How To Stain A Concrete Floor
This is a surprisingly easy task, so anyone with a garage, sunroom, basement or porch with a concrete floor should seriously consider this super simple process. We used Behr Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain in “Tuscan Gold” from Home Depot to give our sunroom’s unfinished looking concrete floors a warm wash of honey-gold color:
The semi-transparent stain is a great choice for concrete that’s in pretty good shape (since it’s not an opaque covering, the original concrete will show through). But don’t worry about any natural texture variations in the concrete, those look great with a semi-transparent treatment, which really makes the floor look more finished without completely covering the concrete’s varied texture beneath the stain. And it’s super duper durable. Short of pushing a heavy washer and dryer across the floor, we have yet to see any scratches in our semi-transparent stain. Hooray for high traffic areas with low maintenance durability.
Here are the fast and easy instructions:
Step 1: Thoroughly clean the floor. We used a vacuum cleaner to grab all the bigger dust bunnies and then followed up with a mildly soapy wet rag to be sure that it was squeaky clean. Be sure that the floor is completely dry before moving on to the next step.
Step 2: You’re technically supposed to use a “quality pump sprayer” to apply the stain, but we actually opted to paint on the stain with a brush for that rustic tuscan look that we were going for. Two or three coats should do the trick (the color intensifies slightly with every coat, so keep going until you’ve reached your desired color saturation). It also helps to apply each coat in the opposite direction of the previous coat, so there are subtle crosshatched brush strokes instead of more obvious lines that all go in one direction). We’ve also heard that applying the stain with a rag in circular motions can achieve a nice rustic look without any brush strokes at all. Whatever your method, don’t forget to be smart about painting yourself out of the room so you don’t leave footprints on your newly stained floor.
So there you have it. The easy peasy two step process to staining your concrete floor. Our first floor staining experience with the “Tuscan Gold” color that you see above was seamless and we loved the result. But two years later we wished we had gone with more of a chocolate brown color and less of an orange tone (to better complement the colors in the rest of the house and make the sunroom feel more connected to the indoor spaces). So here’s where Step 3 comes in…
Step 3: Never ever use a darker semi-transparent stain over an existing lighter semi-transparent stain, or it’ll look like this:
Which was not at all what we were going for. Our stellar idea to just use Behr Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain in “Loden” over the existing orangey-gold color (to tone down the golden hue) ended up looking dirty and dingy, like someone smeared mud on the floor and called it stain. Oops. Hopefully you guys will learn from our mistake. We’ve heard from numerous other DIYers that applying a darker stain over a lighter stain never looks good at all. They should warn you on the can!
The ultimate lesson: staining raw concrete always yeilds near perfect resuls, so pick you semi-transparent stain color carefully as it seems that second chances are iffy. Otherwise you’ll end up repainting the whole floor with oil-based porch and floor paint to cover your grungy second staining attempt. Luckily our sunroom floor adventure had a super happy ending, so check out our fabulous floor painting tutorial!
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Comments
Looks like the perfect opportunity for a large floor stencil!
Can’t wait to see the after tomorrow….
Ok…you guys just made a possible PIA project look easy peasy! We stained our floors…but acid stained them. It WAS a bit bigger of an ordeal. Also loved the outcome…but now 5 years later we are trying out some carpets to cover them…just a bit!
Just wanted to make you aware of http://www.myperfectcolor.com which sells color matches of Behr paint and sends you small samples to test anyone of them. I am not sure if they have the concrete stain colors but they do for the wall colors.
It looks awesome! I love it, thanks for posting this. Our garage floor needs a little TLC and I think this will do just the trick!
At 61 years of age, and after building at least 7 houses I finally tried Behr Latex concrete stain. It is pitiful. It sits on the surface, does not penetrate, and does not last!
There is NO substitute for the chemical reaction of an acid based stain.
Hello.
I saw you speak in Richmond about your blog and I had a few ideas for you to do in your spare time. :)
You have a GREAT site.
1. The how to section is great. Can you make videos of each and post them on youtube? I found nine videos on youtube under the name johnpetersik. Let me suggest that you put a remote mike on the speaker, add more lighting and get a better video camera.
2. Do you collect all emails with aweber or constantcontact?
3. I live an hour away from Richmond. How much do you charge to go to someone’s house for decorating advice?
4. Have you taught a decorating seminar?
5. Do you stage homes to help them to sell? Realtors and owners will pay big bucks for that service.
6. Do you have gift certificates? A good wedding present for a young couple would a decorating consulatation with you.
Hey Win,
Thanks for the helpful hints! As you probably gathered, we’re pretty busy these days- but whenever we have a spare moment we’ll look into your ideas! As far answering your questions go:
1. Someday when we have the time and the funds we’ll definitely look into it. Good idea!
2. We don’t collect (or share) emails because we never want to hound people. We can disperse info to plenty of people by doing a blog post, using twitter, or using the fan page that we set up on Facebook! It’s a great system and nobody feels badgered or pressured.
3. We only do virtual decorating consultations- here’s a link to two of the services we offer (this info can also be found on the tab under the header that says “design advice.”
4. Nope, never taught a seminar as we’re busy writing content, answering emails/comments, running our shop, and doing virtual decorating consultations. Someday when we have a moment it would be lots of fun, though!
5. See above answer. Sounds fun! Someday…
6. We do offer gift certificates (in many increments) in our shop. Feel free to check ‘em out here.
Thanks again for all the ideas!
xo,
Sherry
I actually have a question. We made the mistake of adding the Concrete darker stain over the lighter stain and the results are awful. What did ya’ll do to correct the mistakes. I’m at a loss of what to do now. Sincerely, Cindi
Hey Cindi,
Isn’t it annoying that no one tells you (the can! the guy at the stain counter!) that you can’t use a darker concrete stain over a lighter one- even years after the first stain application?! We ended up painting the floor an opaque color with porch and floor paint and it came out awesome. Here are those details:
http://www.younghouselove.com/2008/08/how-to-paint-a-floor/
Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
Thank you so much for responding so quickly. I love the lookof your floor with brownstone. However, I really didn’t want a glossy look. I was told to try a cleaner and etcher. What to you suggest? This was once a outdoor dog kennel turned into storage/laundry room. We used the colors sunbaked clay/loden
Hey Cindi,
Unfortunately we don’t have any experience with a cleaner and an etcher but visiting your local Home Depot or Benjamin Moore store and speaking with the stain & paint specialist should provide you with all the info you need! Good luck!
xo,
Sherry
Thanks for the information and pictures, it isn’t easy to find help with DIY projects. I have a couple of questions for you, please. I am interested in blending 2 or 3 colors together for a multi-color blended effect. In step 2 you stated: “Two or three coats should do the trick (the color intensifies slightly with every coat, so keep going until you’ve reached your desired color saturation).”
Question #1: Did you let the stain dry between each coat and how long between each application?? My idea is to work in small sections as I do with blending paint on walls to get the result I am looking for then move on.
Question #2: Can I go back and touch up areas if needed, before applying the clearcoat??
Hey Tracy,
Our memory of the floor-staining process (we actually did it almost two years ago) is that we didn’t need to wait long between coats because by the time we got to one side of the large room the other side of the room where we started had pretty much dried. Your idea to work a few colors of stain together at the same time is a great one- you’ll want to work pretty fast but it’ll definitely look a lot better than layering each color, which might yield iffy results. You can definitely go back and touch up areas (raw concrete will suck up a number of coats with no problem). Hope it helps! Happy staining…
xo,
Sherry
great site, thanks for all your info. i’m trying to stain my 35′x15′ poured concrete slab and i was wondering did you like the stain from behr and would of kept it if you had a darker color? my other question is do you have to put a topcoat on it like a gloss sealer or just leave it like that. thanks for your help,
Rob
Hey Rob,
I definitely think we would have loved the stain if we had the foresight to choose a darker more neutral color (like a deep tan/medium brown that flows with the rest of our home’s mocha hardwood flooring). It was a great finish because it was semi-translucent so it really hid dirt and also brought out the beauty of the concrete floor beneath.
Oh and we didn’t seal the concrete with a gloss (which we thought would keep things looking casual and allow us to add stain down the line). But even without sealing it, you can see that restaining it later was not really an option at all (it came out so gross we would never recommend it). Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
what causes the white spots, once u apply the semi-stain
and u waited before applying the sealer. 2 days later some of the sones had white powder patches
Hey Paula,
We didn’t have any experience with white spots so I’m afraid I’m of no help, but perhaps calling the paint & stain specialist at Lowe’s or Home Depot or even Benjamin Moore will help? We also didn’t seal our concrete, we just stained it but left it raw which really wore well and held up perfectly (and also allowed us to paint the concrete a few years later without worrying about adhesion). Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
My covered balcony has a concrete floor on which the previous owner used an adhesive to hold down indoor/outdoor carpet. I removed the carpeting, but am having trouble removing the adhesive. I have used a toxic adhesive remover and scraper on my front porch which had the same carpeting, but I don’t want to use it again since it was messy, smelly, hard to clean up and even ate through rubber gloves. It stung really bad and now that I have a naughty, nosy dog, I don’t want to use anything that can burn her paws. I have a cobblestone stencil I’d like to use with
patio paints. Have you ever tried them? They’re supposed to be durable, especially since the floor is not exposed to the elements. Thank you.
Hey Linda,
You’re so smart to think about your sweet pup’s paws. I definitely think approaching the concrete floor with something more mild and less toxic is a great idea. We haven’t actually experienced what you’re talking about with the adhesive so we don’t really have any suggestions but you might want to talk to your paint professional at Lowe’s, Home Depot or Benjamin Moore. And as for the stencil, it sounds like a great idea! Good luck!
xo,
Sherry
I am curious why you decided to skip the etching stage of prep that is recommended by Behr. We are planning to stain an interior room, so it would be great to skip the etching stage since it’s pretty tough to hose down an interior room! Is there any difference in how your concrete took the stain with washing vs. etching? Any advice would be appreciated!!!
Thanks,
Chris
Hey Chris,
When you know you’re dealing with raw, unstained concrete (which is naturally extremely porous) the etching step isn’t necessary since the concrete will suck up the stain without any issue whatsoever. Etching becomes extremely important if your concrete has been sealed or if it’s dirty or stained, but since ours was clearly untouched (it was hidden under a wall to wall carpet) we knew we only had to do a little sweeping/vacuuming and then could get right down to staining (and it worked like a charm). Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
I’m planning on staining our basement floor over the next couple of weekends. In the floor painting post you said that you waited 6 days before walking on the floor. What are your opinions on wait time for a stained floor?
Thanks!
Jenn
Hey Jenn,
You’ll want to follow the advice on the floor stain can that you choose (since timelines can vary by brand). I would also add a bout 24 hours to that if you can, just to ensure a flawless finish. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I have worked on a few floors too, and the floors I see with the Behr semi-transparent stain on them never seem to hold up. I have found a great product called Eco-Stain and it comes from a company in Florida called Surecrete. The stuff is very easy to work with and they have instructions on thier website on how to install. You can make all kinds of cool designs on the floor with a brush, some tape and the stain. Then you seal the color in with one of thier sealers. Thier waterbased materials are very eco-friendly and work the best of all the waterbased materials I have found. One last comment. I don’t see why anyone would use a brush to put down a sealer on a floor. Why not use a 9″ or 18″ Roller that is lint free and get rid of the Brush Strokes. Save you about 2 hours in application over a 200 sq foot space.
Hey guys- Just found you site, it’s great. Anywhooo, me and my Fiance’s dog destroyed our carpet in our dinning room. I was thinking about staining the cement, but the more I lookin in to it, it appeared to be more costly than I thought, till I found your site.
Did you guys prep your floor at all, or is it rough and unfinished?
Thanks
Chris
Hey Chris,
We just did what we mentioned in the post above. Nothing more! It’s easy and cheap and our raw concrete floor sucked everything up without needing to be treated beforehand. It’s an extremely porous material so yours should do the same! Of course you’ll want to wash it down with soap and water first to remove any pet stuff so it’s clean when you stain it. Good luck!
xo,
s
We’ve seen so many floors with such smooth finishes. Our concrete is not rough but certainly is not glassy smooth either. Will or does a good couple coats of polyurethane create the smooth finish were looking for?
Good question! I would ask the paint professionals at your local home improvement store if they have a clear finishing coat you can apply over stain for a smooth and glossy finish. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Great site. I wish that I had done a little more research before I started my concrete-patio-staining-project. I didn’t know the difference between acid stain and laytex based stain. The hardware store down my street only sold latex opaque stain (Thomson) and so I didn’t even know that Semi-transparent was an option either! Live and learn! So here’s my mistake. I took two colors, and planned to mix them, a brownish color and a terracotta, for a Tuscany feel. The problem is that the colors really didn’t mix well. I’m an oil painter (hobby) and figured it can’t be that hard, but it really is. I used a roller, and tried to roll in the second shade in a soft, blended pattern but depending upon how dry the section of stain was, it just didn’t mix nicely. So I tried to add more depth, dabbing a brush in random sections with a second coat of the brownish color, but on top of the terracotta it didn’t look brown at all, it looked cream-colored. Ick. I’m not explaining this very well but the point is it looks nothing like the effect I was going for. So I bought a third shade of stain, a purple-y-brown. I’m using an 11 x 13 piece of cardboard, tracing around it with a 1-inch brush (making fake “grout lines”), in a staggered brick pattern. I completed 2 rows, and I don’t even know if I like it (wish I had splurged on $300 stencil sets online but….trying to save money) , if I should keep going…or if I have any better options. Figured I should let it dry, and see what it looks like in the daylight. I’m certainly not going to fool anyone into thinking the patio floor is tiled…but how cheesy is the faux tile look? I don’t know if I like it, or if it looks stupid. Can I send you a photo, and can someone tell me what they think? THANKS!!!
It sounds nice! Why don’t you live with it a while and maybe ask a few friends what they think. We have learned that most changes take a while to get used to, so they look jarring for a few days. And if you decide it’s not your cup of tea you can always paint right over the stain for a smooth, matte, and seamless look (with porch and floor paint, see our tutorial about that on our How To tab under the header). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
We have just poured a light tan colored concrete floor in our sunroom. If you use a semi transparent gloss do you still have to seal it? Do you seal first or gloss first. Does the gloss make the floor slippery or simply shiny. The room connects to our swimming pool room so we don’t want the floor to be slippery, just nice and shiny. Thank you for your help.
Axel
Hey Axel,
Many products are different so our advice would be to follow the instructions on the can to ensure whether you need to seal things afterwards. The stain we used did not require that and was not slick at all. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Nice site and good info. We’re remodeling a home and just applied Behr Solid Concrete stain to the old (1978) concrete floor that was under carpet for 30 yrs. Needless to say, much prep work and the Behr Solid stain went on nicely and looks great after 2 coats, however we’re debating whether to seal it our not. Did you use a sealer and if not, what kind of shape is your floor in? Did you experience paint chips or other flaws in the product?
Thanks again,
Patricia
We didn’t use a sealer and the floor held up perfectly. We have since painted it a rich brown color but the stain really was durable and lovely until the day we painted over it (we wanted a more solid and opaque look). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I like your comments about not following the directions exactly. Sometimes that’s actually ok. The semi-transparent is “supposed” to be sprayed on, but I can see how applying with a brush would give it a unique appearance. It’s usually good to follow the manufacturer’s directions, but sometimes it’s ok to bend the rules a bit.
HAHA…so I am an avid reader but did a google search on painting and staining concrete floors and you all popped up as one of the first results!!! Love it. Guess I should have searched through your posts a little more before I started googling!!!
Hope you all had a great New Years!
Your sunroom is such a gorgeous space. This looks like a fun project that made a huge visual difference. Way to go!