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Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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Posted by okhouse (My Page) on Mon, Nov 16, 09 at 22:37
| We built a new house, planning to simply have sealed concrete floors. We had a short time to move in, the way things developed, and we only got one coat of sealer on the floor. We moved in in February.
As we have lived here, I realize I am not happy with the appearance of the floor. It picks up spots awfully easily, it is dull, not a nice looking floor, in my opinion. By the way, we have radiant heating under the floor.
What can be done to this concrete now that we live in the house? We don't have much of a budget for work to be done. I would like a deeper, richer look to the floor, some shine or at least some highlights.
Thank you for in advice/opinions you have. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| Did you have it stained before sealing, or is it just "natural"? |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| It is just natural - no stain. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| I don't believe it can be stained without removing ALL of the sealer. That will either be very difficult or impossible. Our basement floor will be stained. Our builder and his subs have gone to great lengths to keep paint, etc., off of the floor so as to not impede the staining. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| People who do concrete staining often charge a lot of money (e.g., I've had people quote me $10/sq ft). However, it's pretty easy -- and cheap -- to do-it-yourself if you do a little Internet research or buy a book. Your main problem will be removing the sealer. There are several different kinds of sealers, and I don't know how easy it is to remove them. If I were you, I would contact the people who sealed the floor and ask how you could remove the sealer. There may be a chemical that you can use. Otherwise, they can be sanded with a floor sanding machine, although this would be very dusty and you would need to wear a good quality respirator or have professional do it. Sanding can also affect how much the stain penetrates the concrete. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Do-it-yourself
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| First, many thanks for the replies above. We actually are not thinking of staining. I think polishing and adding some shine (through some kind of "shiny" sealer?) would probably do what we want. I just don't know if polishing can be done once we are already living in the house. What do you think? |
a picture we like
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| Here is a link to a picture of what we are hoping for. Scroll down to the picture with the piano. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cleaning/msg0800391531754.html |
Here is a link that might be useful: concrete floor picture
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| I have stained floors that were not originally sealed. Last year I decided to have them sealed and it really made a big difference in their shine abd overall appearance. There are several levels of glossiness available in sealers, and, since you don't want to stain, it may be very easy to just have a quality sealer put over the floor and get the result you want. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| Kudzu9, Thank you. do you think we would need to have them polished before we seal them, with perhaps a semi-glossy shine? |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| Have you tried waxing them? or Polishing? The link below is to polishing, but that same site talks about waxing too. Waxing would be easier and you could do it yourself, but would need to be redone periodically. Here's the link to the wax demo: http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete-floor-videos/maintenance/floor-wax.html . |
Here is a link that might be useful: concrete floors
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| Thank you all for your replies. The waxing is something I had not even thought about (duh!) but I think that is what we will be planning to do now. the interior of the house will be painted between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then we think we will get the floors really clean and wax them in January. I feel very hopeful now, and am very grateful to you all for your advice and information. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| When I had my floors sealed, they used a floor polisher just to get it clean. The sealer provided a uniform gloss. Just remember that, if you ever intend to seal, the sealer might not adhere properly if you have applied wax and it is not cleaned off completely before. On the other hand, wax might be all you need. I just went with sealer because it lasts a long time and I was too lazy to wax it periodically. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| Kudzu9, we have one coat of sealer on our concrete. Do you think we can seal it again but somehow use a sealer that is somewhat glossy? And when you mention a "floor polisher" do you mean the kind of heavy equipment that would make a ton of dust or just a buffer like you might use on a wax job? I mean, we are certainly as lazy as the next guy and we would be happy to do something longterm if we could get some shine and richness in the process! Thank you for any information you are able to share. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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| I had that picture of the floor with the piano as my inspiration for our basement floors! We are finished with our floor now and it looks great. No stain, we just cleaned the floors very well and sealed with a waterbased sealer. Then applied several coats of a buffable floor polish. We rented a buffer for the weekend (buffing after each coat is suppose to make it harder/more scratch resistant. So we applied several coats (about 5--I think) to the floor until we liked the look and ran out of time and polish. We purchased the products from a local concrete company. |
RE: Is it too late to beautify our concrete floor?
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okhouse-
No dust was involved. They didn't grind anything, they just used a basic machine and some water to clean and buff. I'm sure you can get a good result, just like tonig describes above. The sealer was a water-based semi-gloss that really enriched the appearance of the floors. It was mopped on with a special, wide pad. It dries quickly and has no significant odor. The whole thing -- cleaning and 3 coats -- took less than a day. |
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