My Industrial Cabin Build

[EddieWalker]

I like it and use it a lot. But it's time and money to lay it down, and you still have to be careful of what you are doing. I wouldnt install flooring and rely on it if I could just wait to do the flooring when everything else is done.

Ram Board is your friend !!!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Never heard of ram board.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Ram board is what we had down on the floor for the foam to drip on. There is about 16 feet when I started where I didnt have it down and the urethane foam is in the concrete and doesn’t appear to be coming out. I have tried several cleaning products and nothing works do far.
Eddie, we are doing floors now because we are acid staining the concrete. I don’t want to do that after the drywall is up.

 

[dstig1]

Listen to Eddie (also you were warned about the foam staining the concrete...). If that is your finished floor, what you should do is lay down Ramboard or masonite sheets, cover the floor wall to wall tightly - no gaps at seams, cut to fit, and then duct tape over all the seams. In fact you should have done that much earlier, especially before foaming, but that is in the past now. Don't finish the floor now!!! Cover and protect it.

Mine was covered with very heavy plastic (I think it was 8 or 10 mil) by the foam insulation crew and it stayed there on the concrete that was going to be stained until after drywall and painting was done, at which point the concrete stain was done. I did end up with a couple holes in it but nothing major and I patched things when I saw them come up. You have NO IDEA how much mud the drywallers will dump on that floor, and it will RUIN your finish. Trust me - they will make a gawdawful mess and will leave it to dry and you will have to scrape it off, and if your floor is finished it will trash it. You want to look at that the rest of your life knowing you could have avoided it?

You've talked about how inexperience had gotten you in a few cases, like the PEX line. You could have just laid down 2 PEX lines underslab instead of the white conduit/pipe and you would be already done. Live and learn. But when people tell you something like this - especially when they are standing up screaming it - use your head and listen to it.

Cover that floor tight and don't even THINK about taking it up until after drywall, paint and anything else major and messy is done.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Right now, the interior doors are not installed. There will not be a better time to get a good even application of the stain than now. Unless we had done this before doing any framing, which was suggested.
We will stain, seal, polish and cover in ram board from end to end. And then, when it’s done, if it’s scratched we will fix it.

 

[747driver]

Listen to what the people are saying ! You will regret doing the floor now ! As mentioned....use ram boards, masonite sheets etc to protect what you have now. The drywall people will try their best to not slop the mud and dust but that doesn't happen. If you do the stain and sealant now you will be going crazy on not trying to damage it....save the worry and wait !!

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Ram board is what we had down on the floor for the foam to drip on. There is about 16 feet when I started where I didnt have it down and the urethane foam is in the concrete and doesn’t appear to be coming out. I have tried several cleaning products and nothing works do far.
Eddie, we are doing floors now because we are acid staining the concrete. I don’t want to do that after the drywall is up.

I don't see how the acid etching would bother drywall, we do a lot of polished concrete floors and always wait till the end.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Listen to what the people are saying ! You will regret doing the floor now ! As mentioned....use ram boards, masonite sheets etc to protect what you have now. The drywall people will try their best to not slop the mud and dust but that doesn't happen. If you do the stain and sealant now you will be going crazy on not trying to damage it....save the worry and wait !!

Drywall finishers are infamous for creating a huge mess. I don't let them out the door till 100% cleaned up.

 

[airbiscuit]

WCD has been amazing with showing us his build - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. He has been very open to taking suggestions, and there are a few times when he has a determination about what he wants to do. I think this might be one of those times. I'm guessing someone is excited to see what that pretty floor is going to look like.

Things will work out - for better or worse, for richer for poorer ...

 

[Solitary Man]

WCD has been amazing with showing us his build - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. He has been very open to taking suggestions, and there are a few times when he has a determination about what he wants to do. I think this might be one of those times. I'm guessing someone is excited to see what that pretty floor is going to look like.

Things will work out - for better or worse, for richer for poorer ...

My old boss used to tell his clients, If you're gonna make a mistake, let me help you...

 

[MoKelly]

So, just a thought from someone who knows little about this subject.

Why can’t he finish the floor then protect it with ram board? Wall-to-wall and seal all joints. Won’t that fully protect the finished floor? Especially since it’s stained concrete.

How is that different from protecting the unfinished floor now with ram board, sealing the joints and then removing it all when drywall is done then finishing the floors?

Like I say, I know very little but his approach seems reasonable to me.

MoKelly

 

[EddieWalker]

Ram Board is a heavy duty paper that you tape together. It's a nice product for basic protection, but it tears easily enough, especially if it's down for awhile. The longer it's walked on, the weaker it gets. It does not stop something from falling on the floor from denting, breaking, or damaging the floor. When wet, it holds moisture and you have to remove the wet area to minimize what is happening under it. It will stop paint drops, but not a spill. The tape will come off on high traffic areas. It comes away from the walls, and if anything gets under it, you grind it into the floor beneath.

I have never used it on recently finished wood floors and I don't know anybody that is still doing stained concrete floors, so I can't comment on how long you have to wait before you can put it down. I would probably give it a few extra days longer then recommended before laying anything on top of it.

I get a lot of jobs to floor over stained concrete, it's one of those great ideas that doesn't remain a great idea once you've had it awhile.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I get a lot of jobs to floor over stained concrete, it's one of those great ideas that doesn't remain a great idea once you've had it awhile.

It's really something you see in retail stores mostly. But... God bless the OP if that is what he wants; you can always change down the road.

 

[MoKelly]

It's really something you see in retail stores mostly. But... God bless the OP if that is what he wants; you can always change down the road.

Yep - only diamonds and death are forever!

 

[EddieWalker]

I agree he should go for it. It's his house and the only way to really know if you like or hate something is to try it for yourself. I tried it when I built my house 15 years ago. Five years was all I could take before I covered it up with a floating engineered wood floor.

 

[dstig1]

Curious Eddie, what turned you off on stained concrete? We love the look of ours - ~7 yrs now since that was done.

Oh, and you nailed it on why covering up after finishing a floor doesn't work. At least if it is unfinished you have a chance of evening out any new problems before finishing. Afterwards, that is very hard to do.

You can lead a horse to water... We tried!

 

[EddieWalker]

At first, it was how hard it was to clean. Seems like dust just stuck to it. Then it started to wear from my chairs moving around on it. I have a chair with wheels on it at my computer and a couple of bar chairs at my kitchen counter. You could clearly see the marks from the chairs wearing the finish away. Then it got worse and I could see the path from where everyone walked on it. I had to put rugs down everywhere and I hated the look of rugs. The path from the front door, the work area in the kitchen, and then the path to the toilet.

I loved the way it looked when I did it. The sealer made it look shiny and very nice. I redid the sealer after 2 or 3 years, I forget exactly. It was a pain moving everything out of there and waiting for it to dry. But it just got worse and worse, and that's also when I started getting jobs to tile over it, or install some other type of flooring over it like snap together floating wood flooring, and lately, the snap together vinyl flooring. There used to be all sorts of people advertising to do this, now I'm trying to remember the last time I saw it.

I think it was a thing that ran it's course and now it's kind of like glass tile, or a bright primary color on a wall. Homes are like fashion. Things come and go. If it's on HGTV, everyone copies it for a few years, then it fades away to whatever comes next on those shows.

Right now, it's white subway tile, cheap flat panel cabinets painted white or grey, and marble counters. It will pass and I'll make money on installing it for awhile longer, and I'll make money on replacing it when the new trend comes along.

This is the ugly shower that I did last week. I hate white subway tile with grey grout, but my clients all love it!!

 

[deezler]

Noooo! Don't do the floors yet, man. After drywall, after!

We did our stained concrete floors last. I'm not sure I'm understanding why you would hesitate to do it later? Nothing about the flooring job should hurt anything else in the interior finish work. The only thing you should do after floor finishing, is of course the baseboard trim.

Just passed 6 years in our on-slab house with exposed stained concrete floors, and we still love it. Never plan to cover it up.

 

[MoKelly]

At first, it was how hard it was to clean. Seems like dust just stuck to it. Then it started to wear from my chairs moving around on it. I have a chair with wheels on it at my computer and a couple of bar chairs at my kitchen counter. You could clearly see the marks from the chairs wearing the finish away. Then it got worse and I could see the path from where everyone walked on it. I had to put rugs down everywhere and I hated the look of rugs. The path from the front door, the work area in the kitchen, and then the path to the toilet.

I loved the way it looked when I did it. The sealer made it look shiny and very nice. I redid the sealer after 2 or 3 years, I forget exactly. It was a pain moving everything out of there and waiting for it to dry. But it just got worse and worse, and that's also when I started getting jobs to tile over it, or install some other type of flooring over it like snap together floating wood flooring, and lately, the snap together vinyl flooring. There used to be all sorts of people advertising to do this, now I'm trying to remember the last time I saw it.

I think it was a thing that ran it's course and now it's kind of like glass tile, or a bright primary color on a wall. Homes are like fashion. Things come and go. If it's on HGTV, everyone copies it for a few years, then it fades away to whatever comes next on those shows.

Right now, it's white subway tile, cheap flat panel cabinets painted white or grey, and marble counters. It will pass and I'll make money on installing it for awhile longer, and I'll make money on replacing it when the new trend comes along.

This is the ugly shower that I did last week. I hate white subway tile with grey grout, but my clients all love it!!View attachment 704915

That is great work.

Sorry - but I like how it looks!

MoKelly

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Eddie, you just described the entire look of our house. White subway tile and white shaker cabinets. Stained cement floor. My wife hates dirt. Just crazy hates it. If I let her, she would paint every single thing white. I am not kidding. She wanted to paint the beams white. I put my foot down.
We are proceeding with the floors. If they get scuffed from the drywall, then I will re-coat them. I will be crossing my fingers.

Btw I like the way that shower turned out with the niche. I will be trying a similar look, using a schleuter (sp) kit.