Stained concrete floors?

[Tinkermommy]

Here's the situation:
Our carpet is only about 5 years old. It was chosen by the previous homeowners and is builders grade cheap. And between kids, dogs and even me it is in bad shape. It is berber and because of the loops has quite a few long pulls in it.

I would love to rip it all out of the family room and get hardwoods, but that would cost way too much right now.

We have seemed some beautiful stained concrete which looks like we would be able to do ourselves. Has anyone done this? Is it easy/hard to do yourselves?

How about comfort? We could get a nice big area rug for the main area so just the traffic areas would show the concrete.

We do have two small kids who play on the floor so that is a consideration.

Any input is appreciated!

 

[DrCavin]

Concrete will not be comfortable, damp & very hard.

Have you tried renting a steam cleaner or calling in someone to professionally clean your carpet?

 

[monkeybug]

A blog I read recently linked to a post on another blog that was all about how to stain your concrete to look like tile! The tutorial is pretty good (lot's of pictures) and the result is really nice! They were doing it on an outside patio, so I don't know if the process for an indoor area would be different (maybe different chemicals).
I would think concrete floors wouldn't be too comfortable, but I think some loft style homes have them so I don't think it's unheard of. You could just buy some inexpensive area rugs maybe?
Here's the link to the tutorial on how to stain concrete to look like tile if you are interested.
http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2010/05/new-tile-patio-floor-reveal-and/

 

[MichelleVW]

Concrete will not be comfortable, damp & very hard.

Have you tried renting a steam cleaner or calling in someone to professionally clean your carpet?

I LOVE my stained concrete floors! Of course it's hard, but not any harder than tile, and it's not damp.

I went to a friend's house once and her concrete was stained to look like tile, it was awesome!

 

[Pakey]

I do not have stained concrete but I do have tile floors throughout my house due to my allergies.

They are cold. We live in a warm part of the country but the floors are cold in the winter. The area rugs do not do much to alleviate that.

They are hard. There is no give at all on a hard surface floor. My exercise mat has to have several towels or folded blankets under it to make it tolerable for me to use. Area rugs do not have the same padding as carpet so even on area rugs, it's hard.

They are noisy. Carpeting absorbs a lot of bouncing noise. Hard floors do not.

 

[tonilea]

I think as a temporary solution it would be great! I would rather have stained concrete as dirty icky carpet. (Not saying your carpet is dirty - it is just my general feeling about all carpet - I hate it.)

 

[Myothername]

I don't have concrete but have tile. I know people who have the stained concrete or painted concrete and they love it. We had the cheap carpet and it was just beyond cleaning anymore. Once we got it out I got a new vacuum cleaner (Oreck) and there is so much less dust and animal hair. But when there is dust and animal hair you will wonder how you lived with all that before. It is horrible to think all that crap was pounded down into the carpet.

I love my tile and would never have anything else. It does not scratch and so easy to clean. It is louder without the carpet but really we are used to it now (been 2 years). It is cold and in the summer that is a real plus. In the winter I just wear socks or slippers.

Now understand when you pull that carpet up the concrete underneath is concrete that was not meant to be seen. There will be cracks and paint and globs of stuff on it. I doubt you could clean it enough to just be able to stain. The stained concrete I have seen was in a new construction. But a coworker painted her floor a dark brown and put some polyurithane on hers and she loves it.

 

[JessicaR]

http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2010/05/new-tile-patio-floor-reveal-and/

How cool! Thanks for that link.

 

[shortbun]

We just(today) removed the old shag that carpeted our rec room in the basement. We are going to stain the concrete and that website will be a huge assist, thanks!!! The rec room is only used by kids and once in a while when the adults feel like playing pool or throwing darts and DS has horrible allergies so I'm glad to see that carpet off to the landfill!!!

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Think too about how loud it will be, especially if you have an open floor plan. A family-member has these and they look great but echo through the house is bad. Had to put down tons of rugs to help absorb sound.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We may be doing this soon... our carpets sound similar. My allergies are just awful and I can't afford wood laminate (what we'd like) anytime soon. Staining the concrete is cheap and can still have flooring laid over it later.

We have two close friends that LOVE their stained concrete floors. One had the builder do it and one did it themselves. Both have small children and pets and are thrilled with them.

Thanks for the blog link posted above - very helpful!

 

[MichelleVW]

Think too about how loud it will be, especially if you have an open floor plan. A family-member has these and they look great but echo through the house is bad. Had to put down tons of rugs to help absorb sound.

We have an open floor plan and concrete floors, and there is nothing loud about it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We do not have stained concrete, but we do have terrazzo...pretty concrete. We use area rugs. We find it no different than tile from hardness and temp staindpoint.

I have been to one home with the stain. I didn't care for it's appearance. It did have a shine to it, so I think it was done with a sealant to help the dampness.

Eta: no echo either....at least until
the movers come and all the stuff is gone.

 

[cassiez76]

my mom has had a concrete floor since 1992. before it was cool to have them.

it would get cold in the winter, but we'd always have our feet up in the chair or sofa.

at my house, we took our nasty carpet out downstairs and it had a concrete floor. i loved it. hubby wanted something else. MIL complained i'd let my at the time non-existant kids live in a house with concrete floors.

we bought laminate. i love it. but guess what... our A/C leaked and there went about 5 feet of flooring.

now what am i going to do with half of my flooring missing between my den and breakfast nook?

i should have left the concrete.

and also, my mom's neighbor just did their laundry/computer room/man cave with an acid wash stain. it looks amazing! he said it couldn't be walked on for a day or so though.

i say go for the concrete! i hate carpeting!

 

[DaisyLynn]

My mother has stained concrete in the family room - it looks great! Sure, it's cold in the winter...but she does have a couple of nice area rugs. She is able to keep it so nice and clean, too.

There was carpeting over it (about 8 year old carpeting) that just needed replacing, but with the dog and grandchildren AND the fact that you enter into that room from the pool/patio area - it made sense and was a heck of a lot cheaper than tile! I say go for it! My mom did it herself, said it wasn't hard at all...just a task. Good luck!

 

[arminnie]

I LOVE stained contrete!! I've seen several homes that have in several homes that have it and it is great. I had tile floors and laminate for the past decade. I despise carpet - but I have two dogs so that influences my my feelings.

I am redoing a 30 year old condo right now but am going with solid wood with stained on site. It is going to be a ***** to have it redone as I have to move out completly to have it done. Fortunately I have a second home so I will just go there for two months.

 

[hiwaygal]

We've been thinking of doing the stained concrete in our house as well. I'm tired of the cheap carpet and with three dogs, I just think the concrete would be better.

As for the temperature, consider a radiant heat system installed in the floor. Some of the systems are very simple and very thin, you would only need to add maybe 1/2" of concrete and be able to have warm floors.

 

[Tinkermommy]

Thanks everyone for your input.

I think we may try this until we can get hardwoods. It's definitely a consideration.

I do worry a little about noise as our house is very open. We have a large section in there now that would help and I would put down a big rug as well.

That tutorial blog was great. I think we may try to do it on our concrete patio first as a trial to see how we do. Thanks for the info!