Too late to stain?

I am redoing an interior cement floor, using brown Kraft paper for a faux stone look. Instead of a glue/water mix to paste the paper down, I used polyurethane. I brushed it on the back of the paper, then placed it and brushed more poly over the top of it.

I had intended to stain over the paper, but now I'm afraid it won't take because of the poly. Have I completely messed up?

These are the solutions I can think of:
* lightly sand the floor then stain as planned
* use a TSP wash to knock down the shine, then stain
* use a poly that already has stain in it
* mix my own stain into the poly

Are any of these viable? Any other suggestions?

 

Welcome to the forums

Yep, too late for stain.

There is stain with tint in it but the color goes away with wear so it's best to top coat with a couple coats of clear poly. The tinted poly is also not very forgiving of user error in application. Also, I have not heard of it being used on a floor, so I don't know if it's even a good idea.

Now, if you're using oil based poly, it has a bit of a tint to it so additional coats will darken the color of the floor a little.

 

Okay you're scaring me about application error in applying tinted poly. What tips do I need to know?

If I used oil based poly, could I put down a couple of coats until I achieved the color I like, then finish off with water based poly?

Is there such a thing as tinted oil base poly, or could I tint my own with an oil based wood stain?

 

Tinted poly shows lap marks and such that regular poly does not.

I don't see the need to put water based poly on top of oil based.

 

Okay, thank you so much for your input.

 

What kind of stain are you intending to use?
Usually on concrete floors either a solid concrete stain [looks like flat paint] or an acid stain is used. Poly isn't used with either of those types of stains although the acid stain does get a sealer.

 

Mark....it's going on brown craft paper, not concrete. Kinda like the faux leather I've seen done on walls I guess?

I'll admit...this is a new one on me....

 

Yeah, I figured we were talking about staining and top coating paper here as well, not concrete.

 

But how can you get a wearable surface out of kraft paper

I thought maybe the kraft paper was being used to get some kind of a blotched effect on the concrete.

 

Yes, this is similar to the faux leather treatment you see on walls.

You strip the floor down to the concrete or sub-floor. Tearing Kraft paper into large pieces you wrinkle them up then straighten them out and apply them with either a glue/water mixture, or with poly.

I didn't realize until too late that if you want to go over the completed floor with a stain, you would have to use the glue rather than the poly.

So now I have a finished, poly-ed floor that isn't a dark enough color and I'm trying to figure out my options for adding tint. I know oil based stain works over the glue, but I don't think it will work in my situation.

To make the durable surface needed for a floor, the last step after color is many coats of clear poly. That's why I'm thinking one or two coats of tinted poly until my color is achieved, then the rest of the many coats in clear.

 

You should be able to color the kraft paper with tinted poly and several coats of clear poly will protect the color coat...... I'm just not convinced the poly will be strong enough to prevent the paper from getting damaged. Let us know how it goes.