Why We No Longer Stain Concrete Floors:
We’ve stained tens of thousands of square feet of interior concrete floors over several years but just stopped in 2006 and went back to installing only tile and stone. As long as you don't mind imperfections in the surface and can deal with the maintenance, stained concrete floors can be pretty cool. The main thing to know is...IT'S NOT TILE. You cannot guarantee a stain color, remove surface cracks in the slab, make the concrete truly stain-resistant, or fix humps in a slab...it is what it is. I would explain and explain before doing stained concrete jobs, but most customers would think that their floor was going to turn out perfect and all those things that I explained would happen to someone else.
There is no way to patch or repair a stained concrete floor where a plumber makes a mistake (like when they stub out a pipe in a hallway before the concrete is poured)...
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or when the electricians and/or plumbers stub out their pipes incorrectly
at a kitchen island before a concrete pour,
 
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Or when the concrete finishers wear sneakers with a zig-zag tread and leave permanent impressions in the surface while finishing the concrete in 105* Texas heat...
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...or if the framers leave wood on the slab while the concrete is curing, leaving behind permanent marks from tannins and oils in the wood:
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...yes, all of this has happened at our jobs, and we were expected to work miracles and save the day. The smooth finished surface (the “cream”) of the concrete is only about 1/16” thick (or less). Once the “cream” is sanded through, the aggregate is exposed, and the floor looks completely different at that one area if someone tries to smooth out the surface.
If all the planets align and all the subcontractors in a new construction project (concrete finishers, framers, plumbers, electricians, drywall installers, painters, etc.) all hold hands every morning at the jobsite and sing "Kum-By-Yah" in four-part harmony, your stained concrete floor might turn out alright.
Also---once the floor is finished, you will need to protect it from tape (even blue painter's tape will soak through the sealer and ruin it after a few days), orange juice, wine, grease, solvents, Mr. Clean, and pretty much everything else on the planet. The concrete is like a sponge, even when sealed. You will need to remove your shoes when you get home or you will scratch the floor. Don't move appliances, or the legs will gouge the surface. There is no way to repair the sealer surface---it's like repairing a deep paint chip on a car door with clear nail polish. Oh, and don't cover the floor with plastic---it will ruin the sealer if moisture is trapped beneath. Once again, the list goes on and on.
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The only way to repair the 3,000 square foot stained and sealed floor above was to scrape off all of the stain and sealer with 2" wide razor scrapers, apply paint remover to the tape adhesive that soaked into the concrete, re-stain and use a buff-in wax as a sealer. There were 5 guys that worked for 6 days on the project, and I ended up paying several thousand dollars for the repairs, and the floor was damaged by other trades working in the home. The damage was not my fault, but I wanted to solve the problem for the builder who is one of my best customers.
Many people are led to believe that acid stain and sealer becomes a permanent part of the concrete. It is permanent for the top 1/32" of an inch, but any lower, it's grey portland cement, sand, and aggregate. The sealer topcoat is just that---a clear acrylic, urethane, or epoxy topcoat that either has visible brush marks, roller marks, or orange peel from a sprayer, and possible death threats from nearby tenants if you use a urethane sealer while it cures (don't ask me how I know). A buff-in carnuaba wax can be used instead of an acrylic or urethane sealer, but it is soft and it needs to be re-buffed periodically. Wax can be very slippery as well (carnuaba wax is also used for cars).
Stained concrete in a remodel of a residence will never look like the stained concrete you see at a new construction project where it was planned from the start. There is a different finishing technique used to “burn” the top surface and create stone-like mottling effects when the concrete is poured. There is no way to duplicate that effect in an older concrete slab. In addition, there are always unsightly patches to make where the concrete blows out at the edges of the rooms from the carpet tack strip nails, permanent trowel marks from previously-installed tile or vinyl, paint and stain overspray to try to remove near the baseboards as well as where the doors were painted in the middle of a room…the list goes on and on.
There are concrete overlay products available, but trowel marks or depth gauge marks from the product application always show in the finished surface, they do not accept stain easily after a few days, and overlays are way more expensive than tile ($5-$8 per square foot).
I haven't had a customer who was thrilled with their stained concrete floors after having them for more than a few months. They all had to deal with disappointment in one way or another with the sealer, wax, stain color, slip resistance, crumbs and dust collecting in the score lines, and/or durability of the products available for the industry. However, I have some customers who still love their tile and stone floors from 1998 and want me to do more.
The cost may appear to be less for stained concrete, but with the floor protection included and ongoing maintenance, it ends up costing as much as (or more than) ceramic tile or stone. Tile has much more durability, stain resistance, and can be repaired for the life of the floor.
© 2007 Chris Hall
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Update-- December 2007:
Las Vegas has a lot of great examples of creative designs in stained concrete, but below are some images of what happens to concrete floors with foot traffic and well-meaning workers who protect their work areas with masking tape. Once a floor is damaged like this, it is difficult or impossible to make it look new again.
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