stain applied over the latex paint.

Suzanne said...

This looks great! I love that you did your own thing and skipped soem prep steps, since this is exactly what I would have done...
Thanks for the tutorial. New follower

Vici said...

Came across your blog through My Repurposed Life. Love your floors! Two years ago we did riped up our carpet and stained our floors. The hardest part was removing all the paint that had been on the concrete since the house was built 25 years previous but the actual staining was a breeze and we love them. I have a new blog and soon I want to post my pics and when I do I would love to share yours as well, with you permission of course.

Jill said...

Wow! Great job! I love how it turned out! My boyfriend and I ripped up the carpet in his house to get to the hardwood underneath - tack strips and staples are EVIL for sure!! :)

Kate said...

Wow! That looks great! I have dogs too and always thought concrete would be a great option. We ended up going with laminate, but pulling up those carpets made a HUGE difference. And I completely agree with you about the tack strips - they're awful!

hoosiergirl said...

LOVE LOVE your floor! Turned out amazing...I was wondering, is there a gap from the base boards? I would love to pull up our yucky carpet and do this to our floor! It did have hardwood but previous owners pulled it up! Soooo, left with a slab...Great tut too! Very well described! Will keep you posted if I get *brave* (ie:ambitious) enough to try it.

Following for sure ;)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for helping to give me that extra push to rip out the cheap carpet! I used crowbar for tack strips & hands are still sore! I hope to get concrete stained soon!

dominique said...

Michelle - Incredible job! I live in a high rise downtown in Tulsa, OK and I have stained concrete floors. Mine are brown with a grey undertone and I love them. SOOOOOO easy to keep clean and they wear so well.

You did a fantastic job!

Anonymous said...

Hi I'm working on staining my concrete right now did u have to mix the base with a color

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

I feel bad because some people are leaving comments but when I try to respond to the email I receive they have their email option turned off from their blogger address so I can't. Hopefully you guys are checking back here. Today is 10/16/2011 and my floors are holding up perfectly!! I have my desk in part of the living room and roll all over the floor with my rolling computer chair and there are no scratches at all! Now I did have to put pads under my media center, etc. because moving HEAVY furniture will scratch the floor but that would happen to wood also. Someone asked if I mixed my base with a color and my answer is that the base was a color, I used a Sherwin Williams greige called Mega Greige but I wrote about that in the post. If you have questions be sure that you leave an email address so I can respond to you!!

Anonymous said...

How did you handle the carpet glue??? We cannot find anything that will take it up! We are getting very frustrated with it.

hdg_family@yahoo.com
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thank You! I recently painted my bathroom floor - I hated it! Since reading your post, I am going to try and stain today - I'll let you know how it turns out...nervous...but ready to try!

Dennice said...

I am so excited to read your post!! I too have a nasty, disgusting, stained living area of carpet that we have been considering ripping out and painting/staining the concrete floors. Every where we had looked they gave this very drawn out, time consuming process but we suspected we could do it some other way! After reading this, that carpet is H-I-S-T-O-R-Y!!

Julie Wurth said...

So glad I found your post! I was waffling between different kinds of stain but your experience made me try to the semitransparent stain and it looks beautiful! We used it on a breezeway floor that was covered with old ugly vinyl tile, adhesive and an indoor-outdoor carpet, so the prep took some time but I love the finished product.

(For those who asked about the adhesive, it's a real pain. My bro-in-law knows people, who said the only way to get stain or paint to stick on top of it is to use a floor chisel to chip away the old black adhesive, then acid-wash the surface. So he did it for us! We tried solvents first but it's painstaking and didn't work all that well... it was a job, but it was worth it.)

Thanks for the inspiration! I'll send you a link when I post the blog.

Anonymous said...

Hi, we are thinking of doing this for my grandmothers basement. Thanks so much for writing this post! How long did you have to wait before moving furniture in?

Anthony said...

Hi there, reading this great DIY project from downunder.
Really excellent result and i take my hat off to you for 1. Having a go and 2. posting such an easy to follow and get off your backside and do it instruction guide.
Congrats on a job well done!!

mamakoepp said...

Hi,
I love this look and I am planning to use it for our floors, here is my question. What color did you have the semi transparent stain tinted to.
Thanks

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

Someone sent me an email asking what color stain was used and it was called "Lodus". I have received many questions from people about this post so I plan on doing a FAQ post to correspond with this one. If anyone has pictures of their finished product I would love to see them and include them in my updated post!!

Anonymous said...

Michelle, thanks for the great how to! How long did it take between steps? How long did you wait to walk on it and put furniture back in?
Jenny
pbjsexton@verizon.net

jamie said...

we contemplating staining the floors on a house we are buying. I hope they turn out ss great as your floors.

disconnectedin73 said...

Amazing walk-through! My wife & I are about to embark on this journey and this is HUGELY helpful!!
Thanx!

Sarah's Polka Dot Spot said...

HI Michelle! I am absolutely in LOVE with your flooring. My contractor started today enclosing our carport for us to use as an extra room. I have been looking for someone to explain it as you have so easily and breaking the rules:) My only two questions were how long did you alow the paint to dry before starting the stain and then as well as the polyeurathane before walking on it? My contractor will be finished with our room by Friday and my daughter's first birthday party is sunday so I'm wondering if I could do it before then and it would be okay for guests to walk on by Sunday afternoon? Please email me at RyFisk@hotmail.com and let me know:) Thanks so much!!!!! Sarah

Anonymous said...

I hope you get this because this is exactly what ive been looking for... What did you do about the glue from the carpet?? we have pulled ours up and the glue is stuck and cant get it up.. Also since its been close to a year are the floors still holding up good?? Please email me at ladawna1977@aol.com thank you!!! great job

Melanie said...

Thank you so much. We are going to pick out the color this weekend and get started next week! We have the carpet up, and are excited at the possibilities! Thanks for sharing this information.
Melanie

Anonymous said...

Since it appears from your instructions, that the concrete surface is actually covered with paint, I am wondering if this technique would work on sheet vinyl flooring. This is what I have under some of my carpet that needs to be removed.

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

I can't say for sure if it would work since I haven't tried this on vinyl but I would think if you could get the paint to stick to the vinyl that it would work. Is your vinyl an even surface or does it have indentions from faux grout lines? I would probably buy a paint sample, small piece of vinyl and the smallest can of stain and give it a trial run!

Anonymous said...

My husband and I stained our office and living area floors with dark stain and I HATE it. It was not at all what the Home Depot guy said it was and I am very sad about it. Do you think we could use your process with a darker stain on bottom and a lighter semi transparent on top? My daughter's birthday party is this Saturday and I just don't want anyone to see my floors.

Anonymous said...

Loved the step by step! I am thinking of doing this in my basement, but like some,of the,other comments, I have an issue with the carpet glue. Did y9u encounter anything like that with yours? I saw one person's comments about needing to use acid on it, I'm hoping I can rent a floor sander and that will take care of it. Any other tips you or someone else has would be appreciated!

ABZ said...

I really enjoyed your post. We just bought my mom and dad's old house place and the house is block walls with concrete floors. I have been so excited to stain the floors until my brother said it was very tough to do and make it look good. After seeing your post I am once again inspired to go for it. Thanks, and your floor looks great!

dkdockery said...

We are currently living on unfinished concrete floors as we took our carpet up last year(we have dachshunds, too! Enough said! LOL). When we starting taking the carpet up, we planned on staining or painting it, but have been deterred by the state of the concrete, i.e. "craters" from nail holes, paint and stain from builders--spiiled paint, overspray from them laying trim on floor and staining, stain and paint worker shoeprints, etc. I see you had some of this on yours(but not as extensive as ours). Just wondering how you dealt with all that. Also, how is it to mop? And is it slick to walk on? Hope you can provide some info as we need to decide to finish the concrete or go vinyl shopping! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

How does the stained floors hold up to puppy accidents?

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

The floors hold up great against puppy accidents AND 4 kids ha ha. Once again I tried to email a response to the previous comment but was unable to do so because of the no-reply email address. I hope you read these comments and see this response!

Anonymous said...

Awesome !! Is it cold to walk barefoot ??

Anonymous said...

I have the same question someone else asked but they gave an email address so we can't see the answer. The question is how long did you alow the paint to dry before starting the stain and then as well as the polyeurathane before walking on it?
And also the base paint you used, was it just a regular Latex Exterior paint or was is a Concrete Exterior paint?
Thank you for posting your concrete floor project. Your floors looks great! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting a great step-by-step! We ried to stain our floors several years ago and it was a long drawn out nightmare! Your process looks so much easier. I do have a couple of questions that have been asked previously but I did not see answers for and was unable to locate the FAQs post you mentioned...1) What type/brand of poly are you recommending now and 2) how long did you let it all dry before moving back in, furniture, that is! If you don't respond here, email is bazhawfree@hotmail.com...THANKS!

Anonymous said...

how long before you can walk on it and add furniture

Allymommie said...

We have stained our floors about 2 years ago. Slowly moving from one room to the next. We chose to use a SOLID stain instead of a semi transparent. I wish we wouldnt have. It always looks dirty. We also topped our with a Semi gloss. It turned white, it bubbled... Im not sure what we were doing wrong.. Im wondering if I can go over it. Im wanting to add demension to it. Maybe adding a semi transparent over. A lighter color .... Anyone ever do this??

Anonymous said...

Hello! Thinking of doing this in our apartment that we rent assuming they approve it. We DO NOT want to stain, just leave the grey cement color. So would just the poly sealant do the trick? Apartment carpet sucks with a 3 year old, 2 cats, a lab,and a baby on the way!! ALLERGIES! Also live in arizona, was told by some blogs it helps with the AC bill....added plus!!

Amber said...

Wow! Thanks for all the great details - and updated tips!

tonya said...

We bought a house about 3 months ago. It has carpet everywhere but kitchen, dining area and bathrooms. We have 2 boys one 12 and one 14, they r constantly spilling stuff on the carpet. I also have 3 dogs (an adult pit, an adult boxer and an 8 month old pit/boxer puppy mix) so I to have that disgusting carpet issue. I have been wanting to do the stain on my floors. It's about a 1200 sq foot home. Do you have any idea as to figure out the possible cost of finishing them the way you did? If we put down flooring ourself we are looking at about $1300 to do it ourselves. Needing the cheapest route..... I absolutely LOVE how your floor turned out!!!

Anonymous said...

I just have to say a million thanks. My floors were truly HOPELESS, and every solution was exspensive. I was about to give up all hope when I found your blog. I finished me first coat this morning and it is beautiful. I followed your instructions step by step. I am just finding I have a lot of roller marks. I am sooo happy!! Thank you so much :) martini5466@cox.net, please advise for additional tips I am going to do 1300 sq ft of it. My mother has stained concrete and her house is brand new and she likes my floor better.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad I found ur site, like many others have written, it was a pleasure and easy way to do my floors. I love my floor and have gotten great feedback from friends and family. My biggest problem now is the sealer. Please let me know how ur floors are holding up with the polyurethane. It was suggested to me to use a floor sealer and not polyurathane. I don't want to ruin my beautiful floors with a sealer.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I have been trying to find a solution to staining a painted floor. The information you provided is invaluable. I really do appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

We had a water leak in our house that was built in the 80's. If we choose to paint/stain/seal the concrete...would it be cold in the winter? And would moisture occur on the floor? Thanks

Sean Baber said...

Awesome post. I plan on doing concrete floors. I would like to have them with some color. Do I paint floor and apply clear coat after? Or do i add dye to concrete?

Anonymous said...

Oh my god your floors look amazing! I have been doing a ton of research on stained concrete and I honestly haven't found anything that looks as beautiful as yours. I really hate my carpets so we have been looking for an alternative. Hardwood floors get damaged so easily and I really don't like laminates. Stained concrete is a natural fit for us. I just hope when we finally get them they look as good as yours!

Anonymous said...

THANKS!
Same issue, two small older dogs, 16yr old carpet and AZ dust, carpet came out of living room last week (other rooms are tiled) don't want to tile living room, yes also have chips, backing glue trails, wall paint splatter and was going to stain, ha so much work already to get to clean concrete and so much more to go it getting overwhelming, ran across this post just now and looks like my dreamed of option! Will bookmark and come back later with results.
Thanks Again Dave

Anonymous said...

Love your floors and was motivated enough to try it for ourselves, after doing all the prep, painting staining which I must say worked as you posted. we ran into a problem withthe sealer, it left a sticky residue all over the floor. Do you know how I can fix that? we didn't use polyurethane we used HC Concrete Sealer Wet Look. I really dont want to strip the floor, so I'm hoping you have heard of this problem before. Thanks so much!

Hollie said...

Hi I am looking to do this in our master bedroom and just wondering how your floor is holding up. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I was seriously ready to give up, I thought it was too hard. You made it so simple and in your numbered steps. I think maybe I can do it now!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this over a year ago LOL! My mom had gross carpeting that was pulled out when they had to have their house piered - you should see their concrete slab; it's full of character with all the holes that were made (but the workers pulled up the carpet & tacks). Trying to help her find ideas on how to make the floor look decent until they can afford to put in another flooring option (the piering wiped out the flooring budget!). Thanks for this post and showing how easy it can be without sanding and filling everything out! I'm going to start her on this project ASAP!

Anonymous said...

I used the Quikrete semi transparent stains. Applied the first two coats with a roller solid like paint. Then using a different color applied with a garden sprayer. The stain came out rather thick and in splatters, so I tried to roll it after I sprayed it, but it still had very thick spots. I took a wet rag to wipe up the thick spots and as I began wiping it(it was almost dry) it started to look better. So thats what I did to apply it the rest of the way and it turned out great. Although I myself used the Quikrete sealer and have noticed a few chips in the stain. We are moving and going to try the polyurethane when we do this again.

Anonymous said...

GREAT POST!! love your floors. I ripped up my carpet this weekend and decided that I might need to get online and read up on "how to diy stain your floors". I guess I am doing this backwards! haha but I am going to stain my living room area. Got all the paint spots up and other yucky glue stuff with alittle elbow grease, steel wool/pot scrubber thingy, hot water and I mopped it like 4-5 times. I am now filling/sanding the noticeable holes from the carpet nails/strips. I am worried about the "roller marks" when I get ready to stain. Anyone have any ideas on how to avoid them??

I was told to let the stain dry for a day before you apply sealer and then let sealer dry for a day before moving in your furniture. I am using an acrylic sealer (nothing is suppose to mess that up except brake fluid) ha its suppose to be tough as nails. I am not applying paint to my concrete...just stain. Any thoughts??

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this DIY tutorial and all of the follow up comments and responses! We have wood laminate in our finished basement and in 2 years have had 2 water issues which have caused us to have to replace the floors, TWICE! This second time we were looking for an alternative solution that would hold up if we have another leak. With a bedroom, bathroom and computer area downstairs, I was not liking the tile option (not to mention the price) and was worried that staining the concrete would be over our heads for a DIY project. I was worried after watching some other tutorials online how I would get all of the water out of the basement from all of the prep-work (and acid!) they were recommending beforehand. I am bookmarking this and showing my husband as soon as he gets home from work. Cannot wait to get started. I really feel like this will give us a look as good as what we had with the laminate, but with the function we need as well!

Anonymous said...

Just did my bedroom floors. LOVE IT!! We sleep soooo much better now too! Good bye carpets! One room at a time ;)

handigirl said...

Love the floors. Regarding the use of polyurethane...is it oil or water based? Thanks

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

I did not use polyurethane so I can not answer that question. My friend that did so does not remember what type she used. Sorry I can't help you more.

Anonymous said...

How long does it take between steps to dry and continue with the next step.

Unknown said...

Woah, that's amazing! Thanks for sharing this amazing how-to guide. I now feel like I can do stained concrete in Nashville, TN.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for sharing this. My wife and I have been considering doing a stained concrete floor in our Nashville tn home. You make it look so easy, and I was wondering how long this took you to do fully from start to finish?

Anonymous said...

Excellent post, thanks! We were about to give up and put vinyl down. We will now be following your steps this weekend!

Unknown said...

We have been following your blog post, almost to the "T". What type of polyurethane should we use? Any suggestions? We are going to use a micro-fiber mop for stain application. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

What a great tutorial! Thank you so much for helping us through our own project. I blogged our results. http://knittingirl40.com/2013/05/02/frugal-diy-stained-concrete-kitchen-and-laundry-room-floor/ Thanks again!!

Unknown said...

Michelle, I am so glad I came across your blog! I plan on doing this to my floors, throughout my entire house, but want to make sure I am purchasing the right products. I am clear on the paint I need to buy but am unsure on the semi transparent stain. Do you need to use concrete stain or is it ok to use wood stain? (There are so many more color choices with the wood stain!) Thanks so much my email is rebgnel@gmail.com

Unknown said...

hmm lets see if we cant get this to work this time! I just wanted to double check about the stain to use... must I use concrete stain or is it ok to use wood stain over the paint ( there are more choices in color with the wood stain) Thanks Michelle my email is rebgnel@gmail.com

Kimber said...

Thanks for putting this out there, we've just finished prepping your floors (500 sq ft), after talking to a concrete guy decided to rent a floor buffer with a sanding screen and we filled in the divits. Took about 7 days to prep :p painting starts tomorrow!!!!!After exploring several paint options on a demo in our garage we've decided to go with Behr latex (not their porch & floor concrete paint,Yuk!)but going to add their bonding primer first ( it's ensures adhesion the cement and its sticky) then stain the water based polyurethane semi gloss. You're right about the misinformation...even talking to the experts there was no consensus and v lots of contradictions and uncertainty about this method. You have me the confidence to plow forward.

Michael said...

Thank you kindly for all the sharing! Learned a few very helpful things! Staining our new nursery with a beautiful Valspar color as we speak :D

Unknown said...

I want to thank you for taking the time to post this--my husband and I are are about to begin the same project for many of the same reasons. We will definitely use your info to guide us along! THANK YOU!!!!

Unknown said...

I live in a cold winter climate. Has anyone else done this in similar climate, and happy with it? I would use area rugs for warmth and noise control, they are part of my decorating style. Would love feedback.

Unknown said...

Awesome job! I have a 25 x 25' concrete poured deck outside that they painted. (not very well)The paint is coming off where presumably it wasn't properly prepped. I was hoping I could stain over paint. Any experience with using this in an exterior application?

o_whimsy_o@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Your floor looks amazing. Has it held up? We don't have any experience with concrete floor painting/staining, but love the look and durability. We're going to give it a try.

Unknown said...

This is fantastic! I've been wanting to get some concrete flooring in my home because I really like the look of it, but I would also like to get some stairs like the concrete steps in Chicago, IL. Do you have any tutorials for that kind of thing?

Unknown said...

This is a great article will some good tips on fixing flooring. I just finished fixing the concrete flooring in my garage because it was cracked all over the place. I was new to the whole process, but my neighbor told me to use self leveling epoxy. I am glad I used it because it helped me restore and replace the eroded and spalled concrete pieces. This product also gave the whole garage flooring a dense, skid inhabiting surface that can prevent chemicals from penetrating the service. I am really happy with the finish product and recommend it to all.

Unknown said...

my Hubs and I just did this to our living room and hallway over the past week...I used poly, two coats, and we are giving it the full 72 hrs to cure before we move furniture back in. It was a LOT of work...especially the tack strips....I didnt patch in the holes left behind...they dont bother me once they're stained they sorta blend in. I think I'm going to love it! I know I HATED the stained carpet hallway! Our son and grandson were out of town for the week, which helped greatly as their rooms and the kitchen are packed w/furniture and such from the living area!

Unknown said...

Can I just paint the floor and seal it and still have it look good?

Unknown said...

Wow, that floor looks really great! I'd love to do a similar type of sealcoating here in Albuquerque NM, but my son loves climbing onto the couch and other things and I'm worried about him falling on the hard concrete. Do you have any suggestions for child-proofing certain areas or would a different kind of floor be better while he's still so young?

GraceB said...

How bad were your cracks? We're looking to do something similar in our dining room as a temporary fix before my daughter's first birthday. We just bought a house and low and behold there was some pretty severe (hidden) water damage to the carpet in the dinning room so we've ripped it up and now are planning to paint but there are definently some settling cracks and a few wide (not too deep) divots. How bad were your cracks and how have they held up since you painted/stained your floors?

Unknown said...

We recently purchased a great historical landmark and want to paint, stain, poly the floors. They are in pretty bad shape but with it being an antique store that's right up my ally. Can u specify the route of paint and did you roll on, dry 24 hrs? Then stain with what and how? And then Poly, type and how and then 72 hrs before furniture? Please respond asap we start tomorrow. The floors, walls and ceilings all have to be done. We are doing ceiling first then walls then floors. My difference is 60yr old tile. Most is popping off but the glue is still there is it possible to just sand the glue smooth with the floor? Or any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You can reply at mumgawncraze@yahoo.com and thank you for this it's truly a lifesaver. My health is not the best so this looks fairly easy! Just wanted to make sure I had my ducks in a row. Thanks again!

Kim said...

I'm inspired! Going to be a big job but we're planning on tearing up our tile and carpet and doing this to pretty much our entire house!
Thank you!

anne marie said...

Someone asked about painting a vinyl floors. I had a vinyl floor in my kitchen nook that I could no longer tolerate so I figured I had nothing to lose. I used a primer first and just painted it on. Let and dry and go crazy. I used the leftover paint from my kitchen and bought a couple little bottles of inexpensive craft paint and used a sea sponge. I layered the colors to give a faux granite look. Then I finished with poly. It has been 6 years and the floor still looks great. Best, it is so easy to keep clean.

Sara said...

Hey! Thanks so much for the tutorial! I have a lot of carpet glue on my concrete base. How did you guys clean this up before painting? Sorry if I missed the reply to previous post. Thank you so much- Sara
sarabethy@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

What did you do when the stained concrete hit floors that you were not going to stain? So the transitioning? I am looking at removing our carpet and staining our slab but I don't want to remove our laminate flooring.

Unknown said...

I want to paint my floors red and then put an obsidian semi transparent stain over top. What kind of paint do you suggest

Unknown said...

Did u reapply stain after the first app

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

Brady I used regular wall paint for the floors. I did not reapply the stain once I got the desired color I wanted.

Unknown said...

At the risk of sounding redundant, how's it holding up?

Michelle @ Dibble Dabble Life said...

Colleen they held up just fine for over a year. My friend that used the same method has had her floors done for at least 5 years and hers are still great. We eventually went back with a darker carpet.

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