October 10, 2008

Concrete floor redo

When my cousins remodeled their previous home, they stained the concrete basement floor. The finished floor looked brilliant.



Here are their instructions:

1. Clean floor of major chunks of stuff. Scrape if necessary. (Doesn't have to be perfect…old drips of paint, etc. are fine)

2. If there are baseboards or walls, apply painter’s tape (blue stuff) at bottom. Be ready to repaint

3. Apply water with bucket and mop. Be sloppy…you will want it very wet. There could be a little standing water, but not too much.

4. Apply Moss Out product (or if it is a large area get a 50lb. bag of Ferris Sulfate. This is straight Iron…about 31% strength.) Sprinkle semi-evenly on floor and let sit over night.

5. This is the fun part. Mop, mop, mop, mop, mop. Continue this process until you get all particles and most of the residue off.

6. If you want to jazz it up a bit, you can get concrete stains in colors and add this after (or before) Moss Out step. These products are cool, but expensive.

7. Once clean, apply a concrete sealer like Jasco. It looks milky and dries clear and gives the floor a wet look. Apply at least two coats with mop or roller.

8. Once cured about 24 hours you are all done. Remove tape and repaint if necessary.

*Warning: if you do a test area and don't like it, too bad. It is permanent.

Thanks Keith & Juliet!

13 comments:

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

This looks too cool! We have our floor painted a deep red, which I like, but if it was bare, I'd probably do something like this. If nothing else, it would mask the cat throw up we get daily... or maybe that's not such a good thing? OK, so, not to compare this technique with that grossness, but I do like the look and it's good for masking the things that go on in a basement while looking quite chic.

Rosebud Collection said...

That looks beautiful..what a great job..and thanks for the instructions.

Tess Kincaid said...

Wow!! This looks wonderful. I always thought it would be great to have a stained concrete kitchen floor. Especially back when the house was full of kids and big dogs!

Elizabeth said...

The floor looks excellent - but I have also been looking at you previous posts and loving your views of syle.
Yes, moderne seems to be in
but I like it that you are not a slave to fashion.
I am a bit eclectic myself.
Happy weekend.

Anonymous said...

I so wish I had concrete floors to stain! I LOVE this look, I am duly envious.

Unknown said...

Oh wow that is so cool, it looks like a bunch of autumn leaves melted into one on your floor. Love it!!

Rick said...

That's a very interesting technique = with the minerals. And green too!

I've seen old rusty nails used as a wood stain ... you soak them in vinegar and apply the vinegar.

Hey Harriet said...

That does look brilliant! I'm going to print your instructions & pass along to a friend who has a plain concrete floor in her studio/workshop & wants to do something cool with it. Thanks!

I'll tell my friend that this clever technique is all my idea...hehe ;D

Judi FitzPatrick said...

Wow, what a great look!

Anonymous said...

Can you do this on a painted floor?

High Desert Diva said...

Jill,
Probably not...might be worth a test sample though...

Unknown said...

Just wondering how the floor has held up since they did it. Also, did they add any concrete stain before/after using the moss out?

High Desert Diva said...

It held up beautifully with a house full of kids and dogs for about 5 years until they sold the house. They added bits of concrete stain for added color (here and there) after the moss out.