Cement Floors

[okiewaker]

My hallway, bathroom, and kitchen are tiled, 3 bedrooms and living room are carpeted. Sons cat is thinking the carpet is not a good look cause she keeps tearing it up, with her mouth, at the point where the tile meets the carpet. I was thinking of ripping the carpet out anyway. I'm looking for two things: 1. What should I do with the cement once the carpet is gone to make it look homey. 2. What should I do about the a transition from tile to floor. The tile is 1/4 in higher than the cement floor at the entry way to the bedrooms and kitchen. Any ideas would be great. TIA

[Soonerjeepman]

I wanted to take the old stick tile of the FR floor / cement underneath...going to do part. PITA.

I wanted to clean real good and stain. They have all different colors now. Use a few throw rugs. Not sure about a transition....sounds dumb but maybe some bull-nose tile? Or if you stain the concrete maybe get a traditional wood transition piece and stain/paint it? or maybe even a steel one...or gray to match cement?

[okiewaker]

I wanted to take the old stick tile of the FR floor / cement underneath...going to do part. PITA.

I wanted to clean real good and stain. They have all different colors now. Use a few throw rugs. Not sure about a transition....sounds dumb but maybe some bull-nose tile?

I was thinking bullnose tile for transition too but the tile i have in the house is somewhat unique and caynt match colors with a bullnose tile. I guess I could find bullnose similar in color and texture and just go wit it. Heck, I just might go with a hardwood floor instead, although I like the idea of a cement floor. I have a room with a wood floor and I really don't like it.

[8timechamps]

When you say cement, do you mean the subfloor is cement? If so, then adding some kind of sub floor under new tile would level out the difference in the trasition. If you don't want to do that, you can by uneven transitions at any home supply store. In an old home, I had to do that for a transition from the kitchen to the dinning area. The kitchen was about 1/3" higher. Home Depot had quite a few options of uneven transition moldings.

[okiewaker]

When you say cement, do you mean the subfloor is cement? If so, then adding some kind of sub floor under new tile would level out the difference in the trasition. If you don't want to do that, you can by uneven transitions at any home supply store. In an old home, I had to do that for a transition from the kitchen to the dinning area. The kitchen was about 1/3" higher. Home Depot had quite a few options of uneven transition moldings.


I think you're above me when it comes to this. Underneath the carpet, and padding, is a cement floor. Not sure if that is considered a subfloor but it is part of the foundation, I think. I want to make the cement floor the permanent floor.

[Taxman71]

You can easily stain the concrete yourself, but it looks a lot better with scoring and different stains. If you want it somewhat uniform, make sure the concrete is as clean as possible before staining.

[cleller]

We have "acid stained" concrete floors in our house. Everywhere but the bedrooms (carpet) and love it. Very easy to care for- vacuum, mop occasionally. We've got two big dogs, so it is a big relief.

We built the house, though, and planned for it. Therefore, I was able to get the slab smooth, and keep it clean until it was stained. If any glue came into contact with your concrete from the carpet pad, that could keep the stain from reacting properly. Since I'd never done it, I had a pro come out, and am happy with the results. After seeing it done, I could probably do it myself now.

You basically gotta get the concrete as clean as you can. No glue, chalk, dirt etc. You then spray on an acid that reacts with the concrete to give it the desired color. (warning: it looks horrible after this step). You then follow with about 3 coats of sealer, that brings out the true color.

The main player in the market is Kemiko. http://www.kemiko.com/index.php/
Color chart: http://www.kemiko.com/media//Color_Chart_Front_as_of_May_2010_.JPG
Most people say that the colors come out darker than shown on the chart. We used Malay Tan, but it looks more like the Cola color on the floor

Lots of videos at the Kemiko site, and on Youtube.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Isn't concrete cold on the feet in the winter?

[Turd_Ferguson]

Isn't concrete cold on the feet in the winter?

Very.

[cleller]

Its cold, but not horrible. For some reason, it doesn't seem quite as bad as tile, maybe because it is just a little more porous. We have some area rugs, and wear slippers.

Another factor is sunlight. We have windows along the south of the house, so the sun heats the floors some during the day. The upside, is you don't worry about dirt and stains so much.

This photo was taken right after one of the sealant coats went on, so its still wet. You can also see that doing it before the drywall is up is handy, as the acid spray will ruin anything it touches.

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/cs6000/House%20construction/IMG_0582.jpg

[Soonerjeepman]

cool...looks great

[okiewaker]

Its cold, but not horrible. For some reason, it doesn't seem quite as bad as tile, maybe because it is just a little more porous. We have some area rugs, and wear slippers.

Another factor is sunlight. We have windows along the south of the house, so the sun heats the floors some during the day. The upside, is you don't worry about dirt and stains so much.

This photo was taken right after one of the sealant coats went on, so its still wet. You can also see that doing it before the drywall is up is handy, as the acid spray will ruin anything it touches.

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/cs6000/House%20construction/IMG_0582.jpg

Yeah that looks great. Mite do that.

[Taxman71]

Mine looked like that except with black diamond patterns and border alone the walls. We also did ours at the framing stage. Never had any complaints about it being cold though.

[pphilfran]

Old concrete is much harder to do...inconsistent coloring....

[okiewaker]

Old concrete is much harder to do...inconsistent coloring....


Mine was built in '92. Wud that be considered Old? Ah, I mite just put a wood floor in. I'm thinking this cement floor thing probly more trouble than its worth. Plus, i gotta gap between trim around the house and the cement floor. Could use quarter round then got to paint it and then try to tack it to my PVC trim. I'm going with a bamboo wood floor now.

[tator]

In my opinion, if you're going to go with a cement floor, have a professional do it.

Also in my opinion, put in laminated wood before you go with cement. It's cheap and you can do it yourself.

[8timechamps]

I think you're above me when it comes to this. Underneath the carpet, and padding, is a cement floor. Not sure if that is considered a subfloor but it is part of the foundation, I think. I want to make the cement floor the permanent floor.

Gotcha.

Yeah, those stained cement floors are nice. I'd go that way if it were mine.

As for the transition, you can still get an uneven transition molding from Home Depot or the like. It's bare wood, so you could stain it to match both the existing tile floor and whatever you end up doing with the cement. They come in pretty long lengths, so it's easy enough to cut it to fit whatever transition length you're needing.

[Breadburner]

Stained many a concrete floor in my day....You can always skim coat it then stain it....