How to Prepare Your Basement Floor For a Stain
Concrete grinding is the method used to smoothen the surface of concrete. You can also use this method to make concrete more level or cover over the evidence of concrete drilling. Before you can paint or stain your basement's concrete floor, you will need to rent a machine that is specifically built for grinding concrete floors.
Rent a Machine
You need to select a machine that will fit your basement's needs. Machines are available with one or two heads. If you have a large, open space, you may prefer to use a machine with two heads. This will generally finish the process faster as the machine is covering double the amount of space at the same time. However, these machines can also be very heavy. For that reason alone, you may prefer to go with a one-head version.
Gather Materials
The machine is not everything you need. You will then need blades or polishing circles that can be put on the heads of the machines. Here are a list of the materials you will need to buy.
- 80" cupwheel
- 40" cupwheel
- Polishing pads
- PCD diamond disc combos OR 30 grit beveled edge disc
Start with the Edges
You will begin with the edges and do the edges of the whole room before you begin on the center. You may opt to use a handheld tool to complete this job. You will use one of the cup wheels above. To use the concrete grinding machine on the floor, you can choose to use the PCD diamond disc combos or the thirty grit beveled edge disc. The diamond discs do successfully complete concrete removal at a faster pace; however, they leave scratches on the floor beneath that can be difficult to get out. If you do not care about how smooth the concrete is, you may choose to use the thirty grit beveled edge disc, which is softer on the concrete.
Do the Middle of the Floor
Lightly sprinkle the floor with water. Once you have finished deciding which materials you will use on your machine, you will begin making passes across the floor. You will walk very slowly, moving the machine at a steady pace forward. When you have completely crossed the floor, you will go backward across that same area, but you will move the machine from side to side, as though it is taking duck steps.
Polish
You now need to put the polishing pads on either your large machine or the hand machine and carefully move it across the floor. Take your time polishing the floor to leave the whole floor looking smooth and even.