Decorative Concrete Floor Advice Needed
We are doing a 2000sq/ft commercial job that will be getting a new 3″ concrete floor over the old one. Our client wants a colored finish that will not need waxing or other maintenance and won’t stain (to a reasonable degree). We have a guy who can mix in the color with additives he says will give us the results we need, but he’s about $6 sq/ft over a plain pour.
So, we’re talking about trying to do it ourselves.
A) Is that crazy
B)If not, is there a product line of hardener/sealers that is the one to use? Obviously, we’ll be saving enough to go with the best products.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks
DW
Replies
B)
are you sure that you will save enough to get the best? Remember that the $6.00 a sq.ft includes experience.
I don't think that there is a maint. free coating/sealer for colored concrete.
there is but its $70 a gallon and not fun to put down. clear epoxy
BB ... can you post a link to your thread about staining your floors?Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
A no-maintenance, no staining concrete floor is really virtually impossible. Concrete is very porous and stains very easily. Sealers are only moderately effective at stain resistance and they will need to be re-applied regularly. There are epoxy products that will make a tough film on top of the concrete, but you'd need another specialist for that. If the concrete effloresses after the epoxy goes down, then you're screwed.
How about some nice linoleum?
If you put down some 6 mil poly under the new pour, wouldn't that eliminate any chance of efflorescing?
That will probably work, but concrete is strange and can effloresce for seemingly random reasons. If you're set on a concrete floor and need an epoxy finish that won't require a lot of regular maintenance, then I'd wait a while before applying the epoxy to make sure you won't have any problems - 3 to 6 months would be my guess.
Good luck!
I waited a year before applying my epoxy. and it was not fun......
Is that "veining" in the concrete intentional? I looks pretty cool in the picture.
I've never worked with an epoxy concrete coating, but I've heard from lots of people that they're very difficult to apply.
They veining is from the troweling machine. It seems like the worst looking slab make the best stain jobs.
Amen to epoxy being difficult to apply--it's like painting with honey; the stuff doesn't "wet" the concrete and just sort of gets shoved around. You have to really work it in (I used brush, but thought maybe a squeegie (sp?) might have worked better--I don't think a roller would get the epoxy into the pores of the concrete.) Oh, and wear a respirator or whatever, I didn't--those vapors are killers! After I did one lady's garage floor, another wanted her basement and garage floors painted. I was glad she never got back to me!
The other thing, even though it seems to set up too quickly (I mixed like a half gallon at a time) it still must cure for 24 or was it 48 hours. The lady was reluctant to leave her car out that long. All I could see was the epoxy rolling up and coating her tires the first time she pulled in!
I have a project coming up that may require a stamped concrete finish. The customer is talking about a walk that will look like cobblestone. He wants the color to mimic some old brick on one of the buildings in the area. He wants it to look worn.
I've seen the finished product, but I have never seen the actual process. So how hard could it be? I did some web surfing for research and found out what I needed to know...the odds of producing a professional result were not in my favor.
The customer is a good one and I wouldn't like to lose them.
I'm calling a company who specializes in decorative concrete to price the job.
Heres a good link for process: http://www.concretenetwork.com/
I stamp my driveway with the cobblestone pattern. DO NOT DO IT, have this sub out to somebody thats done many jobs. Its not easy.
Very nice drive. The bathroom floor? looks like tortise shell, I've got to get out of the 80's
It took me about 10 minutes of research to realize how much trouble I could get into stamping and coloring concrete. If I can get ahold of some stamps, I may have some fun wth some garden paths in my own backyard. If I screw them up they'll still get me to the rhubarb.
This walkway I'm looking at is for a very good customer, I've done alot of concrete finish in the past ( 20+ years ago) and would have no trouble with a slab, but this coloring and stamping is an entirely different animal. I'm calling in a Pro.
if you want stamps, I got two cobblestone I sell you for $100. that $50 a piece. I finish my driveway do not need them no more.
Thanks for the offer of the stamps. My original intention for learning the process was for a future project in my home. I was planning to overlay infloor heat on my existing basement slab and have a stamped finish. I was thinking of a smoother texture, like slate or riverstone, for the floor. Now that I have been enlightened, I would hire a pro.
Thanks again for the offer of the cobblestone stamps, maybe someone else on the board will take you up on them.
If you do any stamping,stenciling,or staining.........Keep a note book . Include slump ,bag mix/psi ,temp ,wind,and other weather conditions,and anything else that you need /think will effect your pour . That includes the concrete company ,and driver . some drivers will screw up a load of concrete before they leave the yard.
and use a peagravel mix
Have you ever used the regular aggregate? 1" or so .
I was going to use a peagravel for mine and was told not too . the advice I got at the time was that standard mix was the way to go. It worked and I haven't used pea mix since . Might try it next time.
the peagravel just allows the mix to move alittle during stamping. some of the big rock mix you will really have to beat.
I wouldn't get on the hook for that one with a client whose specs and expectations are unclear.
Why not just give him a slab with a steel powertrowel finish and gently persuade him to seek his own source separately, to paint, stain, or otherwise coat the floor, after you are done and paid?
"a colored finish that will not need waxing or other maintenance and won't stain (to a reasonable degree)" isn't a clear spec, to me.
Colored concrete is not difficult. Just add concrete dye to the batch. You can add it when the truck shows up and mix for a little while. It takes a lot of dye to dye tons of concrete so the cost of the dye is more than a couple of bucks per yard. If you want a patterned color, or a textured surface to match another material, like faux stone, that's a whole different level of skill.
With concrete dye, slight shifts in the moisture content of the wet concrete can alter the color, so it's very difficult to get large areas or multiple pours to match well.
Concrete can be painted successfully. Tennant for example, makes a line of urethane floor coatings that are fairly indestructible, very hard to wear away, and hold shine fairly well.
I don't have experience with clear epoxy sealers, but I've had professionals install pour on epoxy coatings which end up about 1/8" thick. Such coatings can chip, be gouged easily with fork trucks and pallets, and don't hold a shine at all. But with proper prior patching can make a chipped, lumpy floor look much better.
It's critical with all products that the concrete be very dry. Plastic under the slab is a good idea. You must wait at least the minimum time the coating manufacturer requires. Usually 6 to 12 months are needed. Any moisture in the floor will cause the coating to fail. Even moisture from washing has to dry for days. During high humidity it's worse, so winter is the best time to apply concrete floor coatings.
Most coatings cannot be applied if a concrete curing agent was used on the slab, so before the pour you must know the requirements of the coating you will use, and use a burlap/plastic type of wet cure instead of a curing agent.