marketal ..mine was a stain not paint and did change the color of the concrete and was really pretty the pattern look we got but it is flaking and I did completely remove down to bare concrete on several areas before this last time redoing and still see it pulling the pigment from the concrete so obviously our concrete has a problem ..That being said I am not doing this again. moving basically every piece of furniture and the dust and mess ..not happening again...if I knew then what I know now I would've saved my money and would've used other flooring,sadly money wasted that could've paid for the other flooring. I also have noticed that the cement is really hard on a person if you spend much time walking around like I do. I worked for over 20 yrs in business that was concrete and that alone hasn't helped my legs but now I find as does my hubby that we have to wear shoes or crocs or something in order to avoid foot or leg issues. I'm not slamming the concrete finished floors I do think they are beautiful and I had wanted that tuscan look on our floors but hindsite has made me very skeptical. We did everything by the book when we did this the first time included the etching of the floor.

Hi Nick, Congratulations on your new home first of all. My advice is to get really good mats, and have them at every entrance. This helps to trap dirt on the mat rather than trailing it in. And depending on the mat and how heavy it is, you could vacuum it or shake it off outside. On the cement floors in my last home, I eventually bought a floormate. You add a cleaning solution to the water compartment, and it sprays it on the floor, scrubs with the spining bristles, and sucks ALL the water back up. Now, the haze that is left on some floors is residue. From what? Could be the minerals in the water from hard water, dirt left over, or surfacants from a detergent based cleaning solution ( but you said you are using vinegar). So getting all the water up has a good advantage. In my floormate I used the most natural cleaning agents I could. So I would try vinegar in the floormate, and if that doesn't cut it, move up to a more serious cleaner from there. I have used a product from home depot called krud kutter, for cleaning certain areas with a lot of build up, and I have heard good things about people using it on their floors for build up. As far as a steam mop, you could try it, since the floor is waxed, but it needs a good buffing. But the heat could ruin the buffed out shine after you buff it out. I don't know if I would chance it. I think almost no method is as good as an honest to goodness on your hands and knees scrubbing. But this came pretty close for me. The floormate isn't too spendy. I hope others will chime in with ideas, and hopefully this helps. Let us know how the continuing struggle to keep clean goes. Harlow

We have polished concrete, but the color is integral, not a stain. Pigment was added at the time of mixing. I wear supportive slip-on shoes in the house because it does make my feet feel tired if barefoot, but my husband is fine with just socks. We did it because we wanted hydronic heat in the floor and tile throughout the first floor was estimated to be 10k and would have been just as hard. No joint issues have emerged in Year One. Our GC has been down this road before and is a fanatic about protection. The floors had a layer of Ramboard and a layer of paper placed before any other work took place. I'm sure the extra care cost something, but it is hard to say how much. People either like it or are repelled by it, that much is clear! Well, a few relatives who have probably never seen or heard of such a thing probably remain mystified... I sure like it when it's time to clean it-- no place for anything to hide! We have cork upstairs, which I love, but I guess you don't want to add insulation between your heat source and living space, otherwise, I'd have had that everywhere. Woyld have a very different look, though!

@ Marion...I'm glad you are embracing the floor. A professional stone restoration company can come in and give your floors a good scrub and a new layer of sealant. Just doing that can perk up these floors quite nicely. I'm not sure of the price range but I would be surprised if it cost more than $3/sf. As for the other floors, carpet does very well over them. It's what makes carpet unique among floor coverings (sigh...I know...so many people hate carpet...but Canadians have it everywhere). It is supple and easy to lay over odd surfaces like your floors. I also like it because it offers the SMALLEST floor height transition from one room to another. Like hallway - bedroom, etc. The adhesives can be dealt with when (if) you ever choose to uncover these floors and live on them again...until then I say go ahead and do what you need to do to enjoy your home.