LESLIE: Now we’ve got Nathan in Texas on the line who’s got a concrete-stain question. What’s going on?
NATHAN: Just wondering, we have a place on our stained concrete floors that a chair has sat at and rolled around a lot and it’s faded all the stain away. Didn’t know if you knew of any way to make it look any better or should we just leave it alone?
LESLIE: So the floor itself is not damaged, just that the color has gone away.
NATHAN: Right. Just from a roll-around chair being – sitting in front of a computer, moving around a lot.
TOM: And what kind of stain color are you working with right now, Nathan?
NATHAN: It’s a rust-type brown with a little bit of – almost a kind of slight maroon-ish tint to it.
TOM: Alright. Well, I mean I’m glad that it’s darker rather than lighter, because it seems like that might be a bit easier to match, right, Leslie?
LESLIE: Yeah. I think you’re going to have to try to mix up some new stain. And I say “mix up” only because if you’ve got any of the original color left, you might need to add, you know, a little bit of a darker stain to it just to sort of get it to match the current color situation for the rest of your floor? And you should be able to sort of blend that in to make those bald spots, for lack of a better word, go away: that faded area to sort of come back to life.
Now, as far as repairing it or making it more robust or sturdy, I should say, for that future rolling-around on it, have you done any sort of clear coat or protective coat to the top of the stain? Or is it really just like a dry, matte surface finish?
NATHAN: It is dry. We did have a clear coat initially when we built the house. But what happened with that is any type of – if a dog walked on it, the paw prints showed and you couldn’t get them off, so we had to buff it all out.
TOM: So it never really – it sounds like it remained tacky.
LESLIE: It never cured.
TOM: Yeah, that can happen if there’s moisture under the slab.
NATHAN: And that’s probably what happened. We had a little bit of a problem with our contractor and never really got it right.
TOM: Well, look, you could always try this in an inconspicuous area but I think if you were to get the color right and then clear-coated it again with satin, it would stand up a little bit better. But I guess the good news is that this is obviously under a desk or an area where a chair is, so it’s not going to be terribly noticeable. But why not just put some sort of protective mat under that chair this time, after you get it right?
NATHAN: Yeah, I agree.
TOM: Alright. Well, good luck with that project, Nathan. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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