Wednesday, July 28, 2010

sunroom progress: a sort of tutorial

Remember my sunroom?  I posted a couple of weeks ago that it was my next project.  While we were working on other rooms in the house, the sunroom became sort of storage room mess.  So, we cleared it out and started with an empty room.  The first thing we did was pull up the carpet.  I hate carpet and just didn't think it would be a good choice in a fresh sunroom that is going to be my new project room.

After we pulled up the carpet, we were left with those annoying tack strips. Under our carpet is the concrete subfloor which is our concrete foundation for our house.   That's how they build 'em around these parts.

Those strips are nailed into the concrete and have a gazillion little nails sticking up.
So, I pulled all the tack strips up.  If you use a flathead screwdriver and hammer, you can gently but firmly hit the end of the screwdriver and often pop up the strip and concrete nail.  If you just try to pull up the strip only, it will come up but break and leave the nail in the concrete which is then harder to get out.

After all of the strips and nails are removed, you are left with this new eyesore.

It's a bunch of holes, some itty bitty and some are ginormous gouges.

oh, and you may have some cracks in the concrete running around.  These tiny hairline cracks just freak my husband out.  He thinks the foundation is falling apart.  Some tiny cracks are just fine and expected.  If you have a huge one, especially running from end of the room to the other and cracks in the wall, then you have a right to freak out because you probably do have foundation problems.
So, next step is to get some concrete patch and a putty knife and fill all the holes and cracks.  Now, I must admit, I enjoy this part.  I love patching concrete or spackling walls.  I like the sound of the knife  whisking along the surface.  It's just fun and I'm a little weird that way.



All of the holes and cracks are filled and smooth and ready to go.
I should be ready to paint my floors here but then I got a wild idea.

See the tile in front of the fireplace?...on the floor?  There are two little rows of tiles (10 total) in front of the fireplace.  I hate them.  I love an old hearth but we don't have that. We have tiles that look to me like bathroom tiles.  One of the tiles had a little crack so on a whim I decided to take them all out.



You are not having a stroke, it is a blurry picture because I'm not a photographer.  Back to the tile: I actually liked using a chisel and hammer and "demo..ing" the tile.  But I have to be honest here, the junk left under the tile that also had to be removed nearly ruined my marriage.  That was painstaking work and I HATED it.  I begged my husband to help and it took him all day but he got the rest up.

You can rent a big motorized tool (I call it an electric chisel) that would make this much easier and faster.  We only had 10 little tiles to pull up so I thought we didn't need that tool.  We did.

So, tile and residue are up, tack strips and nails are up and all holes, cracks and whatever else are filled.  The concrete floor is clean but it is not perfect.


It has issues.  So there is a decision to be made here.  Do I stain or do I paint?  Paint covers these imperfections well and requires less prep but it doesn't hold up as well with heavy traffic.  Since we have painted our concrete floor in other rooms, I decided to continue the same paint in this room since it connects to the other painted rooms.

Now, if you are looking for a perfect tutorial on painting concrete floors, then this blog is not for you.  I never do anything the way I should. I like instant gratification yesterday.  My way has worked for me just fine so this is how I do it.

Epoxy-Seal concrete and garage floor paint in a dark brown.

I also use one of those paint edger thingys to apply it.  I use this because I like to apply the paint in freeflowing circular motions to create an interesting finish; more like a loft feel.  You can use a roller if you want a more uniform look.

Using this approach, I just "wipe" on the paint.  The whole room took less than 45 minutes.

All done!  It's still wet.  I'll have to give it a few days before we can walk on it.  It is dry within about an hour but it needs a few days to set.  Since it is an epoxy paint, it doesn't need a sealer.  However, if you like a shiny look, then you can roll over a coat of poly after it has dried.
Next step: add the small quarter round trim moulding to the baseboards since there is now a gap between the baseboard and floor.  Then, I get to start on the fun stuff!  Hopefully over the next few weeks, you can see my plans for this room.


I may share this at some of my favorite link parties listed in my page above or below on the right.

24 comments:

  1. Thanks so much Gina! I love that you showed how you do this. That is so great. I am tempted to do that in the basement.Looks great.

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  2. I'm getting ready to do this in my screened porch...paint the concrete. I can't do it, though, until we aren't using the porch so often and the humidity drops. *tapping foot*

    Love that brown! I'm trying to decide between brown and turquoise for my porch floor....Yours looks loverly. :)

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  3. this is awesome. I love painted concrete as well!

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  4. Looks great! A screened in porch is on my wish list! But then, so is a craft/sewing room. Hmm, tough decision there. I can't wait to see what you do with this room, I'm sure, like always it will look great!

    http://kensingtoncottage.blogspot.com

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  5. it is a very good tutorial. Love how it is beginning. I can't wait for more as you continue along. I'm afraid our crack are bigger than yours, we need some rain and relief from this Texas heat. Such a feeling of accomplishment that spackling is, I know what you mean.

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  6. I know what you mean about the junk under the tile! We did a huge space in our house and finally paid a friend to do it. He had one of those chisels. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made! I love the idea of the painted concrete. I may need to try this. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. wow. it looks great, thanks for sharing!
    gail

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  8. Wow, you make it sound easy...it looks great!

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  9. I love it! You sound just like me in your "instant gratification. The floor looks awesome and also bugs me at the same time since I am sitting in my living room with its nasty carpet and a nice paintable concrete floor underneath. *sigh* Thanks for linking up to We Can Do It Cheaper!

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  10. Thanks so much for your "instructions"... I have been wanting to do this to my entire downstairs.. but have been going back and forth.."Should I or not"? Your floor looks great. I want to do mine white with some really nice throw rugs.. the carpet is so ugly right now and I have been pricing new flooring.. too much right now! So.. I'm going to do it!
    Thank you, thank you!
    Sandy
    thewondersofdoing@blogspot.com

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  11. That looks SO great, Gina! And what a wonderful tutorial you provided us with! Thank you!!! I will definitely be referring back to it. :) Great redo!

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  12. It looks wonderful! You did a fantastic job on your floor! :) I am hoping to paint our concrete porch this summer, but am racing around trying to finish our kitchen first!

    I am so glad to have found your blog, and so much enjoyed reading this post! I hope you have a beautiful weekend! :)

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  13. Wow - what a project! It looks great, so I think all your hard work paid off!

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  14. You make it look so simple. I can't wait to see the finished room!

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  15. I feel you! I pulled up old carpet to reveal amazing hardwood and new I HAD to restore it. My gal pal (who weighs about 80 pounds soaking wet) and I rented a huge power sander, there were the 3 coats of stain, and five coats of varnish all with sanding in between. I think I was high on fumes for a week. We had to sleep on my front porch to avoid the fumes! Great job!

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  16. something really sophisticated! i love it.
    i used to have painted cement floors in my old office, however, I had no idea how to prep the floor to make them look so nice as you are showing here. thank you for the tutorial.

    + i'm inviting you:
    do come link it up at our site so that our readers can find this and your other wonderful ideas:
    http://www.finecraftguild.com/diy-tutorial-linky-party-8/

    (new party every wednesday, findable at our home page)

    we look forward to featuring your work!

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  17. Wow! I have a back patio that is covered and am trying to figure out if I want to paint or stain it... this looks amazing, so I will definetly consider this look! :)

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  18. My goodness! You make it sound so easy! I have been doing some research on painting concrete floors and was getting a wee bit discouraged. After seeing yours and your tutorial, I am just going to do it. If it does not turn out well then I can just go to plan B! Thanks for sharing the tutorial!

    ~ Tracy

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  19. I'm so glad that you posted this.. lol we just finished our sunroom and painted the concrete floors the same colors.
    they look great and just like ours!
    Cant wait to see more pics!
    ~Tana

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  20. Oh well done on the floor. What a lot of work, but it looks like a perfect clean slate for decorating now.

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  21. Fabulous info! Thanks so much for this one! The paint has such a cool hardwood look to it, different tones and all! Off to go hunt up a finished pic of it!

    Donna
    http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

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