Removing dings from concrete floor
bobbresnahan
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
We’re about to acid stain the concrete floor in our new timber-frame house. The guys who poured the foundation did a great job, and we have a nice smooth surface to work with. But, while raising the timber-frame and putting up the SIPs, various tools and fasteners were dropped on the deck. The result was 15 or so 1/4 to 1/2″ dings in the floor. They are around 1/4″ deep. We’ve talked about just treating them as “features,” but I’d really like to have the smooth floor back. Are there any good ways to repair them while keeping the character of the original floor?
Replies
rent a good undinger
;)
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Or you could apply some yoga techniques...AHHMMMMM...that would be your basic....Humdinger....Nobody gets in to see the wizard...not nobody...not no how!
Patching may stand out more than your "features". How about if you did some careful shallow coring and then epoxied some inserted items like coins or some special mineral chunks that would work with the acid staining.....
"Patching may stand out more than your "features"."Exactly.Were I building over a floor that was intended to be finish surface like this, it would have been protected by hardbord or plywood.Good idea on the decorative insets
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
leave them alone, when you apply the epoxy it will fill the void and be smooth as glass, you wont be able to find them.
embrace them... each has it's own story.... that or they will annoy you forever...
I was pizzed about some foot prints and some less than well finished spots... once they were stained i wished i'd not finished the rest of the floor so well... the imperfections really do add character... just like in people
p
Yeah, you can easily fill the dings, but the patches won't stain like the original concrete.
You could possibly put tape over the patches while staining the rest of the concrete, then stain them separately and try to match the color by custom staining. Dunno how well it would work out.
If you really gotta have a smooth floor....... I'd treat this problem like I do a piece of wood furniture. (I make furniture for a living.... if you can call it a living.) First do the finish work then patch. As in wood, if you use a "filler" the stain will not match the surrounding unblemished wood. So I leave the dings, finish, then use shellac sticks of the appropriate color to fill. You can do something similar. Trouble is, I don't know exactly what to tell you to use for the patch. If it were stained concrete with the color in the mud, then simply adding a stained slurry would do it. The acid stain is another kettle of fish. Good luck.
the epoxy coating will fill the ding perfect, you never see them
This doesn't help Bob. But it is standard procedure to cover all slabs that will be acid stained with hardboard. Take time to cover it all with kraft paper and then put the hardboard over it. Make sure the kraft paper covers everything and is well protected by the hardboard. If you miss some spots they will cure differently and create discolored areas.
I have never seen an epoxy that works well for acid stained floors. The best bet seems to be wax. There are several mop on no buff waxes that work very well.
I would leave them if I were you Bob.
Brownbag is right, fill with epoxy after staining.
"Brownbag is right, fill with epoxy after staining."
One doesn't use 'poxy after staining. Commonly another type of sealer is used, such as:
http://www.miracote.com/index.php?href=productdetail&id=15
No the epoxy was not for sealing, but as a filler for the chips in the floor.As a different fix JLC has a article a while back on using a thin overlays for doing adding stained or stamped finishes to existing floors including wooden ones.Used speical overlay toppings. I would not be surprised if Miracotes was nto one of the suppliers..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I take too long to type up my stories. You popped up in the middle!
The 'poxy may fill the holes, but if it is clear 'poxy, the ding will still be seen. And if it's tinted 'poxy, why stain?
But back to the original point some guys were making, these "flaws" from dings, shoes, hand prints, dog prints (I got one) and such really bring out the character in a stained floor.
I say, embrace them and make them a feature. Especially with a timberframe.
thanks to everyone including the yogi and tool rental consultant. guess the dings will be "features." kind of thought that's the way it would work out. my wife emily and i got our chuckles this morning.
Those were the days when my wife and i "got our chuckles" in the morning1
And a little " ding on the floor" is not to be ignored!
...............Iron Helix
oooops...couldn't pass it up....slipped right into the gutter! :>)
Never miss an opportunity!;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Yes there is a way to unding them. But it uses a "microtopping" of a specialty ceement to create a new surface.
I just did this in my garage. Previously it was a beaten up floor that the owner before put a cheep 'poxy on that was peeling and he tried to patch in several spots with a poorly matching floor paint. This floor also had some poor drainage patterns where the snow and rainwater coming off the cars would puddle where the Queen and I would walk or it would run under the side jambs of the garage door.
First I shot blasted the old 'poxy and paint off. The angle grinder finished off the areas that didn't come clean enuff. Then I acid washed the floor twice and rinsed with NH3 and water.
Then I used a repair mortar ( http://www.miracote.com/index.php?href=productdetail&id=19) to fill in the holes and did a very slight buildup to reroute the drainage patterns away from the walls, jambs, and walking areas, keeping the flow under the cars and going out the front door.
After that set up nice (the next day), I top coated the whole floor with a white MPC (http://www.miracote.com/index.php?href=productdetail&id=16). Used a squeegie to slop it around. Two thin coats of this covered very well, but the third coat was troweled on by my DW guy. Pizzed him off because he couldn't get as smooth as a finish he would get on the walls, but the texture of the MPC was very similar. (One can fool with the diluent mix to get a more or less runny texture.) But the final troweling gave a nice pattern. Kinda like a skip troweled DW finish.
Then I stained the vertical surfaces of the stem wall and curb with Mirastain I (http://www.miracote.com/index.php?href=productdetail&id=11) to match the medium oak stain on the wood work (casing, base, doors, etc.). Protected the flat during this step.
Then I stained the flat with the same, but in a different color to match the exterior brick and paint since the lip of the garage floor extended outside the door opening.
This MPC stained beautifully.
Actually, I think I could have had very satisfactory results with only one coat of the MPC.
Following staining, I sealed with the APU sealer (http://www.miracote.com/index.php?href=productdetail&id=15). This is much like a clear thick paint that I spread with a squeegie and plastic scraper.
One cannot tell it is not the original concrete.
This procedure is so simple and easy to do, a kid could do it. The flaws in the trowel work coupled with the sealer give a three diminisional appearance to the final look.
Plus, there is practically the entire spectrum of colors available for this product.
The APU is supposed to give over a 10,000 psi rating plus being unaffected by UV rays.
But tell us more about this timberframe. Where is it, how big, who did it, pictures?
I'm gonna be doing me one in a coupla years. Hopefully, Stilleto can bring his new lumbermill to help me shape some of the timbers up.