Concrete Floors for the Smart and Frugal Home Owner

Concrete floors in homes are generally covered by carpet or sheet goods. All are expensive and show wear sooner or later. An alternative is to eliminate all the coverings and revert to bare concrete. You might think bare concrete would be ugly, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are several good and not so good methods to treat bare concrete so it will rival or exceed the beauty and durability of any floor covering you can imagine.

Concrete paint

Let’s get this out of the way quickly. My opinion is based on many years of experience as a licensed general contractor who has built, repaired and remodeled hundreds of homes and commercial buildings. Paint has limited viability when applied as a floor covering. Latex and oil based paints adhere well but have limited durability. Epoxy paints have durability, but for both paints adherence is dependent upon condition and preparation of the substrata-the concrete. Back in the 1970s and 80s I painted many concrete floors simply because it was a requirement for refurbishing repossessed homes prior to being resold. Based on that experience-I will avoid like the plague painting my concrete floors.

Stamped, overlays, polished, and colored concrete

I lump these together not because they are the same, but because concrete work is expensive, tough, requires skill beyond what a homeowner can expect to do, usually must be done during initial construction and may require special concrete formulations. Stamping is applying a pattern to wet concrete during and immediately after placing the concrete. Overlays are generally thinly troweled materials with patterns and/or textures incorporated during application. Concrete can be polished with a variety of specialized sanders and polishers which results in a smooth, shiny surface. Colors can be added to concrete during mixing but more often are applied as powders during finishing and troweling.

Concrete stains and dyes

This is where a homeowner can really save money and end up with a superior product. Most concrete floors with a smooth trowel finish can be stained or dyed. Dyes penetrate concrete for long lasting color and transparency while stains react chemically with ingredients in the concrete. Preparation and application is labor intensive but not too strenuous for a handy homeowner. With a little experimentation there is no reason why you can’t end up with a floor that looks like the finest marble, wood, tile, or your own concoction of patterns and colors.

Much more information and great examples can be found here. A general search will show many more examples.

More from Gerald:

Five Reasons for Remodeling or Adding on to Your Home
How to Dry Lay Retaining Walls for Terraces and Landscaping
What’s Behind a Quality Paint Job?