I want to pull up the carpet in my condo and expose the concrete floors. Can I paint/stain concrete floors?

Question

I was told you can do this but I don't know the type of paint/stain to use. Does anyone know how to do this?

Answer 1

yep, i have used a latex based paint. looks great.

Answer 2

One big thing to take into consideration when removing the carpet and painting/staining. You will have damage around the walls when you remove the tack strip which anchors the carpet. When these are removed there will be holes where the concrete nails are removed, these will have to be patched. So staining will allow these to show. Priming/sealing and painting will go OK if the floor is smooth and slick. I'm not too impressed with some of the concrete floors in condo's with carpeting. It seems if a concrete contractor knows carpets are to be installed, they do take excess care in a good smooth finish. Good luck. Hisemiester. Note: These paints can be highly toxic and some are extremely flammable. Be suprised how much air from your unit flows under the walls into the adjacent units. You will surely find out when using these paints. As one other answerer stated. You would be better off staying with the carpet.

Answer 3

We (group of volunteers) painted the floor in a boys and girls club once. It was concrete. If you go to your home improvement store and tell them what you're looking for they should be able to help. If i remember correctly it was some kind of garage paint. honestly i don't remember the name of it, but it did work. The only thing is we were repainting it because apparently the original paint didn't stick well. Just an FYI. Good Luck!

Just looked on home depot... you can also use concrete stain!

Answer 4

if your carpet was glued down this is going to be very hard to do. I did it in basement. I first pulled up the rug because it was moldy. it had been glued down. I had to rent a buffer with a stripping pad to remove the glue. I used lots of soap and water. once all The glue was up I went to the local home depot to the paint section. rustoleum makes a 2 part paint that is the best deal. but plan on setting up time for painting cause when you start you cannot stop. it was a lot of work and i would seriously think about new carpet if it is glued down. if not glued then the paint is not so bad. JUST FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS or it will be ugly

Answer 5

Once your carpet is up youll need to clean up the concrete. Once its clean and clear then you are ready to begin.

You have lots of different options. You can just paint it, which I dont recommend because you will be repainting high traffic area everyother month, you can seal and prime it then paint of stai/glaze it.

Home depot and lowes both sell the sealer/primer you would need before painting. What that does is that it gets absorbed into the concrete so that the paint has something to adhere to. Then youll have a full range of colors and styles of paints to choose from.

Answer 6

Yes, If you stain you might have to acid etch the concrete first but is easy to do. Aslo if you paint you may want to get a good cleaner/degreaser first and then prime and seal the concrete before you paint it to prevent the latex paint from pealing. Talk with your local paint store or home store to get the best info..Also if you rent your condo they might not let you do this.

Answer 7

Yes you can paint concrete floors. But make sure that you get paint that says its for concrete floors. Or it will chip and flake off after about a month.

Answer 8

I saw where a company put fritos on an unsealed concrete floor then sprayed it with an acid and it made wonderful marks on the floor. Masonry stain is what you're looking for, if you just want to stain.

Answer 9

First you need to pull up the carpet and allow the cement to thoroughly dry and then you need to inspect the surface and if there are any cracks in the concrete they need to be cleaned out and sealed.

Then you go to Home Depot or Lowe's and to their paint department and talk to the paint man about what you need.

There are sealers and paints that will do your job.

Answer 10

My future bro-in-law used to chemically treat concrete flooring in homes to make it look like marble. I don't know the exact chemicals he used, but I know they were different types of acid and paints. I am sure you can look it up online or even your local home improvement store may be able to tell you. But it looks great and won't chip up like paint sometimes does.

Answer 11

Yes, you can do this..
Just go down to Lowes ,Home Depot or Sherwin Williams and ask in the Paint Department ..