We are considering pulling out the carpet in the playroom and staining the concrete. The carpet just gets too dirty with my 1 and 2 year olds and 2 dogs! Not to mention, the garage door opens up into the playroom. I don't want tile--we have it in the kitchen and breakfast area and that's enough. We are considering wood flooring, but we will have to look around and try to match what we already have in the house. And we aren't sure if it would be more costly than staining concrete.
I wanted to know if anyone has stained concrete. Do you like it? Do you not like it? How much did it cost? Do you recommend someone?
I had wood floors before they will scratch. The carpet saves a lot from the falls. My sone fell off a chair once and broke his arm. I would think cement would be cold and would not cushion falls of children. New carpets have a lot of stainguard on them and maybe a more multi color would not show as much but I steam clean almost every week becaue I can not stand dirt on my floors.
We took the carpet out of our 14 and 12 year old children's rooms and actually painted the concrete - it was the best decision we ever made! My 14 yo sons room is painted really crazy with random stripes and a fluorescent body outline of him and our dog (they are both fine :), and he loves it. It's really cool and even when it gets dirty/scratched/other random things that 14 year old boys do, it just looks cooler. Our 12 yo daughters room looks more like tiles, but again, can't be hurt! We are about to stain the concrete in our bedroom too.
Jack Simmons is a great contractor, easy to work with, professional and has great prices. ###-###-####.
Hi L.,
My friend who just built a house in Aledo has her entire house floored with stained concrete. I used her "stain" man to recently have my front and back porch concrete stained and was pleased with the job. It is very easy to sweep and mop to clean. I preferred to have no "grout" lines or etching, however , my friend's house has all kinds of great patterns in hers (cobble stone in bathroom, brick look in kitchen, wood floor look in her study, and plain without etching in the living room).
Stained FX is the name of the company and Brad Sosbee is the owner. He came over to my house in FW a day or so after I called to give me a free estimate. Very nice guy and knowlegable. I will say though that he had his "crew guys" come over and start the project. They were pretty sloppy so Brad had to come over and clean up the areas they stained that were not supposed to be. Brad kept coming over to tweak the job untill I was satisfied. He sealed the porch a day or so after the stain had dried. So, if you call him I would recommend that HE actually do the job. Be patient and wait for him to become available - it is worth it and really saves time "redoing" someone else's not so good job.
I can't find his number right now, but I'm sure it is in the phonebook under Stained FX.
Best of luck! I think your idea of staining a room that the kids and dogs use is right on target. If you have concrete under that carpet, by all means take the cheapest easiest route and get it stained.
Tracy
We recently had it done in the kitchen and it is just OK. I really wish we would have gone for wood. We hired someone to do it and it was about 800. You get what you pay for because they didn't do a very good job and on top of that reuined the baseboards and trim. We had some patched holes in the concrete that I thought the stain would fill. It didn't, it just looks like stained holes patched, not so pretty. And it is already starting to chip. It is also very hard on your back in legs when you stand and cook for a long time.
However, for a playroom, several of those things I just mentioned wouldn't matter as much. If you can afford the wood and your kids don't have drinks in that room, I would go with wood. JMO.
I have a faux finishing company and I stain concrete. I have it in my home and I love it. Kids, dogs, really durable and always looks clean.
The cost is comparible to tile. We would love to give you a bid. ###-###-#### W. Faux Fusion Finishes
We stained the concrete in our house and we love it! Everytime I clean it, I just think- UGH if I didn't have this floor that would stuck in my carpet and we would be breathing it. We stained it using the stains from Home Depot, and it looks more painted than stained, but we really like it (it just didn't look like I expected at first). It cost about $200 for us to do over 1000 sq. feet ourselves vs. costing over $4,000 to hire someone. There aren't that many companies in Tarrant County that do it, and each of them quoted us around the same price. We also use rugs on our floors to help w/ temperature, and they work great. The only thing we had a problem w/ was the shinning sealant that you put on after the stain- it bubbled in one spot. So just be sure and do a thin coat w/ that. But, Behr was very helpful (call their helpline on the back of the bottles). And follow instructions closely- especially pay attention to humidity and temp for drying reasons. Hope that helps.
We have stained concrete in our house and I love it. My next house will have it all throughout. We did do it ourselves, but I researched the process very thoroughly. Because you are pulling up the carpet there could be a lot of clean up for the crew to do (ie..glue from pad, overspray from texture, overspray from paint). The concrete has got to be completely clean & clear. I think it is definitely worth it. Do your research and read message boards that stained concrete professionals post on. Arm yourself with as much information as you can, it will help you know how the whole process works and you can better monitor the company you hire. Good Luck!
