concrete stain?

11 years ago

I am not sure the best forum to post this...I'll try the Paint and flooring forum to..

We are just about to the point where we will be putting our ceiling tiles in place in our basement. That leaves us with just the flooring. The area L shaped. On one side is our water meter....now in a closet. On the other side is our washer, water heater, softener and sink...behind sliding doors. We have never had a problem but still I fear an eventual water event. Its an L shaped area with a 10 X 10 sitting TV area and the rest occupied by a ping pong table. I have thought of carpeting the tv area and and doing something else in the other area. Then I thought of painting the floor or using that Rustoleum garage floor kit. I fear its a lot of work and may not come out well and will wear off.

Then I saw transparent concrete stain. It says no etching required and you spray it on with a pump sprayer. It sounds easy enough. I could then use a large area rug in the tv are; maybe with a pad underneath.

So, opinions on using concrete stain? Ease of application, wearability, look etc? Any and all comments, icluding brands are welcome. Thanks!

Comments (2)

austinnhanasmom
11 years ago
I have recently stained a concrete floor.

I used Quickrete from Lowes based on recommendation from a contractor.

This floor had been covered in carpet for 50 years and some of the adhesive was stuck on the concrete. I bought scrapers (long handle with heavy scraper on the end) but they didn't remove the adhesive layer.

I wanted to rent a concrete grinder but the rental place wouldn't allow it until I first rented a floor scraper. The floor scraper did a fantastic job.

I tested the concrete with some acid and the acid failed to fizzle - indicating that there was still gunk on the concrete.

So I rented the grinder. Before I could tape the walls, the husband started grinding the floor. Now, this process makes a HUGE mess. There was concrete mud half way up the walls. There was concrete mud all over the floor. I wanted to cry.

After hours of mopping up mud, and shop vaccing, the floor was ready for the acid. (This process ruined the shop vac.)

The acid now fizzled like a charm.

More mopping to stop the acid - concrete chemical reaction.

The rest was simple. Apply colors and seal.

I bought two of those plastic paint/weed control sprayers but I bought cheap ones. Instead of spraying nicely, they globbed the stain out. I chose a red rocks and some tannish color. When I was done, the red looked like blood splotches! It didn't look bad, but it didn't turn out as I had hoped. So, I bought another more transparent color and rolled it onto the other two colors. I sealed with three coatings of sealant and the floor looks fabulous.

The husband was adding baseboards and dragged his air compressor across the floor. A tiny section of stain came up, telling me that I basically just painted the floor and didn't actually stain.

So, now I have another concrete floor to paint and will try the Rustoleum Basement product. It's an epoxy from what I've read. And perhaps more durable.

But the Quickrete was very easy to apply, once all the prep work was completed.
andrelaplume2
Original Author
11 years ago
yea...waaay too much work...I was thinking it would be like satining wood....easily absorbed...not the case I guess...
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