Home Improvement Today?

So there's 36 holes in the wall that will need patching?

 

Nope , the apron trim goes over the holes

The bottom trim elements are 1" tall , applied stool , 3 3/16" apron , 7/16" " hat "

The total build up is almost 5" , lots of coverage for the screw holes

 

Tore out a window and door on Saturday. Replaced pretty much the whole wall and put the new window in. I sent pics to live but can't get em here on my phone. Whole project turned out pretty decent. Now I have to finish the siding on that wall and start to drywall the inside

 

The line represents the bottom of my trim build up once complete , covers any damage

 

Excellent. From the earlier pictures, it looked to me as if the holes for the L brackets were going to land too low.

 

Not to hijack the thread away from some neat carpentry, but does anyone have any experience with acid stained concrete? I tore out carpet covered linoleum in my walkout basement stove room with the intent of acid staining the floor. After removing the carpet and linoleum I scraped up a majority of the glue and then used xylene with a scrub brush to remove what I thought was the rest of the adhesive residue. I then tried a test section in a closet with disappointing results. The stain turned the cement darker but did not give the decorative patterns I was looking for. In addition there are still faint swirl lines from the adhesive. I should also mention that the nails from the carpet nailer board have left craters in the cement.

My procedure was as follows: Sweep, mop,dry, spray acid stain,brush, let sit ~2hrs,brush,let sit another 2hrs mop up residue,scrub,mop until water is clean,dry,spray second coat,brush,let sit 2hrs,brush,let sit another 2hrs, mop,scrub,scrub with 5-10%(w/v) NaHCO3, mop until water is clean.

I realize that it will look better with a sealer on it and I may try it on my test section but I don't think I have enough variation in the stain for the sealer to make enough difference.

So....does anybody have any advice? I can think of two things to pursue. One is to rent a dustless sander to try and open up the cement some to facilitate a better reaction and to perhaps remove any remaining glue residue or stains left by the adhesive. Two is to add some additional HCl to the stain/acid mix again to facilitate greater reaction with the concrete and hopefully greater pattern variation. I am becoming convinced the cement is in to bad of shape to look good uncovered but I hope someone else will see a flaw in my procedure or have advice on something to try.

Thanks for any advice and to anyone who took the time to read that long ass post.

 

All the coloured concrete work I have done has been integral colour in the mix rather than acid staining

I have seen it done on a couple jobs but can't offer you any insight

 

Ok thanks OZ

You guys might find this amusing: In this same room, some jackass built the closet right on top of the existing carpet and linoleum. Call me pessimistic, but I suspect future projects involving this house may be fun.

 

There's a guy here that does a bunch of concrete work , I'll link him to your post , maybe he has some help for you

 

Just leaving work. I'll really read your post and reply when I get home, trying to get out of the office. I've done alot of colored, stained concrete. I'll see what the problem is and let you know what I think.
OZ just told me to check this out.

 

Not a hijack. Thats kinda what this thread is for

 

I thought of some other pertinent information. The concrete was likely pored in 1976, and the stain I am using is SRI concrete products Ebony Stone Renaissance stain at a 1:1 dilution with tap water. I also took a few pictures. I didn't see how to place the picture in the post so.... DSC 1631 is of my test patch along with a comparison of patched/non-patched holes (I know my patch doesn't look very good I was mainly wanting to see if it would color differently than the surrounding concrete). Also notice the lack of patterns other than the adhesive swirls. Lastly the white specs were knocked onto the surface after staining process.
Thanks again

 

you could fill the cracks, sand it smooth, hit it with a UGL Drylock paint tinted and then the UGL wet look sealer. I tinted a gallon beyond what it says on the can and it turned out fine.

 

Ok, so now that you have my undivided attention, here is what you are up against:

1) Your trying to acid finish a slab that was built in 1976, they didnt do acid finish back then on a regular basis. They did it, but it is a very detailed finish. You have to steel trowel the shit out of the slab so there are no swirls. The tolerances are very tight. You need to think that this is an architectural tolerance, a walkout basement is typically not to that level. Your talking about a basement slab that more than likely was not finished to that standard. More than likely a bang it out and lets get to the next one.

2) Your taking off a GLUE. Concrete is a porous material. Remember it is not a waterproof material, it sucks in any liquid, glue is a liquid and when it dries it makes a coating deeper than the actual surface, so right off your fucked.

3) As I stated before, its a basement, the swirls are from the finishing, it was probably a steel or magnesium trowel finish that was not worked to the standard that is needed. Nothing you can do about that, it is quit literally set in stone. However, it can be buffed out with a polisher, you'll have to rent that and spend the time polishing. Not rocket science, just time consuming and dusty if you dont do it right.

4) Carpet nail blowouts, your fucked, this will never look right. You can sack them in, but they will ALWAYS be visible. That is how they did shit back then, smack concrete nails into the slab and when you pull them out there are craters. However, this can add charm if your going for a certain look, which would be the used floor, we redid it look, which looks awesome if done right.

5) Walls over carpet, nothing new here. We still do that, cheapest way to remodel with out making a huge expense of cutting the carpet, tucking and trying to cover with baseboard, if its in one spot your pretty much guaranteed its in another. Not a big deal or out of the norm.

6)Your not totally fucked, I have seen some great finish guys that can take a glued concrete and grind down with a polisher and it comes out very distinctive and original, however, I would not recommend for a homeowner unless you have seen it done and are familiar with what you are doing.
You have to remember, a true pro at concrete takes YEARS of experience and same with these guys. Its all about FEEL and what their eye is telling them. I saw one job where there was still glue in it and it looked beautiful, but I could tell the work that went into it.
My best advice is to put in this Acid washed concrete with glue and then hit images, go through them and you will see what needs to be done. Your talking polishers, hand scraping (to the point you will wish you were Mexican), prepping, etc.

It is SUPER lengthy in the process, not sure what your budget is but for it to come out like your hoping, you have a bit of work cut out for you. Remember, dont get discouraged, these guys have made an art out of it and that is what you pay for.

I did a 1 mile long meandering walkway in FL one time. Totally my idea and my bosses said run with it. I had a guy that was one of the best, we laid the whole thing out with 3/4" pvc pipe in 100' lengths to get the curves to look right, poured color concrete, then added a staining powder, then stamped the whole thing so it was a concrete boardwalk. This thing came out so much better than anticipated, but the actual hours I spent on it far exceeded what I thought I would be doing.

It can be done, and I am sure you can do it, just dont underestimate the time and elbow grease needed to get it to come even close to what you are hoping for.

I hope I havent dashed your expectations. Concrete is not an easy material to get right, and it is a finite time frame to do it in cause it sets. OZ does awesome work, I have seen his jobs and he can tell you, its unforgiving. With that said, he usually, as do I, work with wet concrete, you have a set piece of material and have all the time in the world, its just how much cartilage, time and money do you want to lose in getting it to what you are hoping for.

Hope this helps bro.

 

Hey Rardigo,
I appreciate you taking the time for a detailed reply. This was exactly what I was looking for in a reply (someone with experience to confirm what I only had as suspicions). The worst thing about not having experience with a process is not knowing what you need to do to make whatever it is turn out like you want or need.

I would agree this slab was not finished with leaving it exposed in mind. It pools liquid in places.

I am fairly certain all renovations done on the house were by the homeowner at the time so I am still going to call him a jackass for not taking the time to do his own house right.

I will have to think this over and decide which way to jump. I need to finish this up in the next two weeks before I am busy again with work and we need to use the stove. If nothing else I learned something. Perhaps I post up some pictures with what I decide to do.

Thanks again.

 

Would you happen to have a picture of this? I would be interested in seeing how it turned out as I had discounted painting as too monotone for how I wanted it to look. Thanks

 

Now now dont call the homeowner a jackass since he didn't finish they way you wanted it done. He did it the way he wanted it finished.

As for the concrete my bet is that the previous owner did not pour and finish the basement so that is on the builder that subcontracted that work out. Plus it is almost impossible to get something like a basement floor to be perfectly flat you are going to have a few spots that will pool water or whatever when it is dumped on the surface. The low spots shouldn't be drastic but they are going to be there. I've called the builder that build my house 30 years ago a jackass since I didn't like how he did things and the previous owner did nothing but I realize some if it could be done differently and some couldn't. Good luck getting the basement floor the way you want it. Have you thought about using a different floor covering to go over the current glue mess that you have currently?

 

Plus back then, concrete was not generally viewed as the final product. It was typical to put something over it like carpet or linoleum. It's just the way it was. It didn't have to be perfectly level for carpet. My house had a ton of wallpaper, almost every room. That's what the original owners liked. I hate it but I don't fault them for using it. The only good thing about it is it was a quality job with good wallpaper so it comes off fairly easily.

 

You can rent a floor polisher from a local rental place or better yet United Rentals or Sunbelt or even Hertz has an equipment rental division. The later two are usually less than United since they are trying to beat out United and get a larger portion, they are all national companies.

You'll need a shop vac to attach if you dont want water in your house (recommended).

Basically it is a glorified floor buffer, it has diamond teeth on the polishing head and I have seen them make a mirror shine. Remember, this is going to be time consuming and you need to not rush it, otherwise one side of the room will look different than the other.

I would recommend going through the interwebz and find pics of what you are looking for so you know the extent of what you need to do to match that.

Feel free to put up photos of your current status and one of what you want it to look like and I am sure between me and OZ we can talk you through it or give advice at least.

 

Well I wont argue about calling him a jackass, but I still will. And that is in reference to building a closet over carpet. Not the cement.
Yah I would bet the floor was pored by a contractor and I certainly wasn't saying I could of made it better and it isn't all that noticeable without water on the floor. If it didn't have the glue and nail craters I would be renting a polisher this weekend for sure. Right now I think I may rent a polisher this weekend to get rid of the glue I haven't used Xylene on yet. Then trying another test section and if it still isn't were I want I will probably go with the decorative epoxy coating or maybe laminate. The latter options were more than I was wanting to spend on the project. DCS 1637 below shows what I have been able to do with the xylene.

I suppose that a polisher with diamond teeth would do a better job with less effort than a sander. I already have a shop vac. I have spent many hours on the web before and during this project. Many of the photos I find do not give a description of the surface preparation used. Image 7505 shows something like what I was going for. I will update, although it may be a couple days.