Considering pulling out carpet, staining the concrete

[ElizK]

..in our living room. I'm looking for opinions on the "look" of stained concrete, and how it is living with it. We've always had carpet, and I can't rip this junk out fast enough. I figured we'd put in Pergo or hardwood, but I've seen some pictures of the stained concrete that I really l like.

Thoughts?

 

[tlbwriter]

Keep in mind that concrete that was meant to be covered with carpet may not be cosmetically perfect. In fact, I know one person who planned to do just what you're doing, and found there were obscenities drawn into the concrete when it was poured!

 

[ElizK]

Keep in mind that concrete that was meant to be covered with carpet may not be cosmetically perfect. In fact, I know one person who planned to do just what you're doing, and found there were obscenities drawn into the concrete when it was poured!

YIKes!! Yes, I realize that at the very least we would have to get paint spatters off from when the house was built. Also, my DH is looking into concrete stamping, which involves laying about 1/8-1/4 inch of concrete over the slab.

 

[Miss Peach]

I wanted to do this also. But most of the pictures I had seen of this were done with fresh concrete, poured with this in mind.

So, keeping an open mind we pulled up the carpet (it needed to be replaced either way). The concrete was too rough and the aggregate was showing in many places.

We went with a different flooring!

But, I still love that look!

Cathy

 

[cassiez76]

our neighbor did stained concrete and it's an almost 50 year old house. it's the smooth concrete. it's awesome.

my parents den always flooded. just a little bit of water, but it was a pain to pull up the wall to wall rug. so about 20 years ago (ack! i can't believe it's that long ago) we pulled out the carpet and had to scrape off the funky tiles that stuck. must popped off with little effort, but some took a lot of elbow grease!

the floor has a "tile" (from all the years that the stick on tiles were on) look that's natural...it's super easy to clean.

 

[LaurenLC]

OOOOHHHHH, I LOVE the look of stained concrete! If our house didn't have hardwood when we bought it, I would REALLY want to do this!

 

[jodifla]

We pulled up our flooring down to the concrete, and found it had rained on the slab when it was poured.

We put down a glue-down wood floor that we loved in Florida.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I had a friend who did have this done in her house. It was tasteful, but not something I would voluntarily choose to do in my home. I just didn't care for it. While "attractive", it was too Fred Flinstone-ish for my taste.

We had terrazzo--but that cost a pretty penny to do. I prefer tile, stone, or wood flooring myself.

 

[jodifla]

I had a friend who did have this done in her house. It was tasteful, but not something I would voluntarily choose to do in my home. I just didn't care for it. While "attractive", it was too Fred Flinstone-ish for my taste.

We had terrazzo--but that cost a pretty penny to do. I prefer tile, stone, or wood flooring myself.

When we moved into our brand new home in 1969, it had terrazzo. And everybody covered it with carpeting!

 

[MichelleVW]

I had a friend who did have this done in her house. It was tasteful, but not something I would voluntarily choose to do in my home. I just didn't care for it. While "attractive", it was too Fred Flinstone-ish for my taste.

We had terrazzo--but that cost a pretty penny to do. I prefer tile, stone, or wood flooring myself.

I have a friend who's concrete floors look just like tile.

We have stained concrete floors and with 3 dogs and 4 cats it's awesome!

 

[sunnyday123]

I've seen this done in really expensive homes, and it's beautiful.

 

[Hannathy]

Isn't it cold in the winter? I would think it would be very cold on the feet.

 

[tlbwriter]

Isn't it cold in the winter? I would think it would be very cold on the feet.

It is. I don't care for it at all. But some people love it (especially in warmer climates). I knew a woman who built her house with stained concrete floors, and when she sold it, her realtor told her she HAD to offer a flooring allowance or else no one would buy it.

 

[MichelleVW]

Isn't it cold in the winter? I would think it would be very cold on the feet.

It is...but most people that have this live in places with warm winters.

It is. I don't care for it at all. But some people love it (especially in warmer climates). I knew a woman who built her house with stained concrete floors, and when she sold it, her realtor told her she HAD to offer a flooring allowance or else no one would buy it.

Lol...that is so funny because around here tons of people have stained concrete and it's one of the reasons why we love our house.

 

[tripletots]

I've never seen stained concrete inside a home so I googled it. WOW it's beautiful. I want stained concrete in my home! The images I saw looked like marble. Absolutely gorgeous. I learn a lot on the boards.

I am assuming this is a costly project???

 

[ElizK]

I've never seen stained concrete inside a home so I googled it. WOW it's beautiful. I want stained concrete in my home! The images I saw looked like marble. Absolutely gorgeous. I learn a lot on the boards.

How expensive is it?

Not sure how much materials will be, but we'll do all the work ourselves - it's awesome having a handy hubby's! This carpet has to go regardless.

I did read that having the concrete polished is expensive, so we probably won't do that.

 

[ElizK]

Isn't it cold in the winter? I would think it would be very cold on the feet.

DH and I talked about this. He said we could actually run wires thru the concrete if we end up doing the concrete stamping.

During the Texas summer it'll probably be great!

 

[MichelleVW]

DH and I talked about this. He said we could actually run wires thru the concrete if we end up doing the concrete stamping.

During the Texas summer it'll probably be great!

It is!!!

 

[stevenpensacola]

If you go this route, make sure you get the true acid stain, and not the "stain" that is nothing more than paint.

As to the "look" of concrete not cosmetically perfect, we recently took up the linoleum in our kitchen to put down tile...we had bare concrete for several weeks...which was all sorts of different colors due to stains/linoleum glue, etc.
You'd be amazed at how many people did not even notice that this was not flooring.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

When we moved into our brand new home in 1969, it had terrazzo. And everybody covered it with carpeting!

Well, it wasn't my favorite choice--but the carpet in place had to go, so we went ahead and refinished the terrazzo and wish we would have just bought new flooring. However--I did like it much better than stained concrete and many folks with terrazzo that was in excellent shape did like it. But true--I would have recovered it if we could have.