Calling all folks with Stained Concrete Floors!

[jocoyn]

This is one of the options we are looking at for our 1200 SF walkout basement which is also where my home office is located and where the dogs spend most of their indoor time (with me while I work)

Did you do it yourself or hire it out?
How long have you had them and any regrets or things you would have done differently?
Can you get a decent nonslip finish?
Any good advice here?
I know there are other options we are looking at but this one has the most of my interest right now and there are plenty of threads discussing the other options.

What I do know (teen years in FL with terrazzo floors) is that - falls are hard (but they are on any kind of wood floor over slab as well!, noise can be an issue, stuff breaks when it hits the ground, it is cold...you pretty much wind up with area rugs...but you can take those out and beat the dirt out of them! I recall the terrazo was very slick..in my 50s I am somewhat coordinated but the older we get the more likely falls are and the dogs get older and less steady on their feet..........

We are thinking of just ripping up the carpet and living on the "un" sealed (I assume?) concrete floor for a month or so to see if that is a liveable option but I guess the risk is stains though mostly what I could see is a spilled cup of coffee, a dog urking (but I am home most the time and crate them when I am gone so I would hear it), or that red dirt that goes with the locale

I think I would be looking for a brownish/copper final color though anyway.

[Good_Karma]

We have concrete floors in our house, we had a pigment added to the cement mix when it was poured and it looks like a brown suede finish (we hired this out obviously). I don't know anything about how you would color it after the fact.

We did get it sealed too, and have had no problem with any staining. The only problem we have had is that we put down a couple of rubber-backed cheap shop rugs by our sliding glass door (the rubber back was black) and there was some kind of chemical reaction between the sealer and the rubber so that they got stuck together. I had to peel the rug back and all this sticky stuff was left and it took a ton of scrubbing with an orange solvent cleaner to remove the glue-like substance. And then the finish in that spot was completely gone. So be careful what you put down on the floor once it is sealed.

My dogs are pretty sure-footed on the floor EXCEPT when they have wet feet, then if they are in a big hurry they can slip.

It is super easy to clean, I used to sweep it with a broom but that kicks up a ton of dust so now I have a Bissell PowerEdge Pet vacuum that is made for bare floors, and it works really well.

I don't regret having cement floors, especially when my dogs are dirty! I don't know how people with carpet manage it. Carpet is so expensive, I think I would pass out if all the mud my dogs bring in wasn't easily cleaned up lol.

The floor is cold, I do miss hanging out in the house barefoot. My husband and I bought rubber-soled leather slippers and they work pretty good.

I am on my feet most of the day in the house during winter and I don't find that the hard surface bothers me at all (I am 36 years old). But wearing shoes probably helps with that.

[Chris Wild]

No experience with stained concrete, but I'd throw out epoxy coating as an option to consider. The number of colors/patterns/faux finishes is endless. Very durable and easy to clean. Traction can be added if needed either using trowel marks, or by adding aggregate to the top coat.

We did this last year to the concrete floor in our dog/puppy room. For easier cleaning/sanitizing we had it installed with an integrated baseboard (epoxy goes a few inches up the wall, no seam where wall and floor meet). Quartz aggregate was added to the top giving it a sandpaper feel. Dogs have no problem getting traction, even when wet. Though it's not particularly comfortable for people to walk on barefoot.

Here's a couple pics.

[4TheDawgies]

Chris Wild may I ask how expensive that type of flooring option is? I have loved that type of flooring and I am considering doing it to all of my dog areas. Is it really pricey?

[Zisso]

My brother made black cobblestone sidewalks last summer-to color the concrete he bought special coloring at the local store, kind of like Ace Hardware.

[Lilie]

We considered having concrete stained flooring instead of putting back in carpet. But here (south Texas) we have a problem with cracked foundations. I'd have to have my entire floor floated, then stained. Much more expensive than carpet or tile. And if I elected to do it anyway, the concrete would/could still crack.

[Chris Wild]

Originally Posted by 4TheDawgies

Chris Wild may I ask how expensive that type of flooring option is? I have loved that type of flooring and I am considering doing it to all of my dog areas. Is it really pricey?

It is pricey. It came out to around $18sqft, but that's with the baseboard. Would have been a bit less if it were just the floor since the baseboard required extra materials (the board itself) and lots of extra labor.

So it was a couple dollars more per sqft than it would have cost for something like ceramic or slate tile installed. And a lot more expensive than vinyl. But unlike any other type of flooring it's 100% waterproof, impenetrable, non-staining, can't be scratched or dug up or chewed, zero maintenance and should last forever.

[Chris Wild]

I should add, there is also only one contractor in our area who does this type of floor for residential applications. The other companies are geared for industrial/commercial size applications and wouldn't consider such a little project as ours. So we weren't able to get multiple quotes and negotiate on price. May have been able to get it done for less if we'd had different companies competing for the job and could have price shopped.

[jocoyn]

I think our first step will be to rip out the carpet and see what we have in the way of a surface to work with. House is about 10 years old so any settling/cracks should have happened if there are any! The local concrete staining folks say about 3-5 a square foot but that is not epoxy but stain plus polyurethane.

[msvette2u]

You might look into this. We have it as our floor is very uneven and shifts.
It is a "floating" floor, no prep other than vacuuming needed.

Home Depot - 6 in. x 36 in. Oak Resilient Vinyl Plank Flooring (24 sq. ft./case) customer reviews - product reviews - read top consumer ratings