Why Stain Concrete Flooring

concrete floors

If you have a concrete flooring at your business, office or warehouse you might be less than pleased by it’s brutalistic presence. The dull, drab grey colour can impose a gloomy atmosphere on the surrounding area.  Why stain concrete flooring?  Because you can counteract this dull and bleak consequence of such an overpowering presence.  For some advice on how this can be done, we present some tips on applying concrete stain.

 

Staining Versus Painting

It’s important to understand that staining and painting concrete are two separate and distinct procedures.  Staining concrete actually requires a chemical reaction between the stain and the cement component of the concrete.  Painting, on the other hand, is simply applying a thin coating onto the concrete to effect a colour change.  No chemical reaction occurs and the paint doesn’t penetrate anywhere near as deeply as a stain.  That said, if the concrete pad is already discoloured in any way, stain will not hide the blemish in the same way that paint would.

 

Concrete Preparation

Before staining a concrete pad, you need to make sure it’s in the proper condition to accept the stain.  If the concrete has already been painted, sealed or waxed or has any type of grease or oil on its surface it will need to be prepped beforehand.  A good way to test if the pad needs prep work is to pour a bit of water onto it.  If the water soaks in, you should be able to go ahead with staining.  If the water pools and beads, you’ll need to strip the concrete before applying the stain.  Use an appropriate cleaner (ie paint remover, sealant remover, wax stripper, degreaser etc.) to remove the coating.  You may need to sand the floor slightly to rough up the surface and allow the stain to react with the cement.  You should also give the surface a good cleaning with trisodium phosphate before proceeding.

 

Applying The Stain

The best way to apply stain is with a sprayer as it’ll allow you to get a nice even coating.  However, stain can also be applied using brushes, rollers or a mop.  Make sure to test a bit of stain on a section of the concrete that isn’t completely visible as you want to make sure you’ll get the desired effect before working the whole surface.  This will also allow you to ensure the concrete was properly stripped.  Once the stain is applied, you’ll need to wait overnight before you’ll be able to fully appreciate the final colour change. Applying a sealant over top of the set and dried stain isn’t absolutely necessary, but it can help with longevity and colour retention. If you’re considering staining your concrete flooring, our industrial contractors can help.

 

 

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George Nela
George Nela
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MMD Construction built us retail space on the second story of our current store space. Dino and his team built walls, cut out spaces for internal windows, ran wiring, installed lights, and put down floors. The job was done timely with minimal disruption to business and we now have a functioning business up on the second level. Thank you!
Ben Adelman
Ben Adelman
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MMD is one of the best companies I have had the pleasure to work with. Highly professional from start to finish, available any time to meet or speak with you. MMD has a great team that meets deadlines and delivers. One of the things that I liked about working with them was that they were very experienced and anticipated any possible complications. They were fully transparent from the beginning of the process, so there were no surprises later.
Alina T.
Alina T.
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We’ve done 2 projects with MMD Construction. The high standards of the company are reflected by their employees and the trades they work with. MMD's team delivered our design & build project on time and on budget. If we have a third project in our future, you can be assured that we’ll work with MMD Construction again!
David Lee
David Lee
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We recently used Dino and his team to do a commercial build for our interior space. They were very professional and knowledgeable. MMD was able to deliver our job ahead of schedule and on budget. Great people to work with. We would hire them again in the future and would recommend them for your next job.
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