How To: Stain Concrete Floors Tammy's February Jumpstart Project 2009

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Title: Stain Concrete Floors
Name: Tammy
Time: 8 Days
Cost: $670

Glossy stained concrete floors - a big but "doable" diy. Click above for pics, below for the how-to and be sure to give Tammy a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....

Tools:

Items rented: *grinder - 1 day *wet vac - 2 separate days Items used: *mop *roller to apply sealant (the kind that the sealant won't disintegrate.) *sprayer *stain (kemiko) *floor polish/wax (armstrong excelon floor polish is what we used) *floor brush *painters tape *drop cloths The two large cost items were the stain & sealant ($333) & rentals ($182). The miscellaneous costs (additional $144, went to masks, sprayer, dropcloths, wax, mop, duster, tape, scrubber - the little things add up).

Steps:

There are several sites online that have good instructions on how to stain your concrete. I mostly followed those found on the kemiko site (kemiko.com). How we did it:

* Set aside one week of our life. The area refinished = 800 sq. feet.

* Day 1 - Moved everything off the carpet. Pulled up carpet & pad. swept, swept, scraped, scrubbed, scrubbed, mopped w/ soapy water.

* Day 2 - Rented a floor grinder. It’s big, so access to a truck is good. Ground. It took 2 people 4 hours of grinding and sweeping to do the 800 sq. feet. Dusty. DUSTY!! Use of face mask is a good idea. We also sealed off doorways and vents to other rooms w/ inexpensive paint-tarpy plastic.

* Day 3 - Swept & mopped. Mopped with an excess amount of soapy water. Shop vacced up extra. Let dry. Did again.

* Day 4 - Bought Kemiko's black stain, and concrete sealant. I found local kemiko dealer thro their online site. There are other stains available. I chose kemiko b/c I’d heard about it before.

* Day 5 - Stained floor using hand pump sprayer. Did this twice. The stain guy said one application would be sufficient, but I did it twice (let 1st application set for 4 hours), and the second application did make a significant difference in depth of color on our concrete. Also, we protected bottom foot and a half of walls w/ plastic. Let second stain application set for four hours, neutralized with baking soda and water. mop floor w/ lots of soapy water, using shop vac to suck up extra water (this really seemed to facilitate the drying process) (shop vaccing). Mopped twice.

* Day 6 - Roll on sealant with roller. Wait 8 hours. Apply second coat. Wait 24 hours. I don't know if this wait period is same for all sealants.

* Day 7 - Wax floor. Wax again. Wax again. Wax again. And one more time. Have a husband who’s willing to do this. Wow. Floor sure is shiny,and we didn’t even buff. Made a much bigger difference than sealant alone. Worth doing if willing to take the time.

* Day 8 - move everything back on to floor. That’s it. easy shmeasy. not really. but doable. definitely doable.

Sources:

Useful how-to resource: kemiko.com

Give Tammy a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....

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Nice entry and great tips. Some nice looking rugs in there too. The ivory one appears to be a Turkish allover, and the smaller traditional color red and blue look like moud and mahi designs. Thorough Steps! Thanks :)

posted by Rug Rag on February 19th 2009 at 5:46pm
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Wow! I don't have concrete floors, but yours make me wish that I did- great job!

posted by shockthebourgeois on February 19th 2009 at 5:47pm
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Great idea for a basement rec/games/media room!

posted by wakemeupb4ugogo on February 19th 2009 at 6:22pm
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shoot, where were you 4 months ago? :) my fiance just moved into a new studio and we ended up painting the concrete floors...

posted by vaudevillain on February 19th 2009 at 6:31pm
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This looks quite nice, and a cheap flooring fix for such a big room.

I have polished concrete floors in my new apartment and everything slides like crazy. No jumping onto the couch or you'll slide right through the wall (ditto jumping into bed). How do you keep everything from skating across the floor?

posted by Mlle Kate on February 19th 2009 at 7:01pm
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I did a concrete floor years ago. Used a water based glossy clear polyurethane and had the paint store tint it with several colors, teal, turquoise, and black. I added a purple car finish called Pearls for a metallic look. I rolled the coating on with a low fluff paint roller and let each coat dry for 24 hours in between. I did three coats to build up the color. I also left areas of the floor unground, destroyed other parts, painted fish, seaweed, etc. for an underwater look. The colors tend to seperate in the polyurethane which is what I wanted. Rolling it on with the paint roller leaves bubbles, again an effect that was desireable for me. The whole floor was deconstructed. It was incredibly beautiful with a realistic look that some people were hesitant to walk on for fear of drowning. :)

posted by tikitimbo on February 19th 2009 at 7:34pm
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Whew! That's some serious work!

I just had the floors at the restaurant resurfaced and sealed. The pigment is mixed into the concrete so it didn't have to be stained. But if you are looking to put an incredible seal on your floor in the future I would recommend the product I used.

It's from dur-a-flex and it's an MMA polymer. Basically, it gives you a coating harder than epoxy--and it's green (I believe it's the same type of acrylic that's used for dental fillings. It stinks like hell but it puts a crazy hard seal on the floor. Just in case you are looking to reseal down the road (when the current seal wears off). This stuff is no maintenance for 10 years.

posted by art on February 19th 2009 at 8:43pm
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the showroom I used to work in had amazing, beautiful stained concrete floors. they were more satin than glossy and a ruch, variegated brown. but they were a huge pain to keep clean. 8,000 square feet with clients tracking in dust from the crushes brick out front? oy.

posted by foodefafa on February 19th 2009 at 9:02pm
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I've been wanting to do this in my basement. I think I'm more HID than DIY when it comes to something this involved, though. Looks great!

posted by farmhousemoderne on February 19th 2009 at 9:36pm
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One tip when mopping: pour water directly on the floor, mop it up, then wring the mop out into a separate bucket. You get a lot more of the stain up this way without having to go through 500 buckets of water.

Also, wear galoshes or tie plastic bags over your feet! The stain soaks up through shoes pretty easily and stains feet almost as well as it does concrete!

posted by matchbookhymnal on February 19th 2009 at 10:04pm
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Tikitimbo, I'd love to see pictures! do you have a flicker link?

posted by Cyb on February 19th 2009 at 11:23pm
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What do you think about staining concrete countertops darker?

posted by Nicolette on February 20th 2009 at 1:26am
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WOW. the difference is incredible! that floor is beautiful, great job!

posted by christie on February 20th 2009 at 4:17am
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Wow! Very cool. Looked like antique wood at first glance.

posted by RedMaiko on February 20th 2009 at 8:16am
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