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Stained Concrete Floors Part 1

We decided early on that we wanted to have stained concrete floors throughout the bottom level of the house. For one thing, the finish is beautiful and durable. For another thing, we really do not like wall-to-wall carpeting at all. Lastly, it is a very low-cost alternative to ceramic tile and easy to do relative to other alternatives.

To prepare for this, we asked our concrete guys to give the foundation a machine finish after it was poured. It has a very nice glassy finish already on most of the house (along the edges of the foundation, there are a few less-smooth spots, but nothing bad).

Also, since we knew this was the plan, we tried very hard during all phases of construction not to get it dirty with building materials, etc. Particularly once we started the mudding and taping, followed by paint, we covered the floor with tar paper (a much less expensive alternative to the expensive cardboard rolls they sell in the hardware stores) throughout the house.

However, as hard as we tried, we still had a lot of work to prepare the concrete for staining. We spent a good two days cleaning the floors, sweeping, vacuuming, scraping off any bits of drywall mud, removing the drips and overspray from the paint process. and finally mopping every inch of the house. After that, we had to mask the lower parts of all the walls to protect them from the stain and etching compound. That was not a pleasant job, but not a difficult one.

To mask the walls, we cut 18″ strips from the roll of painter’s plastic (10 feet wide) that we used to mask during the texturing and painting processes. After cutting the strips, we taped them around the walls and woodwork, using blue tape on the tops and on any woodwork and regular masking tape on the bottoms of the sheetrock, where the woodwork will eventually be installed.

One thing that helped with paint removal was using brush cleaner (for latex paint). By painting it on the overspray or drip, and then scraping after a few seconds, the job was made much easier. This was a relatively inexpensive product. We only needed 2 quarts for the bottom floor our house (2600 sf to be stained), at a cost of about $7/quart.

After the floors were relatively clean, it was time to use the cleaning/etching product we bought to prep the floors to accept the stain. We looked around online and at the local paint store, as well as our local Home Depot. We ended up going with the Valspar products sold by Lowes. We found some very knowledgeable staff at the store down in Carlsbad, who were able to clearly explain just how their products worked and what we would need to get to have all the tools at hand for the process.

Today we finished the etching process for the entire project.

The process is simple:

Dilute the solution 1:1. Wet down the floor first (we did this with a mop and bucket). Spray (using an all-plastic pump sprayer) the surface well. Scrub into the surface with a natural bristle brush on a broom handle. After the fizzing is done, mop the floor several times to remove all the residue. (We found three times to be about right). Use proper protective equipment (goggles, facemask, gloves, shoe coverings or rubber boots, and optional protective suit).

That is basically it… Here are some photos:

Tools of the trade: pump sprayer, protective suit, face mask, goggles and rubber or latex gloves, Etching solution.

Floors precleaned and walls masked

Wet down the floor before spraying solution

Spray etching solution

Brush in etching solution

Mop clean until residue is gone...

Etching product

Cleaned and etched floors...

A few more views of cleaned floors:

Family room

Hallway

Bedroom

Tomorrow we stain the floors!

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