In my attempt not to be "wordy," perhaps I didn't explain myself clearly enough :-) I would be fine with any of the choices, and am more concerned about maintenance. 1)Painting it white --- when rain and dirt splashes in, as it inevitably will do, may look dirty frequently - and ultimately require more routine work. 2)Stain - requires a sealer every couple of years, I think? 3) White stain would give it a more casual look than paint, but might have same problems with dirt after rain, etc. I know that it's ultimately my decision, I'm just looking for experience w/ the different choices. (I found this site after the fact and cringe so often when I see my prior mistakes explained on here and say "if only I'd read this before doing....." so I value the expertise and try to heed it before acting. Thanks for all your help.)

yeah, this is a pretty good resourse. I'm certainly no expert on painting, but I do know you have to sand or chemically treat concrete to make it stick. Now staining concrete is another ball of wax all together & can be done by DIY'ers. My daughter tore carpet out of a house she had a few years back & stained the concrete. You can pop lines on the concrete & cut the lines with a saw to score the concrete before you stain, makes it look like tile, sort of anyway. Al

We're having a screen porch built (15x20 w/ tongue and groove ceiling. It took our carpenter about 2.5 solid days just to stain wood. Maybe that helps if you can figure out hourly rates? I would really not be comfortable separating out construction and staining though. What if something goes wrong and the stain does not come out right? The stainer could blame the quality of wood used, and the people who did the construction could blame the stainer and you could be left not knowing who to hold accountable. Seems like a recipe for trouble to me.

I am looking for the best way to paint or stain the floor a color. This is an old photo of the porch. Its all white now (ceiling and sides). the floor Is already painted or stained but it gets very dirty. I don’t think that it’s a nice wood underneath.