If you've got a concrete floor in your basement, four-season porch or other area of your home, you can breathe new life into it by painting or staining it to look like tile. With the right techniques, you can also ensure that your faux tile floor is easy to clean once it's finished. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
1. Skip the grooves.
When making a faux tile design on a concrete floor, you have two basic options. Using several different colours of paint, you can paint (or stain) faux tile and grout lines onto the concrete. Alternatively, you can score the concrete with saw cut lines to create the faux lines of grout, and then, you can paint faux tiles in between the lines.
Unless you absolutely need to have scored faux tiles for style reasons, skip the grooves. As you use your faux tile concrete floor, dirt and debris can get stuck in those grooves and be hard to clean.
In contrast, if you have a floor that is evenly painted with no dips or valleys, you can just mop it clean. You don't have to worry about scrubbing out individual cracks or about dirt building up in them.
2. Repair cracks and dents before painting or staining your concrete.
If there are any cracks or dents in the concrete, fill them before you stain or paint them. You can buy concrete filler at most hardware stores, and it comes an easy-to-dispense container, similar to a large tube of toothpaste.
Filling these holes ensures you have a level floor that is easy to clean for the reasons identified above. If you have any large cracks or potholes, contact a professional concrete repair company to help you repair those.
3. Seal it well.
After you paint or stain your concrete floor, let it dry fully, and then seal it. Use the thickest sealant you can find. This protects your floor from damage due to impact. For example, if you drop something on your concrete floor, it hits the sealant first, and that gives the concrete a degree of protection.
Additionally, sealed floors resist the absorption of stains, and as a result, they are easier to keep clean.
4. Refinish your concrete occasionally.
Once you finish your faux tile concrete floor, it isn't set forever. Rather, you may need to refinish it on a regular basis. Your schedule depends on your objectives, the amount of foot traffic on your faux tiles, and the type of finish you use.
For example, if you always have guests walking from your pool to your faux tiles, you may want to apply a waterproof sealant to it and reapply on a regular basis. Alternatively, if you like your faux concrete to have a lot of lustre and shine but it sits in a place where it gets a lot of sun damage, you may want to use a transparent glossy stain as your sealant, and you may need to apply it as desired.
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4 February 2016
Everything changes as time goes on including concrete. In the past, for example, decorative concrete was a luxury, while now it is a mainstream staple, and I anticipate that concrete will change even more as the future rolls around. Hi, my name is Nicole, and I own several investment properties including one commercial building full of clients. As owner, I often have to pay concrete contractors to do work around my properties and even on the buildings themselves because I have concrete balconies on my commercial buildings. Twenty years ago, I knew nothing about concrete, but now, I know a lot, and I'm eager to share. Please explore!