I am having my basement converted into office space and am trying out ideas for the concrete floor. It's a full basement, approx 1300sq. We do construction work and the floor needs to be durable enough to handle workboot traffic. I've pretty much ruled out pad and carpet, due to both possible dampness problems and the heavy traffic.
I'm leaning toward the acid etched concrete but since my floor is 31 years old, badly stained in spots and partially painted (for some reason) in others, am trying to get some feedback on if this is the best idea. Would it take more time and money to prepare this surface than it's worth?
Muriatic acid which is used for the etching isn't that much an issue--I wouldn't worry about it from that standpoint.
Problem I see w/ a slab that old and in a basement is more than likely there was no vapor barrier initially and if there were any it's probably pretty ineffective by now. At least to the "plastic sheet" test to see what happens. Any paint you use w/ the presence of moisture really should be latex-based, otherwise you're likely to have peeling issues. Same with epoxy or other resinous coatings. All of these need an etching or chemical cleaning operation anyway before applying or you won't get good adhesion, so I think I'd just opt for the etching and be done. If you're doing a complete tearout and/or starting w/ an empty basement, the easy way to start would be to simply rent a floor sander and sand the whole thing back to a bare surface, clean, and progress from there. Would be simpler/less mess to do the whole process before erecting partitions and all, too, if haven't already. (Friend w/ concrete contracting business doing a fair amount of these now--for the life of me don't understand why they wait to call for it until after all the interior partitions are in in almost every case when they plan on it from the beginning. Could probably save themselves nearly half on labor and rework of cleanup after the mess. Ah, well...)
Thanks! Very helpful. We will be starting with a tearout of everything currently down there. I'm making some sort of attempt of doing all this in a logical manner and not having to come back in and do major work that should have been done at the start. BTDT on other projects. Hopefully I've learned my lesson!
One last thought...I'm certainly no expert on the etch/stain other than watched it through the fella' mentioned before as to the basic process, so I don't know what range of colorations one can get. The thought is that one potential advantage w/ painting despite some disadvantages would be that one could perhaps be a little lighter to make area not-so-dark.
Of course, there are other flooring options, too, but if it really is going to be heavily trafficked, maybe the bare concrete w/ a strategically-placed runner or three solves the dirt problem w/ less noise/slick issues. That's what we did in the Engineering Center offices at the coal-fired plant after the initial carpet in the brand new building was tracked up by the workforce using the conference room for training (construction mud has nothing on pulverized coal dust for making grime! :) ). You could possibly put some industrial carpet in an office area off-limits to the mud-trackers for a little amenity if wanted.
I did think about just leaving it bare, but it looks SO bad right now. Something would have to done regardless and might as well take the next step as long as the company is footing the bill! And at some point when we stop using it for an office, we'll make it a "college kid" apartment / in-law suite. I think the browns and reds that I've seen in pictures would work. We're in GA so red clay will blend in with that fine! :) And we do have a bank of windows along one wall so it won't be quite so dark.
Thanks for the links! I can definitely see using this in the garage (to be a storage/warehouse) area and down the high traffic hallway. I think I would still finish the floor underneath in preparation for later living space. But this would definitely save wear and tear until that time! Thanks!
Here is a very little explanation of acid etched concrete. There is a state by state listing of contractors on the same page:
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You might also want to consider one of the epoxy/colored chip floors. This stuff is fairly expensive, I priced it at one show at over $3/SF. Here is an example:
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Check out acidstainconcrete.com from Gaye Goodman out in New Mexico. She has quite an operation and is a great source for what it really takes to do this well. She really emphasizes surface prep - sounds like you have a lot of that - but the results can be spectacular and extremely practical. monz
Sherwin Williams has a product, it's 2 part epoxy that I used in my shop. I'll get the name. I went with saftey yellow so I could find dropped parts. It is very durable and nothing so far has stained or lifted it, including deisel, brake fluid hot tires etc. I got pix but don't know how to upload them?
You can email me if you want. My email isn't munged. Would this be something that could also be used a couple of years down the road when we turn the space into an in-law suite? That was one reason I was leaning toward the etched concrete. It looks good enough for a living space as well as office space. (With a few strategic throw rugs of course.) I may do something different in the "warehouse" section which is currently our garage. Paint, or those rubber tiles would probably work well in that area.
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