Question about sealing a rough cement floor
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I think you are right that it was a mistake to grind the adhesive off. A floor leveler might work. They have a lot of coatings these days, not sure what the cost would be. How many square feet are you talking about, and pics of the surface would help.
I’ll take pictures of it tomorrow. It’s not that big, but the guy who’s been doing the drywall and the trim and molding (the grandson of the man who started the gallery) put the base molding in before we figured out what to do with the floor - and so I think our only option now is to either leave it like this and throw down some rugs and call it “rustic”, or paint it with something and hope it sticks.
Here are two photos of the back room taken a few weeks ago, I’m standing in the area that I showed a photo of in the first post, that doorway leads to the main gallery.
Here are a couple photos of the front gallery (those floors will stay as is):
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Glued or nailed baseboards?
If nailed, they can probably come off. Probably just 18g brads.
Or, tape them off and use sealer or paint.
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Glued or nailed baseboards?
If nailed, they can probably come off. Probably just 18g brads.
Or, tape them off and use sealer or paint.
@jolly The walls are weird - some of them are really old, the ones in the outer gallery are concrete! they had to install picture moldings at the top, and we are hanging the paintings from chains. I think he screwed the baseboards in - then filled the holes and they’ve been painted over already. We will mostly likely wreck them if we try to take them off. Thanks for the paint link.
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If it's smooth enough, here's what my friend wrote:
"In our area rug stores we simply stained the concrete with penetrating wood stain from Dura Seal/Minwax. Tape off the wall base, and fill a garden sprayer with the stain, don't pump it too much, and start about a foot from the wall to avoid splash up, run a line of stain down the wall.
Using an old towel, on hands and knees, wipe the stain in a circular fashion. Continue putting lines of stain down and wiping circular, overlapping slightly the previous line.
Let dry for 24 hours with ventilation, and you're good to go. If will obscure any old stains and discolorations.
I got into an argument one time with a painter who specialized in painting/staining concrete floors. He'd polish, then etch, the apply two or three coat of an epoxy like finish. I asked him if he'd ever spilled wood stain on a concrete floor, and he said yes. Then I asked him if he could get it back up, he said no.
In high traffic areas touching up worn areas is as easy as wiping more stain on, usually after several years of commercial traffic.
Dispose of the oil soaked cloth in a bucket of water, then in a dumpster. Throw the sprayer away. "
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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@mik said in Question about sealing a rough cement floor:
Yup. We can steer you wrong on any question you can think of.
We especially enjoy seeing pictures of the mess we helped you make.
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If it's smooth enough, here's what my friend wrote:
"In our area rug stores we simply stained the concrete with penetrating wood stain from Dura Seal/Minwax. Tape off the wall base, and fill a garden sprayer with the stain, don't pump it too much, and start about a foot from the wall to avoid splash up, run a line of stain down the wall.
Using an old towel, on hands and knees, wipe the stain in a circular fashion. Continue putting lines of stain down and wiping circular, overlapping slightly the previous line.
Let dry for 24 hours with ventilation, and you're good to go. If will obscure any old stains and discolorations.
I got into an argument one time with a painter who specialized in painting/staining concrete floors. He'd polish, then etch, the apply two or three coat of an epoxy like finish. I asked him if he'd ever spilled wood stain on a concrete floor, and he said yes. Then I asked him if he could get it back up, he said no.
In high traffic areas touching up worn areas is as easy as wiping more stain on, usually after several years of commercial traffic.
Dispose of the oil soaked cloth in a bucket of water, then in a dumpster. Throw the sprayer away. "
@jolly That’s a great idea, big issue is there is NO ventilation down here. No heat. (We used plug in heaters). One people sized door that is coming in the front. (That’s probably some sort of business code violation right there, but this is Butte, and people don’t seem to care about a lot of that stuff here). One small window in the front gallery that might open (not sure, haven’t checked it to see if it does) So it’s going to have to be water based, whatever we do. (Still fumes with those, but not quite as bad). Here I’ve been mopping because I’m worried about what’s in the dust from the construction, but I should probably be more worried about the radon, as we are underground. The windows in the front gallery photo are at sidewalk level outside.
