Concrete floor - Seal or put tile?

6 years ago

We have concrete floor in our house, we don't have a lot of budget so we were just planning on leaving it with the concrete look, like those contemporary houses. I've been looking on what to add to make it shiny. I was thinking on the MasonrySaver Decorative Concrete Sealer which will end up being like $200/300 for the living room/kitchen area. Now, I'm thinking about that one because I don't have a lot of money to put something thicker and more durable. But if i'm gonna have to redo it every two or three years, should I just put tile in? With the tile I won't have to invest in it every few years. And there are some affordable options. What do you think?

I was looking around and some other sealers with more protection and more durable cost around 70/80 dlls per 50 sq ft. I am only basing this in online search, there are so many options for concrete sealers that I don't know what'll give me the look I want. (I'll add some examples of what we want, in case you know of a good sealer that'll give us that look)

I'll appreciate your opinions. Thank you so much

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SJ McCarthy

6 years ago

Carpet. Sorry but it is going to be the thing you can afford that makes it easy to remove/replace in the future.

As soon as you add anything to concrete, you make it MORE DIFFICULT to glue/mortar anything in the future. So imagine if you spend $7/sf today to have a low-level (read: lots of work) concrete finish. Now imagine that you have enough money in 5 years to "do something" to the floor. Let's say porcelain tile.

Now that you have enough money to put down tile, your tile installer tells you the current finish will prevent the tile from being put down. Now he has to spend +++time (and time is money) sand blasting/shot blasting the existing concrete to get rid of the finish (the finish would be considered a "contaminant" and must be removed). Now that you have spent another $2-$3/sf to remove the finish you paid $7/sf to put into place, you can now install the tile...which will be the regular cost of $10 - $14/sf.

A low-grade concrete finish will cost you more money in the future that if you just covered the floor in carpet and live with it for a few years.

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Comments (7)

User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Theres gonna be a lot of advice given. I looked into it. Your first few photos. Its not as easy as you think.

The last photo might be doable. I did something similar in my old house. Its stained, then sealed. I used Behr from Home Depot.

So the floor has to ne absolutely clean. No grease no paint no dried mud. Then ot really should be ground smooth by a pro. Then stained. Then sealed. It is unlikely you can do that yourself. The grinding.

However, as a temporary measure you can mimic the effect. Just plan on doing a proper floor at some point down the line.

Good luck.
Jessi Saunders thanked User
just_janni
6 years ago
This is where it would pay to have a professional polish slightly and put a clear epoxy on your floor.

With the right prep, an epoxy floor is virtually indestructible. In my experience, the commercial guys are not that expensive. = about $1 / $1.50 sq foot.
Jessi Saunders thanked just_janni
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Sure...you can shot blast the surface so that raw/rough concrete is showing. Then you will go ahead and do everything the way it should have been done. That is to say you will prime and then add the expensive microtopping to level the floor. Why microtopping? Because regular slab concrete is not 'good enough' to become a high-end finished concrete floor. A well finished concrete floor (no stain...just microtopped and ground to a polish) is $5-$7/sf (done professionally). If you want a professional to stain it, you can add another $2/sf. If you want a protective coating that will NOT stain nor etch (which all concrete will do) you can add another $2/sf. A clear coat epoxy is a finish that will have very little maintenance. A wax finish will require extensive maintenance (like every 6 months). A regular 'urethane' finish will require maintenance around about year 2...and every 2 years ever after. A temporary polymere finish (6months worth of finish) will require reapplication every 6 months. A stained concrete floor without a finish is going to be very splotchy...even if it didn't start out that way. As upset as you are right now, this might be a blessing in disguise. If you wish to pick another floor, now is a good time. With 6.5 years in the flooring industry, I estimate the average concrete floor will 'live' for 7 years. After that the homeowners become tired of it (either physically tired of standing on it; or psychologically tired of dealing with the look and maintenance) and cover it up. And yes...you should have done all the shot blasting, all the grinding, all the leveling with microtopping before staining. Again, it is because poured concrete is not 'ready' to become a floor. It is ready to be covered by something else...and that something else often includes self leveler or some other form of 'leveling' before any other rigid floor is put down. Carpet and sheet goods are the exceptions.
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robin0919
6 years ago
I understand saving money. IMO....I would just leave the concrete floors unfinished now and just add some rugs in areas. You could DIY tile down the road. It's not rocket science to lay tile. You could learn watching youtube.
Jessi Saunders thanked robin0919
User
6 years ago
https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/homeowners-guide-to-hiring-qualified-tile-installer
Jessi Saunders thanked User
ILoveRed
6 years ago
Sjmcarthy said..

“Now that you have enough money to put down tile, your tile installer tells you the current finish will prevent the tile from being put down. Now he has to spend +++time (and time is money) sand blasting/shot blasting the existing concrete to get rid of the finish (the finish would be considered a "contaminant" and must be removed). Now that you have spent another $2-$3/sf to remove the finish you paid $7/sf to put into place, you can now “

we had a house fire many years ago. Tile contractors working in our basement used a flammable glue to prepare the sealed concrete surface in our basement to receive tile rather than using the process sjmcarthy described. Fumes from the glue ignited and started the fire.

If you think you will ever want to finish the concrete, don’t seal it.
Jessi Saunders thanked ILoveRed
SJ McCarthy
6 years ago
@ILoveRed - Ouch! Sorry to hear about the installer-produced fire! OMG! Thank you for chiming in. So many people think you can do whatever, whenever without having to deal with the consequences.
Jessi Saunders thanked SJ McCarthy

Concrete floor - Seal or put tile?

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