What’s the first thing people notice when they enter your place of business? We’re betting it’s your floor – if it’s gorgeous and well-maintained, your customers or clients see you as committed to excellence. If you have a floor that’s cracked, pitted or discolored, the impression you’re giving is considerably less than favorable. Covering it up with carpet that’s going to get dirty or show stains probably isn’t the greatest idea, either.
If you’ve been thinking of doing some renovations or improvements at your business, it makes perfect sense to start with that old floor. Why not think about using stained concrete? This is an extremely durable, cost-effective way of creating a low-maintenance type of flooring that can look like marble, quartz, natural stone, and virtually any other high-end building material you could imagine, but at a fraction of the cost of the genuine article.
Stained concrete gets its distinctive appearance because of special dyes that are added to the concrete mixture. There are two basic kinds of concrete stain – chemical and water-based.
A chemical stain (sometimes also referred to as an acid stain) incorporates the use of phosphoric or hydrochloric acid, and is the best type of stain to use if the intention is to have the floor appear natural, or to achieve earth tones. The acids cause pockets to open up in the concrete, and then mineral salts enter and create a chemical reaction. The effects can be quite stunning, although sometimes surprising – putting it this way, there’s not going to be a pattern that you can predict down to the last detail.
Water-based stains differ from chemical stains in that they’re non-reactive. In this regard, it’s a little easier to predict how the stained concrete floor is going to look than it is with chemical stains. If there’s a down side, it’s that the overall effect won’t be quite as dramatic. The color, however, will be nice and uniform.
If your floors have seen better days, have become pitted, cracked, discolored or otherwise damaged, stained concrete can be a fabulous way to give your place a new, fresh look. You don’t have to have your old floor taken out – stained concrete can be used to resurface and restore your old floor. With the modern techniques for acid stained concrete or water-based concrete dyes, your floors can welcome your customers with style and flair.