Introduction
Stencils offer nearly unlimited options for taking interior concrete floors over the top. Now there are more options than ever for producing attractive yet economical color and texture combinations with SuccessCrete concrete stenciling. There are a variety of stenciling techniques and hundreds of patterns to choose from.
How Concrete Stencils Work
SuccessCrete Stencils – Ideas & Techniques
The stenciling process can vary greatly, depending on the type of stencil used, whether the stencils are applied directly to existing concrete or to an overlay, and the decorative effects you are trying to achieve.
The most popular techniques for SuccessCrete stenciling existing concrete floors include:
- ●Applying color with chemical stains or water-basedor solvent-based dyes, either before or after the stencil is removed.
●Creating an embossed pattern by troweling or spraying a thin concrete overlay or skim coating over the stencil.
●Etching designs into the concrete by lightly sandblasting or using a gelled acid that won’t seep beneath the stencils.
With all these techniques, you’ll usually achieve better results by using a stencil with an adhesive backing that prevents movement.
Using SuccessCrete stencils with an overlay
SuccessCrete Spray-down systems: Spray-down overlays work great with paper or plastic stencils, permitting the creation of intricate borders, custom designs, and logos. You can even make your own stencils by simply cutting thin plywood with a jigsaw into a design. Whatever stencil material you use, make sure it’s thick enough that it won’t tear during removal.
Apply the stencil to a base layer of the overlay material, then spray apply the texture coat in a contrasting color. If you plan to apply stain accents to the overlay, it’s often easier to do the staining before removing the stencil so the color underneath is not affected. When spraying the topping over the stencil, it’s important to spray straight down to help prevent stencil movement and to keep any overspray from bleeding underneath the stencil and blurring the pattern lines.
SuccessCrete Trowel-down micro–topping systems: Because microtoppings are applied so thinly, they are ideal for use with adhesive-backed stencils to create decorative floor borders and other designs. After surface preparation has been completed, the base coat is troweled or squeegeed down to the width of the stencil. The stencil is then adhered to the tacky base coat. Repeat this process until the entire stencil is laid. You can then trowel a thin topcoat over the stencil (approximately 1/8 inch). When creating stenciled borders, a small paint roller is a great way to apply a microtopping because it provides complete coverage without dislodging the stencil.
When to remove the stencil: When using stencils with thin overlays, it’s usually safe to remove the stencil after several hours. A simple check for determining if the stencil is ready for removal is to gently lift a corner from the surface. If the material that has accumulated on top of the stencil flakes off, then the stencil is ready to come up. If the material adheres to the stencil, leave it in place a bit longer. Do not leave the stencil in place overnight. As the overlay hardens, it will lock down the stencil and make it difficult to remove and cause the edges of the pattern to ravel.
SuccessCrete Stenciling Concrete Design Ideas
SuccessCrete Concrete flooring contractors around the country have sent us awesome pictures and stories about unique stenciling jobs they’ve been doing. Read about them here to get ideas for your project. Find out how the projects were designed and created, what techniques and stencils were used, and any special challenges that were overcome during the process.
How to do SuccessCrete Stencil a Concrete Floor
Step 1: Clean your concrete floor of dust, dirt, grease, and any adhesive residue. Tape off your surrounding walls and load your tray. Then paint your concrete floor using a nylon roller. Use a paint brush to paint the edges.
Step 2: Use measuring tape to find the center of your floor. Use a chalk line to trace a straight line from the center to the front of the room.
Step 3: Place your stencil on at the front center of your floor, using the chalk line as a guide. Secure it with painter’s tape.
Step 4: Use a small stencil brush for each of these paints and mixes:
●Olive
●2 parts Scandinavian Pink and 1 part Arles
●Provence
Load your stencil brush with paint and off-load most of it back onto a paper towel. Use a firm swirling motion to distribute the paint evenly onto the brush and to remove the excess paint.
Step 5: Use a firm swirling motion to stencil the different elements of the stencil with the different colors.
Step 6: Remove the stencil from its first repeat and reposition it to its next repeat. There are registration marks built right into the edges of the stencil so that you can align each repeat perfectly every time. Use the same color scheme to paint the next repeat. Let dry.
Step 7: If paint builds up the stencil, clean the stencil by spraying it , placing it in a plastic bag overnight, and then cleaning it with a scrub brush. Now you have clean stencil to continue working on your floor! Repeat Steps 4 through 6 until you have stenciled the entire concrete floor. Let dry.
Step 8: Use painter’s tape to create a 1 ½” border around the floor. Use a flat paint brush to paint the border , allowing each to dry in between.
Step 9: To protect your gorgeous stenciled floor, apply sealer with a sponge roller. Let the first coat dry for 1-2 hours. Then apply a second coat and keep dry.
Step 10: Let dry overnight before walking on it and showing it off to all of your friends!
How To Paint A Cement Floor With A Tile SuccessCrete Stencil
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO PAINT AND STENCIL A CEMENT FLOOR
- Painters Tape
- Floor cleaner
- Broom
- Vacuum
- Paint roller
- Angled paintbrush
- Small paint tray with rollers
- Paint cup
- Paper towel
- Tile Stencil
- Paint base coat
- Paint for stencil
- Stencil brush
HOW TO PAINT A CEMENT FLOOR WITH STENCILS
First, if you’re starting with unpainted cement, there isn’t a ton of prep needed (YAY!). Unlike painting and using a stencil on tile, which is also a great idea, you don’t have to clean existing grout or sand down the surface.
Just like any surface that you paint, you want a clean slate for the paint to adhere to. Start by sweeping and then vacuuming the floor to get up any dirt, loose dust, etc. Then run a mop over the floor for good measure and let it dry thoroughly.
Now, you’re ready to paint!
PAINTING A CEMENT FLOOR
It’s hard not to jump right into painting, but first, you’ll want to tape off the baseboards with painters tape so that you don’t end up with floor paint on the walls.
Second, make sure you don’t have any debris that will somehow get into the wet floor paint… ie, keep pets away, tie your hair up into a bun or ponytail, etc.
One coat did the trick for us! It went on smoothly and evenly – and the floor paint is thicker than typical wall paint, so it covered so well with one quick coat. I also “cut in” and painted the perimeter of the floor with a small angled paintbrush as I went. Don’t forget to start at one corner and work your way towards the door to paint yourself out of the room. You don’t want to start at the entryway and then end up blocked in a corner with a floor of wet paint in front of you.
Allow this first coat of paint to dry for the amount of time it states on the can. We let our base coat dry overnight.
Next, it’s time to position the stencil on the center of the cement floor and secure it with painter’s tape. I didn’t use spray adhesive, as I’ve heard it can cause even more of a mess.
Load up the stencil brush with the stencil color paint and offload any excess paint onto a paper towel. Offloading, basically patting some of the paint off of the brush, helps ensure you’re not using too much paint… because too much paint can bleed underneath the stencil. It also helps create a crisp design that dries quickly, allowing the stencil to be moved quickly as well.
After stenciling the first “tile”, remove the floor stencil and reposition it by aligning the built-in registration marks. These registration marks make it easy to align the stencil and continue the pattern.
Once you reach a wall, make sure there is painter’s tape along the wall edge, and line up the edge of the stencil to the edge of the painted design, as usual. Use painter’s tape to secure the edges to the floor. Press the stencil into the corner with your hand while using the stencil brush to paint the floor.
This is where it is simple, but can get tedious depending on the size of the space. Just keep going! The result is so worth it.
I did have a couple of more difficult corners where our walls and the little step met up. I saved this area for the very last so that we could actually cut the stencil and make it easier to get to the floor.
Since the cement is porous, you don’t typically need a top coat once this step is complete and dry, whereas with tile and other smooth surfaces, the paint is more likely to chip and needs to be sealed. Yay for that!
SuccessCrete has been offering the best floor services possible, including both outdoor and commercial. Decorative concrete, stencil concrete, stamped concrete, polished concrete,dye concrete — all at extremely competitive prices.
