apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have painted quite a few concrete floors in my day. Cleaning is key (the product you use is less important than getting down and scrubbing hard followed by a really, really good rinse). Good quality paint is also key. Don't use anything except porch and floor. In very high traffic living areas I've used epoxy paints to awsome effect. They are often marketed for garage floors.

When I pulled up my carpet in my 1965 condo, there were areas around the edges where the concrete had actually crumbled. Also, when I pulled up the carpet strip, chunks of concrete came up too.

You may want to lift a corner of the carpet to get an idea of what you'll be dealing with. It's worth it to get rid of the carpet, but don't expect it to be easy.

I use the Behr epoxy garage paint for the concrete floors in my grooming shops. I tore up the horrible brown tiles that were slick as snot. I add a small bag of the "sand" you can purchase from the store and add to the last coat. It gives it just enough oomph so you don't slip. It is still easy to clean and sweep. It isn't rough at all on the feet. It wears very well. It comes in a plethara of colors too!

I love concrete floors! Please leave it the way it is it looks great just try to keep it clean

I used floor paint for my concrete floors but after a year, they're not doing to well. There are scratches all over the place. Did I do something wrong or used the wrong kind of paint? Should I have sealed it with something?

"not doing TOO well" I meant.

You can definitely paint concrete floors, it looks great and keeps the dust/dirt more manageable.

Haven't done it myself, but my parents' neighbors pulled up their wall-to-wall carpeting, acid-etched the concrete floor, and sealed it. Looked fantastic in a kind of industrial-chic way.

Hey, that's my condo! Only it's less empty now...

About the concrete floors, we have decided to leave ours as-is for now. My husband is a civil engineer and has been working exclusively on condos for a few years now. Boring work, but he has learned a few things about concrete floors. One is that anything you do to them, acid-etching included apparently, will scratch/wear off after a while. Epoxy paint might wear better because it's noxious stuff, but in general, he recommends against anything but polishing them.

Our polished concrete floors still show scratches and are still porous. They can be hard to keep clean because, unlike with carpet, dirt has nowhere to hide. But overall we really like them, especially because our puppy isn't quite house-trained yet. As long as we wipe up spills quickly, they don't stain. Contrary to what we thought before moving in, the floors aren't cold at all, but that could be because we don't live on the ground floor. Overall, we like them and they will stay for now.

We´ve tried stripping the carpet off our concrete floor as well. Days of stripping old glue off and driving the neighbors crazy with noise. Got through to crumbling concrete that was too rough to leave. In the end we had to cover it up with lino. Check a corner first.

DON'T PAINT THE FLOORS UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. No good can come from painting concrete, not to mention it can make them dangerously smooth.

Stain concrete. It is so easy. Use the largest commercial sponge you can find, and use B. Moore concrete stain. They have stock colors or you can blend your own. Use one or more colors.

I stained my floors about three years ago. They were old and damaged, with stains and holes, and smooth as a baby's butt. First I used an acid to get a rough surface. But I still had stains and holes. I filled the holes with concrete, and I put the first layer of stain on thick with a brush. After the floor was dry, I sponged on a second layer of stain.

I have had damage since which I have successfully covered with stain. The floors evolve and change as they age, which I like. If they ever evolve too much, I will brush stain them again.

My concrete floors have an impregnated red layer, typical of this area (Tucson) and plenty of holes from old carpet nails. I had the holes filled and the floors acid stained and orangey-red and, after a few trys at a sealer (only the wax did not form too many moisture bubbles), they were beautiful when buffed. Now, two years later, the stain definitely comes off as the sealer wears (particularly on the concrete filler) and the dogs leave surface scratches. Overall, I like it, but would have considered spending the money on bamboo flooring for at least the living room, which would have some give underfoot.

Jen - you mentioned bamboo flooring. I've been wondering how it would hold up to dog nails - did you research that?
We're vasilating between staining concrete, laying new carpet or wood flooring.
thanks!

My new apartment's coming in with structural concrete, and being the geeky type without a whole lot of cash to burn, I researched a lot of different possibilities.

Hardwood was too expensive (didn't even bother considering laminate), and I wasn't interested in carpeting. Cork would have been a distinct possibility, but after viewing a lot of what other people have done in magazines and books, I decided that I wanted a black floor with a smooth finish.

I had initially hoped that paint would have been sufficient, but I wanted something fairly bombproof and maintenance free. All the advice and experience I had come across mentioned that paint typically lasted about 2 years, tops. I didn't want to put up with having to move things around so I settled on epoxy.

After geeking around alot, I finally settled on product from http://www.enviroepoxy.com/, which was conveniently Canadian. I was looking for 100% Solids epoxy: longer lasting, low VOC/gassing, inexpensive, self-levelling and this thing fit the bill perfectly. I'll report how things went after I'm settled.

I have a large stone fireplace. (9x5.5). Don't ask why the people built one so long. The rm. is 25'x12!!!!They stained(?) the stone deep tan. I want it lighter. Does anyone know if I can re-stain it lighter. Maybe I can use a white(stain) color to lighten. I don't think it would look good if painted.

HELP PLEASE.

Lil