Protecting concrete floors

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Author Message David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 576 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 04:50 pm:    What is the best way to protect fresh poured concrete floors that will receive a stain? Anne Whitacre, CCS CSI Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 265 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 04:55 pm:    David: if the construction period is of any length, you might find the contractor objecting to having to protect the floors for that length of time -- and they will probably propose a coating, or thin topping like Ardex that they can put on near the time of Owner acceptance. we do concrete stains a lot, and I can't think of a project where the actual slab has been protected until staining. when I used to do interior build outs for Starbucks, they would do a topping slab and then stain it as soon as it was cured enough to receive the stain. Those projects had short build out times, and the risk of damage was relatively slight. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 577 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 05:35 pm:    Anne you are correct. The best thing to do is to pour a structural slab, then pour a self leveling concrete underlayment and stain it. But unfortunately we are not dealing with that situation. We have tried hardboard, plastic and cardboard with less than satisfactory results. J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 152 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 05:49 pm:    Our firm does a lot of tilt-up construction with the panels cast on the floor slab. It is impossible to adequately protect the slab so that it will take a good finish, a fact (not opinion) that most designers and owners find difficult to accept. It isn't just the abuse such floors will receive, it's that unless the slab was poured at the same time from the same truck at the same temperature, there will be variations on the material even if it is finished well (floating and troweling) and protected adequately. Of course, the sampe people who want a uniform slab to work with may not be satisfied with the "blotchy" appearance that stain will inherently have. Moreover, the stain will probably interact differently with concrete from different mixes poured on different days at different temperatures giving even more variations. Bring on the carpet!