How to Stain Concrete Floors in a Living Room
- 1). Move everything off the living room floor. Place furniture and other large items in another room while staining the floor. Apply painter's tape to baseboards, trim and any other places along the floor that you do not want the stain to get on. Hang plastic sheeting on the walls to protect them from the stain.
- 2). Prepare the concrete floor for staining. Sweep loose dirt and debris from the floor with a broom. Clean the floor with a trisodium phosphate and water solution. Use 1 cup TSP for every 4 gallons of water. Scrub the floor with the cleaning solution and a stiff scrub brush. Remove dried paint, glue or any other imperfections from the floor with a putty knife. Fill cracks and/or holes in the floor with concrete patch and a putty knife. Allow the floor to dry completely.
- 3). Mix the can of concrete stain with a paint stirrer. Dilute acid stain with equal parts water for most brands. Refer to the label for specific mixing instructions.
- 4). Transfer the stain to an airless or garden sprayer. Use a plastic sprayer rather than metal if you are applying acid stain; acid and metal react negatively.
- 5). Apply the stain to the floor beginning at the back of the room, working your way towards the doorway. Enlist a helper to assist with scrubbing the stain into the floor.
- 6). Spray a moderate coating of stain onto the floor, working from the left side of the room all the way to the right. Continue spraying from the right side of the room to the left. Work in this "typewriter" fashion throughout the whole floor. Ask your helper to follow behind the sprayer with a broom, scrubbing the stain into the floor.
- 7). Go back to the beginning of a row once you have applied the stain with the sprayer and broom to about half of that row. Apply a second coat of stain, this time without the broom following behind to get rid of any brush marks left by the broom.
- 8). Repeat this process, working on one row at a time, covering the entire floor with stain. Allow the stain to dry completely according to the manufacturer's instructions.
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