Has anyone stained/sealed their concrete floor?

[BamaTanya]

Can you send me to a site to show me how it's done? I'm not looking for any fancy designs -- I just would like to put off having to pay for a new dining room floor right now. :glare:

 

Isn't this my cheapest option since we pulled up moldy carpet in our new (to us) house?

 

tia

[Saille]

:lurk5:

[lilbean05]

I have never done it, but my cousin did it for her entire first floor and it is BEAUTIFUL. I absolutely love it! I think she had it done when the house was built--no pattern or anything, just stained a dark brown. You can go to Lowes or any home improvement store and ask about concrete stain. I picked some up from Lowes a few years ago ($3 for a gallon--I think it was a return or color that mixed wrong). I never got to using it, but it seems pretty easy to do.

[UnPrairieMuffin]

I think it depends on what the concrete under your floor looks like. We had grand visions of staining our floor, and it never quite turned out the way we hoped. If your floor is finished well, then go for it. However, if it has lots of cracks, or is rough on the surface, I'd think twice. We did do our floor in our old house, but later we covered it with laminate.

 

Also, remember that if you fill in the holes where the tack strips were that it won't be the same color as the rest of your concrete. Unless you put down shoe moulding it's hard to keep those holes from looking strange after you stain your floor.

 

HTHs,

Erin

[Amber in AUS]

My cousin painted her entire houses concrete floor and just put down mats in the bedrooms. It looks fab even 15 years later. All she did was vacuum up all the concrete dust (brand new house). Using a hand sander she took off all the big bumps and imperfect bits then she applied a sealer/primer and painted it with regular house paint. She chose a pale doe skin colour, kind of beach sand looking, they live by the beach. She always thought she would put a proper floor down later when she could afford it only she has been so pleased with the result she has never bothered with the real flooring.