Quoted: FluxPrism - Any specific sites or books you would recommend about making concrete look decent? My main floor is carpet (vinyl in kitchen) over a concrete slab. The carpet is nasty, I need to get rid of it, and if I can make the concrete look decent I can put off flooring while I spend the home repair budget on more pressing concerns... |
Unfortunately, if you didn't have the concrete surfaced extra smooth when it was poured, it will likely never look quite as good as the brochures/galleries would have you believe. I spent several hundred extra to have them spend the hours finishing up the whole slab, except the garage, to an extra smooth finish. Depending on how good or bad your concrete was done, it might look great, or it might look pretty bad once it is stained. You'll have to look at it once you get the carpet up.
There is a lot of info out on the net about staining concrete, but I would start here:
Kemiko - Makers of the #1 Concrete StainThere are other manufacturers, but I had great luck with Kemiko and they are the number one name in the field.
One real problem you might have, is if the concrete has ever been subjected to any kind of Acid. Any Acid wash would have already used up some of the reactant material in the concrete and the stain will come out odd at best. This is a reason to test on a small section in a corner before you commit to staining the whole floor.
Look at the Galleries and you will see that even without the fancy scoring (which is a pain in the ass...) stained concrete looks like a million bucks. If your concrete is up to the task, it should serve quite well while you wait to put down hardwood or whatever in a few years time.
One last thing, you will definitely want to use Sealer over the stain. It both protects, and makes the stain look a million times better.
FluxPrism