TheStainingGuy.com

What is a Concrete Rug?

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:19:00 +0000

A concrete stained rug is a design created in your concrete floor with different elements. It can be any shape and in any room and in any size. Some of the typical elements that can be used would be scoring, stencils and freehand work. On top of that you can layer on color and texture.

Concrete rugs can be very simple with a scored border stained a different color and a stenciled design in the middle to a very complex rug that is hard to distinguish from a fabric rug without walking up to it and looking closely or sometimes even touching.

When designing a concrete rug I like to start by going to the project site with a piece of sidewalk chalk and some straight edges. I start by drawing out the general size of the rug.

Then I start looking around the rest of the project, the room, the home, the surroundings for what other elements are already there. Is there stained glass in a door that has a center piece that we can use a center piece in the carpet? Is there a certain style already being used? Is there a repeating pattern already being used that can be used in the carpet?

What does the owner envision? Are there fabrics or china that has patterns that resonate with them? Have they a dream folder with pulled “looks” and “ideas” from magazines? Do we want the pattern to be flat or raised with a micro-topping?

Once we decide on patterns, then I start looking at borders, one or two or more? Plain or with a cut out at the corner? Mitered or not? A tile pattern inside the rug? Straight or diagonal?

Then we look at color. How many colors, where do we repeat the color?

This kind of work is very labor intensive and if stencils are ordered as well, it can significantly add to cost of your project, but you are sure to have a lovely, very unique and beautiful centerpiece in your project.

5 Reasons why Concrete Stained Floors are Great for Dogs (and cats too!)

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:17:00 +0000

1. The dog dander doesn’t hide like on stained floors like it does in carpet fibers

2. Stained floors are easy to clean, especially while potty training

3. Stained floors won’t trap fleas and ticks

4. Stained floors won’t scratch like wood floors

5. Stained floors offer a cool place in the summer for your pet to nap and when the sun hits the floor in the winter, it give your pet a nice warm spot to nap.

6 (I know it is only a 5 point list, but this one is a personal one. Our Yorkie loves chasing his ball on our stained floors because he can slide on them!)

The Process

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:14:00 +0000

How do you decide what you want to do? We like to play with kids sidewalk chalk. Get a big stick of White or blue chalk and start drawing. Kid chalk works great and it is only about a dollar investment. Do you want a border? Do you want a tile pattern? Draw it out. Do you want a river running through it? See how it would look. Don’t like it? Hose it off and start again. Have fun and let your imagination run wild. Concrete is fun. Don’t restrict yourself. Look on the internet and see what other people are doing. Take one part of that idea and add something of your own. Take one part of an idea from a plate and another part from a pillow. You get it, now go do it!

Carpet Removal

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:13:00 +0000

One of the most frequent questions we get is if we can stain a floor that is currently covered with carpet. Our answer is a quantified yes. First off, we have to deal with the tack strips. Do you want them patched or not. The patches will show. Next, what is under your carpet. Here is an example of what we normally see under carpet. When a home was being built in the past, everyone knew carpet was going down, so they didn’t do anything to protect the concrete. They stained the baseboards on top of the concrete, they painted without drop clothes, they ate and didn’t clean up, you get the idea. Until the carpet comes up, we don’t know what we are dealing with. I will tell you, if you want a perfect looking house, you like things to match, don’t do concrete stain. If you are looking for a home with character and personality, then concrete staining is something you should look at.

Texture

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:07:00 +0000

I love this concrete rug. First we stained the floors. Then we lightly colored micro-topping material and toweled it on top of the stencil. It is very thin and you can barely feel it with bare feet. The effect is a buried metal grate in the floor. Very dramatic.

Before and After: Paint Removal

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:05:00 +0000

This patio had been painted by the client. As you can see after the paint removal process, the color remains. The concrete is clean enough for a new process, but color has leached into the concrete. In order to give the concrete a new surface to color we micro-topped it.

Paint removal Completed Project

What about Cracks in my Concrete?

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:51:00 +0000

We get this question so often. Here is a photo of one of my favorite outdoor stained concrete projects. The concrete stain actually enhances the cracks and becomes a part of the character of the floor.

Wild and Crazy Solutions

admin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:48:00 +0000

One of the fun things about concrete is finding solutions to people’s problems. In this home, the contractor cut the hole in the floor for the floor plugs in the wrong place. A patch in the middle of the room would have looked horrible. After talking to the home owner, we learned they were huge Dallas Cowboy fans. The solution? Hide the patch in a star. We cut out 8 more random stars in the room. A custom solution made this homeowner very happy.

Old Concrete and New Concrete Next to Each Other

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:46:00 +0000

Many times you will have an old concrete area and add some new concrete to enlarge a space. An example might be enlarging a patio. When we have this situation we always recommend micro-topping the entire surface so that the concrete will take color the same. Here is an example of how old and new concrete take color differently.

Rubber Mats: Example

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:35:00 +0000

We have directions and disclaimers all through our paper work about not using rubber mats on top of sealed concrete. I have never had a good example until now to show you why not, because our clients have always listened to us. Last week I was invited out to a project to price out a floor that is to be refinished. Here is a photo example of what happens when you leave a rubber mat on a sealed concrete floor.