Day 47: Staining and sealing the concrete floor

On Tuesday, Joshua and I applied the 2nd coat of Soycrete stain on the concrete slab. We used the "desert sand" color in the bedroom/closet/bathroom. We used the "adobe" color in the great room. After the stain dried, we applied a coat of Acri-soy sealer.

The sealer will cure over the next 5 days during which there will be no foot traffic inside the home. After that we will cover the floors with plastic sheeting for the remainder of construction. Applying sealer now has at least 3 important advantages over waiting until after all major construction is complete.

1. The sealer will provide protection against plaster, drywall mud and other spills that may get around or through the poly film. These types of spills could permanently change the appearance of the concrete slab.
   
2. We avoid having to mask the plaster walls against concrete stain.
3. Energy and enthusiasm are still high during this stage of the project. These are important qualities to have when doing a finish that has such a great impact on the appearance of the home.
   

Here is a pic of the bedroom.

And here is a portion of the great room.

Many thanks to Joshua Drews for creating these beautiful patterns. The floors are truly works of art that will be cherished and talked about for years to come. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 46: Staining the concrete floor

Today, Joshua and I applied the base coat of Soycrete stain on the concrete slab. In preparation for staining, Joshua determined that a quick sanding of the entire floor would have the following advantages:

• remove the majority of concrete reinforcement glass fibers from the surface
• provide a more smooth finish
• provide a more desirable appearance
  

Joshua sanded the entire floor and we swept and washed off the dust. After a long day, we finished applying a base coat of the colors desert sand and leather brown to the bedroom/closet/bathroom – see pic below.

We also applied a base coat of leather brown and terracotta to the great room – see pic below.

Many thanks to the following:

• Joshua for working “like a dervish”
• KZSC for playing the tunes we listen to on the solar radio
• Jason and Lydia at Greenspace, the Soycrete material supplier
  
• You, the reader!

I enjoy reading your comments.

Day 44 & 45: Working for the weekend

Loverboy played the Santa Cruz Boardwalk Friday night concert on July 10th. They closed their second set before the encore with “Working for the Weekend”. That set the stage for Saturday and Sunday. Some of the work crew would be on vacation the following week at a music festival. The remainder of the crew (including me) will spend Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at a workshop. It made sense to take advantage of the lack of foot traffic in the home to stain and plan to seal the concrete slab on Monday and Tuesday. Joshua, Cindy and I spent Saturday and Sunday testing the SoyCrete stains for:

1. penetration into the slab
   
2. color selection
   

We sampled 6 colors of Soycrete on areas where cabinets will later be installed. The stain penetrated adequately. We eventually selected one color combination for the great room:

and another for the bedroom, closet and bathroom:

Green comment for today:
Consider using Soycrete if you are building a finished concrete slab floor. It is easier to clean up after and more environmentally friendly than the alternative acid stain products.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.