Opinions about floor paint - short timeline. :)

In My Humble Opinion
1

This might be a GQ, but I’m going to put it here because personal stories are good too.

The SO and I are doing some renos around the place, including the spare bedroom. We’ve decided to paint the concrete floor (here is a link to a sample of what painted concrete can look like - who knew?)

I’m not using that particular style - instead I’m doing a slightly off white base colour and then I’m going to stencil around with a dark violet colour (like this, although not quite that intense with the stenciling).

The first question I have is regarding drying time - the base coat is in there drying as we speak (type) - according to the package you need to wait 24-48 hours before applying an additional coat. However, following instructions is for chumps, so what I want to know is if floor paint is similar to wall paint - can I go ahead and start stenciling in about 8 hours (that’s how long it says to wait before walking on it) or will that ruin the whole thing? Also, the can indicated that one coat was usually enough, depending on the colour - I’ve chosen a very light colour and it seems to have covered very well - the floor was bare underneath so there wasn’t a lot of dark stuff that I needed to cover. Currently, the floor looks really great - should I believe my eyes? Anyone have any experience with this?

FWIW, I primed it last night and waited the full 8 hours (well, 12 actually) before applying the paint.

The second question is - what should I stencil? I originally had planned on doing a boarder, but Mr. Wonderland pointed out that there’s furniture that goes along pretty well every wall in that bedroom (it’s not a huge room) so a boarder won’t really show.

I’m thinking of doing something small all over the floor instead - I thought maybe small clusters of bubbles would be kind of cool. Mr. Wonderland thought humming birds (not tonnes - just a few here and there) would be kind of neat.

Here is a lampshade that’s going in the room - the bedlinens are similar (eg, white with small floral pattern), mixed with plain white bedlinens as well. The wall paint is the lightest blue colour in the lampshade (I want to call it cornflower blue, but that makes me sound super square). All of the window/door/floor trim is pure white. I don’t think I want to go crazy on the floor painting 87 different types of flowers or anything - I think something plainer and more gender neutral would be better, that way if we need to convert it into a baby room there won’t be a tonne of renos we need to do again.

So - does anyone have any ideas for the stencil? Also the paint question - it’s T minus 7 hours before I barge in there and start stenciling my face off…

Thanks!

2

:eek: For heavens sake Alice don’t do it! Wait until tomorrow. Concrete paint does not “cure” like regular wall paint, the surface is cool, and curing times matter when you are walking on the paint. Who cares about drying time of the wall, you are not going to stand on that! :smiley:
Seriously, plan out a nice stencil pattern, draw it even, and start fresh tomorrow. How humid is it around the floor?

I have seen many, many cool concrete floors in some of the houses I have be involved designing; etched concrete is making a comeback. it’s not a floor but check out this cool concrete sink.

3

Humm - what exactly is going to happen when I slip in and apply my stencil? Will the paint peel? Not wear well? FWIW the room is very dry - the floor is very dry. Everything where I live is very, very dry. I cannot stress the dryness enough. Think desert - thats the climate around here.

Also, it’s a spare bedroom and isn’t going to get much traffic - it’s not a deck or something similar. Of course, I know precisely bubkis about concrete paint curing times…

4

it is a light colour, and if’n your feet are not perfectly clean and dry you may have foot marks later on.

how 'bout doing the stencil in an area rug kinda thing. if you know where the furniture is gonna be make a square or rectangle border and put your choice of stencil inside. i like the whimsy of a casually turned corner that people (guest perhaps) will try to kick straight.

5

It could leave foot marks, you could get a friction wrinkle from turning on the ball of your foot. anything…concrete paint is thicker than most and requires the longer time.

Although, if you do decide to go in and do the stenciling…let me know if your infraction to the paint Gods works out in your favor. I have a very impatient wife who I could use this information with in the future… :smiley:

6

Personally, I’d hesitate to do an area rug kinda thing unless you are certain you will never wish to rearrange your furniture. Much better to do a pattern across the whole floor or a random arrangement of decorative bits.

7

Oh for Pete’s sake. Just go get some Thai and leave the danged room until tomorrow!

8

I threw caution to the wind and went in and stenciled…and nothing happened.

I did get a small foot print on one spot so I got a damp rag and wiped it off. Perhaps this is new fangled concrete paint that drys quicker.

I actually really like the idea of the throw rug rocking chair - Mr. W. and I are going to be doing the same thing in the master bedroom next - the furniture in there is pretty limited so I think the rug idea will work well.

For the spare bedroom I chose an aemobia shape - it looks pretty cool, actually - it could be flowers, it could be butter flys, it could be aemobias. Now we just have to wait till tomorrow and dress the room and it will be done.

So we can start on the master.

9

You probably should have waited Alice…

Paint “dries” by off gassing the solvent component(s) that kept it liquid. As it does this the molecules of the remaining solids bond to each other and form the substrate that both binds the paint to the surface (Keeps it from peeling) and maintains the integrity of the paint layer (keeps it from cracking and flaking).

Wall paint dries and cures faster than floor paint because room currents and gravity carrry the off gassed solvents away from the paint. Floor paint generally winds up laying undser a cloud of these o0ff gassed products which can signifigantly slow down curing and drying tiome. Also, as curing time is directly related to bond strength to the substrate (floor in this case) and a much stronger bond is required for floors as they take a lot more punishment/wear than walls.

Where you have painted your stencil top coat, you have effectively done 3 things.
1)You have prevented the solvents in the base layer fropm being able to off gas
2) you have introduced a new set of solvent materials to the uncured or partially cured paint
3)You have trapped a layer of solvent between the fiorst and second layers.

You can expect the stencilled areas to wear more quickly than the other floor areas, and could even see blistering, bubbling or surface distortion.

Before you panic completely, things you might be able to do is STAY OFF those areas for 4-5 days…and introduce a constant air flow to carry away the solvents quickly.

I used to work as a dye and paint chemist, before the company I worked for out sourced that stuff to mexico…

Regards, and please don’t shoot the messenger

(Best of luck, too)
FML

10

No worries - thanks for the input. Obviously I can’t go back into the room and remove the stencils now, but we can certainly stay off them for the next while - there won’t be any traffic in that room for about 2 weeks, and we have a ceiling fan in there going constantly, as well as a wide open window - hopefully all will be ok - there are only a few aemobias in there anyway (like 8 in the whole room).

I guess we’ll see what happens. :slight_smile:

11

You probably should very carefully, go in and remove the stencils… they might bond to the floor if you don’t…

once again
Good luck

FML

12

??? Is this a joke? (I’m so confused - it must be all the paint fumes.)

13

He’s (she’s?) talking about the physical stencils - the paper or plastic or whatever you used to define your shape - take those off the floor, if you haven’t already. Not the paint that you applied using the stencil.
Isn’t English a great language?

14

Ahhh - yah I turfed that pretty well immediatly after I applied the paint.

That makes sense though - thanks.

15

i believe frank did a faux rug in someone’s house on trading spaces. i find there are a ton of fool-the-eye rug designs in craft books. they are really fun.

i’m considering it in the upstairs hall. it is a wee, very wee, rectangle between 2 bedrooms.

16

Are your talking about paint, or concrete stain? I stained my addition and it came out almost exactly like the first photo (same color too). Except I made mine a little more even.

I sprayed the floor (10’x20’) with concrete stain with an old windex spray bottle. Came out fantastic.

I would follow the directions. A lot is going to depend on heat and humidity. No reason to chance it.

Lamp shades change. But for that one, could you get some simple leaf stencil and do a little random placement?

17

Sorry for the lack of clarity in my last post, Alice.

It would be nice if you could post a pic of the results of your labours

regards
FML

18

I think I will - we’ve dressed the room now and it looks really pretty and fresh. I’ll see if I can get a good pic and post it up somehow.