Staining Basement Floor ... Am I Planning This Right?

Hello all....I've finally gotten around to my basement project. The first step is going to be staining the floor. Its a 115 year old house with a fieldstone foundation that had a concrete floor poured in a number of decades ago.

There is no vapor barrier so it does "breathe"....which is why I am staining it instead of painting it. That said, I'm hoping you guys can look over my thought process to make sure I'm on the right track.

The concrete is in good shape and does not have any oil or grease stains, only a few decades of ground in dirt that needs cleaning.

1. I've vacuumed the heck out of the floor to remove as much dust as possible.
2. I am going to scrub the floor with a solution of TSP and a stiff brush.
3. Squeegee and vacuum up as much of the TSP solution as possible.
4. Rinse with water, squeegee, and vacuum (maybe twice if necessary).

5. Here is where I could really use your help. The concrete is broom finished and fairly rough. Should I etch the concrete? Most of the stains only require it if it is smooth finished. I'd rather avoid it if I could. I do have a low-VOC cleaner/etcher made by Behr on hand that I can use if I have to.

Is that it? Just apply stain? Should I wash it with any other chemicals? Is there a better alternative to TSP? I chose TSP because I'm trying to keep the fumes down.....there is a baby in the house.

What do you think?!?!?

 

TSP is great detergent but it needs to be rinsed well! Residue can affect the life of any coating applied over it.

Etching is only needed when the concrete is slick and not porous at all.

 

I'm worried that I might not be able to adequately rinse the TSP off. Obviously being in a basement I can't simply hose it out the door. I'm more or less limited to using a WetVac and a mop to clean up the water.

Are there any alternatives to TSP that will clean just as well but not leave as much residue?

And one more question. Does TSP give off any odors? My wife and I have a newborn at home and I'm wondering if I need to send everyone away while I scrub the basement. Safe for use in the home?

 

Maybe, but I don't know

 

Old fashioned cotton string mop with a wringer bucket does well for clean ups, just keep changing bucket water until it clears up to satisfaction....

I would be more concerned with the vapors from the staining process for the baby, than I would be the cleaning with TSP. ...

Always read the product manufacture's labels for health/environmental concerns. Go on line and get a MSDS for the product if the products label doenst have the info you are searching for. ...

Just type in the product name in your browser and at some point it should should have a link to a printable MSDS sheet for that product. Good luck on your project. JMO

 

Good points!. The stain I plan on using is a water based acrylic stain that is low-VOC at 53g/L. Sure, it won't be as tenacious as a solvent based stain but it is a basement that will only see foot traffic. I'll be top coating it with a vapor permeable water based acrylic sealer afterwards to protect the stain. The sealer is something like 82g/L VOC's. The wife and baby will be out of the house when I apply the stain.

 

Well I just scrubbed the floor last night with TSP and rinsed with water. I found that there was some paint under there!! Not what I was looking for.

Prior to scrubbing I had noticed that some areas were darker than others. I had assumed that the color differences was due to extra dirt or something. The pain that is still there is mostly around the perimeter and in areas where there is little traffic.

So now I've got to strip the paint before I can stain...yay! I've got some Soy-Gel which is zero-VOC and works great at lifting paint. It never ends!

Whatever is left after I strip it is getting stained.....

 

Ughh...well the paint stripping didn't go so well. The Soy-Gel stuff works wonders on wood but not so much on concrete. They do claim it will work on concrete but I think I was stretching its limits.

The pain that is on there is oil based and the concrete is very porous. I would need about 20 gallons of the stuff and it would have to sit for a long period before it would do its thing.

I'm going to rent a concrete sander/scarifier this weekend. It has a build in shop-vac attachment but I'm sure its going to make a huge mess anyways.

This $250 floor staining project is costing me $600!