Paint (well, concrete stain...) basement floor and then seal? Or Vice-versa?

[Ashyukun]

So, the concrete floor in our laundry room looks rather bad, and SWMBO has been wanting since we moved in to paint it. So she picked out a color and we got Behr Concrete Stain in that color to use as well as the sealer that they recommended at Home Depot and a cleaner/etcher. Used the cleaner/etcher yesterday, but am a bit confused as to the order for the stain and sealer. I THINK that I need to put down enough coats of the stain to how I want the floor to look, and then put the sealer over it- but I'm not 100% certain. Is this right? Or should I seal the concrete floor and then stain it?

[Bob W]

Yes, that is the correct order.   Be sure to adhere to the dry times for both products.  If it is a frequently used area,  you may want to put more than one coat of sealer. 

Stain is messy --- so be sure to mask and have plenty of drop clothes.  Sounds like a small area and I think that Behr only sells stain in gallons so you might consider a secondary area such as your sidewalk, patio or other room?

It is a very easy job,  have fun!

[Ashyukun]

It's a modest sized room, but less than the 400-500sq ft they say the stain will cover. If I end up putting down two coats of it that will likely use up the rest. If I were to do any other room with it, it would be the utility room with the furnace & hot water heater- the color SWMBO wanted is a light green, so I'm not quite sure I want the concrete outside that color. Plus, the weather outside is such I wouldn't be able to do anything with it until Spring.

I'm planning on spreading it out over a few days to account for dry times. I actually need (or at least they recommend, so I'm going to go along with it) to grab some concrete/masonry primer to put down first- that will go on this evening after I pick it up. Tomorrow hopefully I'll get to put down the coats of primer, and then Thursday start with the sealer.

I'm going to have to go through all of this again down the line (likely after the New Year) since I'm only doing half of the room- the half that has the washing machine and dryer is going to be a fair bit more challenging...

[Bob W]

Probably one of the easiest paint jobs to do.   I redid my sidewalk a couple of weeks ago.  It had been 2 years of hot sun and ice.  It took me less than 1 hour to recoat.   I never did seal it even outside figuring that it was cheaper and looked nicer to redo.

I probably would have sealed a heavy use indoor space. 

[Ashyukun]

Put down the primer/adhesion promoter last night but didn't have time to put down any stain- used only a small fraction of the can of primer, so I've got lots for other stuff down the line. Hopefully I'll get the chance to put down a couple of coats of stain tonight. It will be interesting though... I'm still working out the logistics involved. The area is big enough that I am probably going to have to do the necessary number of coats on the edges first with the brush, and then do the rest in the center with the roller so I'm not having to walk on the center part like I would if I did the whole area first.

SWMBO will probably notice that something's up today- I started working in earnest on this Monday evening when she was off at work and continued it yesterday when she was at work and visiting a friend. Today she's home for the day, and will almost certainly at some point walk into the laundry room and notice that something's up. :P

[dragoncar]

Reving this thread to see how it turned out.  I want to stain a concrete porch, and possibly driveway+garage.  Anyone have a recommendation for a product?  I've heard good things about SoyCrete because it apparently has non-acid etch.  I have a lot of plants next to my porch and want to minimize the chance I'll kill em.

[cshaw]

I've ordered some stuff from Direct Colors before and have been happy with their products.  They do make a non-acidic stain, but I don't have any experience with it.  They have great customer service so you might call them or shoot them an email and see what they suggest.  http://www.directcolors.com/product/liquid-colored-antique-concrete-stain/

[Arktinkerer]

We did a back porch.  Didn't buy a stain--used a fertilizer product, Iron Sulfate if I recall.  Made a nice mottled brown.  Cost way less than a purchased stain that was really the same stuff.  The gave it two coats of a semigloss clear.  The clear coat is where to put your money in my opinion.  Has held up well for us.

[dragoncar]

Cool, what brand clear coat do you recommend?  Anyone who wants to post full write-up with after pictures will be my hero.  If I do it, I'll def post something... haven't found more than 1-2 online that aren't commercial sites.

[Ashyukun]

Reving this thread to see how it turned out.  I want to stain a concrete porch, and possibly driveway+garage.  Anyone have a recommendation for a product?  I've heard good things about SoyCrete because it apparently has non-acid etch.  I have a lot of plants next to my porch and want to minimize the chance I'll kill em.

I've still only got half of the room done (may see about trying to move the W & D and try and knock that out when the wife is away at a conference in July), but it has held up fairly well so far, but I have no idea how it will hold up over the very long term, especially with furniture being dragged all over it on a regular basis (all the furniture my wife has picked up to refinish/resell is now stored there- because I got tired of it taking up space in my garage :P).

[Ashyukun]

Well, SWMBO went off to a training for a weekend a few weeks ago and while she was gone I was able to tackle finishing up the other half of the laundry room (difficult to do while she's there since the room gets used more). Process was:

Sweep off the floor (after moving everything off of it)
Use a concrete floor cleaner (believe some kind of acid)
One coat of bonding primer (I have a stupid amount of this left since it only comes in gallons -_- )
As many coats of concrete stain as necessary (took about 5 I believe)
2 coats of low-gloss sealer

One thing that I did differently with this half was that when I needed to get more stain and had HD mix  the color up I had them add in some non-slip media into it which helped a LOT with making the finished floor less slippery and dangerous (something we had both noted about the half I did first without it). It's not 'gritty' per se, but has just enough texture to make it not so smooth and slick.

The half that I did at the beginning of the year has held up great- I had to slide the washer & dryer across it to get them out of the way, and that didn't do any damage at all to the coating. Even the freshly coated side didn't suffer any ill effects when I slid them back across it and into their places.

The only downside is that I now have roughly 4/5 of a gallon of Chilled Mint (http://www.behr.com/consumer/ColorDetailView/P390-2) concrete stain with non-slip additive left over (since I only needed it for the last 2 coats- and they only sell it in gallons...). We're going to look into whether it's possible for the paint store to add more tint to change it to a darker color (maybe a brown) to use on some of the exterior concrete.

[wser485]

Seal and stain!! Yea that right!!! Concrete staining can act like a snazzy showpiece but can end up having cracks, divots and rough spots if not worked properly and cured. We got our flooring done by the floortex ( http://www.floortex.ca/ ). We used acid based cleaner followed by seal and then stain .Also check the temperature throughout because if temperature is too low, the floor can get sticky and messy. Forced heating can also work unless  the airflow is regulated.