Hi all - our 3rd bedroom is on the ground level of our townhome. I want to turn this bedroom into a gear storage room because my wife and I spend a ton of time hiking, biking, and skiing and our garage is tiny. I also bike to work almost daily in a wet climate. Our home was built in 2007. It's a townhome where the lower level is garage, 3rd bedroom with sliding glass door to the backyard, and foyer.

Here's a link to useful photos: https://goo.gl/photos/WFTZy3q4aXuE6WQ18

I have a vision of a really nice concrete floor but 1) want to do it myself and 2) have never done this before. I am open to a floating laminate or vinyl floor as a backup option.

I know the key to painting/staining concrete is surface prep. So I pulled up the carpet to see what we are dealing with. Turns out there's plenty of carpet glue and tack strip popouts and there's a big crack parallel to the sliding glass door. There is also a white paint/primer/sealer that I am too ignorant to identify - help! What is this layer of whitey-ness?

At this point, I realize if I want a concrete floor I need to do a moisture test and I also need to either/both strip the white paint/primer and/or add a microtopping/skimcoat before painting or staining.

Ok so here are my questions:

0. What should I do? Is finishing the concrete realistic? Should I give up the idea of a nicely finished concrete floor for my gear storage room and go with a floating lam/vinyl?
1. What is the white paint-ish substance? Should I remove it or top over it? Why is it thicker along the tacstrips?
2. What about surface-cleaning (specifically using chemical to remove the glue then filling cracks and holes and cleaning with a wet-dry vac) then adding a micro-topping/skimcoat then dying/staining?
3. If I don't use a topping, is it possible to strip both the white paint/primer/seal and also the blue "carpet" tag and other blemishes?
4.That huge long crack along the sliding glass door - fill it, obviously... anything else?
5. What to do about the tack strip popouts?

Thank you

 

It's paint from when the walls were sprayed. I wouldn't spend much time or effort on it for a storage room. I would probably patch the pock marks and cracks with a mortar patch and use a garage floor epoxy on it. A non-glue down vinyl would be pretty easy too.

 

You can see in the pics that there is overspray along the walls on the floor. The rest could either be overspray or texture and joint compound. The texture and/or j/k will remove with water. The paint would be more difficult to remove but as long as it's stuck good it shouldn't be an issue. There should be a plastic vapor barrier under the slab so moisture shouldn't be an issue.

 

Thanks so far, I had wondered if it was overspray - if I epoxy, I assume I can just leave the overspray paint if it's well stuck? What about the blue and green spray paint?

I did mention this is a storage room, but it is interior and it's the first room you see when entering the house, so despite that it's a storage room we want to make it somewhat "cool" looking with the bikes nicely hung and good looking shelving with clean bins etc. So i'm looking for a nice looking solution as well despite the fact that it's a gear room. I'm not saying the garage epoxy wouldn't look good, and I do think that's one of the easiest options, but I am also inquiring about how much prep or work it would be to prep for stain or dye.

Is dying or staining still an option and if so, what prep would you do? What about using a microtopping?

 

To stain the floor you'd need to remove all the paint and other stuff from the floor, any patches will likely show. Many epoxies require a clean slate also [or applied over a sound solid coating] IMO the cheapest easiest thing to do would be to apply a couple coats of floor enamel. It should wear ok for what you need .... and the odds are that room will get a more traditional floor covering again at some point.