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Well, back in April our basement had about an inch of water in it from a hard rain and the sump pump not keeping up. It destroyed our carpet down there.
The plan is to no longer have carpet down there.
Concrete stain appears to be the way to go now. Can anyone tell me how it's done and a good supplier of materials? My wife and I will be tackling the project.
You can actually buy the kits at HD and Lowes now. I don't know how good they are. I have heard some people say they work great and some people say they are crap. I do know that prepping the floor makes all the difference. It has to be perfectly clean for it to work right. Maybe someone else that has more experience can chime in... http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/popcorn.gif
Clean the floor very good with TSP. DO NOT CLEAN WITH MURATIC ACID. If there is any grease, oil, paint, glue,concrete sealer, etc on the floor the stain wont take. Renting a floor buffer with a scrubing pad helps. Clean,clean,clean,clean....
After its clean let it dry thoroughly, even though the surface may appear dry. Concrete is pouros (sp) and will still have moisture in it, so give it plenty of time to dry.
Mask off trim, walls, doorways, anything you dont want stain on.
You can apply the stain a number of ways. Spray it out of a plastic garden sprayer, mop bucket and mop, with a rag like your staining wood. I choose to cut in the edges with a rag, then spray the main area follow up over the sprayed area with a mop. So as to insure it takes evenly and that there are no puddled areas. You'll want to start in the furthest area from the exit and work back to it.
Let it sit overnight then you can neutralise the stained area. Do that by using either baking soda, or amonia mixed with water in a 5 gallon pail. Apply with a mop. You may need to go over spots with a street broom to break stain residue up.
Flush floor with water until there is little to no stain residue or colored water still on the floor. A wet dry vac is very handy.
Let the floor totaly dry and apply a good acrylic non yellowing clear sealer with a paint roller. This stuff really stinks when you are rolling it on FYI.
Thats about the best way I can explain it for the DIY'er to do it without the really expensive floor polishers and diamond tipped polishing pads.
You local paint store, lumber yard, or redi- mix plant usually has stain and sealer. Mix the stain 50/50 with water if it doesnt already come diluted. I dont recomend green, or blue hued stain cause its translucent and will show imperfections in the floor. Stay with a earthy natural color for best results.
<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by RoadrashPaul »</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">You can actually buy the kits at HD and Lowes now. I don't know how good they are. </td></tr></table>
Would like to know about this topic. Are the ones at HD and Lowes a rip off? Sometimes buying kits or stuff at HD or Lowes is low grade and actually makes it harder to get good results. Wondering if there's an online source that's reasonably priced and gives great results.
Scott most paint stores and redi mix plants carry the good stuff, dont skimp. I'll try and get you some links.
Check these products out. They save on labor and are water clean up. Used the epoxy coating on my boat.
Read the how to apply instructions.
You can do floors, counter tops, walls and more.
http://www.ecoprocote.com/
<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by ep72 »</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Scott most paint stores and redi mix plants carry the good stuff, dont skimp. I'll try and get you some links.</td></tr></table>
+1 I would definately go this route. I was just giving you an example that you can go there and get it now. Check sherwin williams and porter paints. I bet they have a lot better quality stuff.
Scott here are a few decent brands to use.
http://kemiko.com/index.htm
http://scofield.com/
http://www.increte.com/vProduct.aspx?ID=3