Staining concrete floor?

[BillyCarpenter]

I bought this building recently and we've done some work and are getting ready to do more. The building is 6000 square feet so it's pretty big. I bought it from a retired doctor and the building was used as a rehab facility.

It has one HUGE room. I walked it off and it's roughly 45ft x 15ft. We pulled the carpet and padding up and I'm thinking of staining the concrete. I can either hire someone to do it but it's expensive or I can try to do it myself.


Anyone know anything about it?


Here's the room. I move everything out of the copier demo room into the room because we're waxing the floor in there. You can see where I'm running Cat 6 in the drop ceiling.



room 2.jpg

[blackcat4866]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Yup. Huge.

Were it me, I'd either polish the concrete smooth, or apply an epoxy spatter paint finish. The former is a good bit of dusty work (or paying someone to do so). The latter is a bit expensive for the paint.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Yup. Huge.

Were it me, I'd either polish the concrete smooth, or apply an epoxy spatter paint finish. The former is a good bit of dusty work (or paying someone to do so). The latter is a bit expensive for the paint.

I have a friend that owns a rental/hardware store and he mentioned polishing the concrete smooth. He said I'd need to use a diamond pad on the floor sander. You're right, lots of dust.

My last name is Carpenter but I suck at this type of work. My brother is a contractor but lives in another state.

[srvctec]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

No experience with concrete staining but have used epoxy and it works great and lasts seemingly forever. I epoxied my shop floor when it was built in 2003 and it looks pretty much like it did after I finished it. I've dropped all kinds of heavy stuff on it and it just takes it like a champ. My Dad's shop was done with the same epoxy coating and it gets a ton more abuse than mime and still looks fine after 20 or so years.

[Copier Addict]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

No experience with concrete staining but have used epoxy and it works great and lasts seemingly forever. I epoxied my shop floor when it was built in 2003 and it looks pretty much like it did after I finished it. I've dropped all kinds of heavy stuff on it and it just takes it like a champ. My Dad's shop was done with the same epoxy coating and it gets a ton more abuse than mime and still looks fine after 20 or so years.

I have never applied epoxy myself, but I have seen the results and you are right. It is strong and stands up to torture quite well.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

No experience with concrete staining but have used epoxy and it works great and lasts seemingly forever. I epoxied my shop floor when it was built in 2003 and it looks pretty much like it did after I finished it. I've dropped all kinds of heavy stuff on it and it just takes it like a champ. My Dad's shop was done with the same epoxy coating and it gets a ton more abuse than mime and still looks fine after 20 or so years.

Staining concrete is actually a different process than what the name suggests. It's not really a stain, it's a chemical reaction because the "stain" is actually acid that reacts with the minerals in the concrete and it is drop dead gorgeous.

One that process is complete, then you apply the epoxy. Lot of work, tho.

Check it out:

[srvctec]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Staining concrete is actually a different process than what the name suggests. It's not really a stain, it's a chemical reaction because the "stain" is actually acid that reacts with the minerals in the concrete and it is drop dead gorgeous.

One that process is complete, then you apply the epoxy. Lot of work, tho.

Check it out:

Oh yeah, I've seen it done on HGTV shows but have just never done it myself. It does seem like a LOT of work.

[KenB]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Years ago I had a Canon / Fiery customer who was an ad agency in a freshly remodeled trendy downtown loft location.

Their expoxied concrete floor was super popular with anyone who visited the place, and they had a lot of visitors.

I have a feeling the contractor who did the work made a fortune off the referrals.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

I've decided that I'm gonna try to do this myself. But, this is gonna be a project that's gonna take a lot of time.

Staining the concrete is the easy part. It's the prep work that's gonna take the longest time and this is a very big room. There's carpet glue that needs to be removed along the walls and overspray from where the walls were painted at one time.


This could take months to complete. I'll probably hire someone to help me with the grunt work. We'll see how it turns out. I'm 50/50 on this. It could go terribly wrong.

[slimslob]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

I've decided that I'm gonna try to do this myself. But, this is gonna be a project that's gonna take a lot of time.

Staining the concrete is the easy part. It's the prep work that's gonna take the longest time and this is a very big room. There's carpet glue that needs to be removed along the walls and overspray from where the walls were painted at one time.


This could take months to complete. I'll probably hire someone to help me with the grunt work. We'll see how it turns out. I'm 50/50 on this. It could go terribly wrong.

If you hire a quality painting contractor who does similar jobs on a regular basis and has the appropriate equipment, it could be done in 3 days. One for prep, that is where the proper equipment comes in. One for application and one for drying.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

If you hire a quality painting contractor who does similar jobs on a regular basis and has the appropriate equipment, it could be done in 3 days. One for prep, that is where the proper equipment comes in. One for application and one for drying.

Yep. Can I send the bill to your house?

[slimslob]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Yep. Can I send the bill to your house?

By the time you add up the cost of all the materials and roll in what you could have been billing customers for the time you will be spending doing it yourself, you will wish you had hired someone.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

By the time you add up the cost of all the materials and roll in what you could have been billing customers for the time you will be spending doing it yourself, you will wish you had hired someone.

Nah. The reason it may take me months is because I will do a little here and there. Nights and weekends. I'm in no hurry. The stain is super cheap and I have most of the tools.

Total cost will be about $800. Hiring someone would cost about $5000.


BTW: My brother has done many of these and he won't let me screw it up.

[slimslob]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Nah. The reason it may take me months is because I will do a little here and there. Nights and weekends. I'm in no hurry. The stain is super cheap and I have most of the tools.

Total cost will be about $800. Hiring someone would cost about $5000.


BTW: My brother has done many of these and he won't let me screw it up.

Is he willing to lend you some of the equipment you will need?

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Staining concrete floor?

Is he willing to lend you some of the equipment you will need?

He would but he lives in Louisiana and I live in Mississippi. It's about a 5 hour drive. The only major equipment that I will need is a big floor sander and I can rent one for the weekend for $65.00. The rental place is right across the steet from the office.

Sanding the floor with the sander won't be the hard part. The hardest part is gonna be the edges of the floor closet to the walls. I'm gonna have to use a 8 inch razor blade scraper on a long pole. Cost at Home Depot is $55.00.

Trust me, I've explored every avenue.