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The Benefits of Acid-Stained Concrete Flooring

Great Durability

One of the best qualities of acid-stained concrete flooring is its resistance to wear and tear. Acid-stained concrete floors simply do not wear out.  They have compressive strengths in excess of 4,500 pounds per square inch. In addition to this, they are unlike other floor coverings, which may warp, buckle, flake, or grow mold and mildew spores.  Even more so, they are inflammable, and their finishes are ultraviolet-resistant. Finally, when they are installed properly, acid-stained concrete floors do not chip, peel, discolor, or fade.  What all of this means is that your children and your pets and your guests and your in-house customers are going to have an extremely difficult time damaging your beautiful acid-stained concrete flooring.  You will never have to have it removed, replaced, or refinished.

 

Elegance & Beauty

With the proper design and installation, acid-stained concrete flooring exudes a beauty and elegance that is unsurpassed by any other floor covering known to man. The reason for this is that concrete's receptability to acid staining makes it possible to produce exact replicas of the most expensive building materials on earth.  These include  granite, marble, travertine, sandstone, flagstone, and slate, as well as more common materials, such as brick and cobblestone.  All of this can be done without the cutting, lifting, and other heavy labor that is associated with these materials. Even a single-color acid-stained concrete flooring application brings a unique style and confluence of touch to a residential finished basement or commercial environment which will make your floor stand out from the ordinary and generate praise and admiration from your guests and customers.

 

Energy Savings

Another great benefit of using acid-stained concrete flooring in your home or place of business is the result in energy savings. This is due to the “thermal mass” property of concrete, which means it has a high capacity to absorb, store, and slowly release heat and coolness. Concrete's thermal mass moderates indoor temperature swings and reduces the load on heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment. The benefits of thermal mass are greatest in northern climates, like Michigan, where the outdoor temperature fluctuations are among the greatest in the United States. The reason this is important is that floors are the second highest source of thermal mass in a building; they account for approximately 35-50% of this thermal mass.

Energy savings from thermal mass, however, go unrealized if the concrete is unexposed. Carpeting and hardwood, for example, have very low degrees of thermal mass. But acid-stained concrete taps into the full potential of thermal mass. Annual savings are estimated at between 15% and 26% annually, depending on the amount of concrete flooring that is used in the building. With natural gas prices rising approximately 10% annually since 2003, this becomes a very real source of savings for your business or household. Two great ways of enhancing this savings even more are to use radiant heating in your concrete or decorative concrete overlays on the wood sub-floors in your home.  For example, radiant heating systems heat objects in a room, such as furniture and persons, by emitting heat rather than elevating air temperature; therefore air temperatures may be set 7 or 8 degrees lower.  Dual radiant systems are also available that provide cooling, as well as heating.
 

Light Maintenance

No floor is maintenance free, but some floors require less care than others. Carpeting requires frequent vacuuming and occasional shampooing; tile breaks and requires careful attention to the accumulation of dirt along the grout lines; hardwood and wood laminate require close control of humidity and moisture levels. But acid-stained concrete flooring requires only light maintenance to maintain its initial appearance indefinitely. Light maintenance means sweeping, vacuuming, or dust mopping as necessary, and cleaning, re-finishing, or buffing only periodically, depending on the amount of foot traffic and the floor's proximity to exterior entrances. Refinishing may sound labor intensive, but an average acid stained concrete floor of about 1,750 square feet may be refinished in approximately 10 or 15 minutes. There are detailed, product-specific recommendations for the maintenance of acid-stained concrete flooring on this page of our web site:

Care & Maintenance of Acid-Stained & Decorative Concrete Flooring
 

Optimal Indoor Air Quality

Four of the primary sources of poor indoor air quality are: 1) allergens, such as dust mites, mold, and mildew; 2) retained moisture and dampness; 3) odors, from smoke, personal care items, and cleaning agents; and 4) volatile organic compounds (VOC's) that  are emitted by inexpensive building materials.  All of these respiratory irritants are fostered by the use of carpeting, including its padding and adhesive, while moisture and VOC problems are also often commonly associated with wood and tile installations. But an acid-stained concrete floor is different - it fosters optimal indoor air quality. This is because acid-stained flooring allows moisture to readily evaporate.  It provides no place for dust mites to hide or for mold or mildew to grow. It cleans easily.  It does not store odors. And it may be installed by using a concrete sealer that contains absolutely no VOC's whatsoever. 

Finally, concrete floors or overlays may be installed using radiant heating beneath the surface to provide a slow, steady, "clean" source of heat to a home or other building, unlike forced air systems which circulate dirt, dust, pollen, odors, and germs.
 

Unsurpassed Water Resistance

Water is the most corrosive element in our world. There isn't anything that can resist its devastating effects. It causes iron to rust, wood and drywall to warp and dry rot, and enables bacteria to flourish and multiply. Not only that but it causes floor coverings, like carpeting, to grow mold and mildew spores, tile to discolor and delaminate, and wood to buckle and rot. However, acid-stained concrete is a different matter entirely. When properly designed and installed, acid-stained concrete and decorative concrete overlays are completely unaffected by water. Moisture does pass through these earth elements, but it leaves no lingering effect. This means that acid-stained concrete flooring is uniquely equipped to withstand the dampness found in basements and the flooding that comes from severe storms.

Sustainability

“Sustainability” is a new and important term in the construction industry that means a project is:  1) environmentally friendly to build; 2) results in operational cost savings over its entire life cycle; and 3) leaves a minimized “carbon footprint".  Sustainability is determined through several voluntary standards networks and certification systems, most notably LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is run by a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization, called The U.S. Green Building Council.  The LEED system is used by project owners, architects, engineers, real estate owners, builders, and designers to certify that their projects – whether they be commercial, residential, or institutional; and new construction or renovation - are “Green Buildings”.

Up until now, the sustainability movement has been entirely a marketing ploy and gimmick used by major U.S. building interests.  At the same time, this movement is starting to have a very noticeable impact on building trends in the United States and Canada.  State, county, and municipal governments are starting to adopt these voluntary standards into a legal format and use them as zoning requirements for large projects and for providing tax credits and other fiscal incentives.  The U.S. federal government has also begun funding LEED-based initiatives, and the USGBC and Portland Cement Association (PCA) have been petitioning for more funding, as part of the Economic Stimulus Plan.

There are various ways for a project to qualify as a “Green Building”, but the use of concrete, and specifically, acid-concrete flooring, is absolutely the best way possible.  This is because concrete, as a building material, is energy efficient to produce, is made from local materials that require little to no transportation, and uses recycled or waste products that are readily available.  It is also because acid-stained concrete as a flooring system contributes in ways that other flooring materials do not:  it produces little construction waste; it emits little to no VOC’s, it does not ever need to be replaced, it has reduced costs of operation (e.g., lighting, HVAC, and maintenance), it promotes optimal indoor air quality, and it is ultraviolet-resistant and inflammable.  Chances are that you will never require LEED or another “Green Building” certification for your home or place of business, but it is a sure way to attract very positive press and public attention, if that is something that would benefit you on a personal or professional level.

Feng Shui

Feng Shui is an ancient Korean art which is focused on improving all aspects of one’s life, including health, happiness, prosperity, social status, and personal relationships, through the enhancement of one’s living and working environments.  It is similar to acupuncture in that it holds that all buildings - as opposed to “persons” in the art of acupuncture - have a positive energy or “Chi” flowing through them and that obstacles to this Chi energy translate to difficulties in the financial, creative, and personal realms of one’s life and career.  On a practical level, Feng Shui maximizes a building’s Chi energy by:  1) creating harmony between architectural and interior design;  2) using the five basic elements of nature, which are water, wood, fire, earth, and metallic alloy; and 3) arranging and positioning furniture and small objects to let this Chi energy flow better.

Under Feng Shui, each of the earth elements have their own Chi energy and beneficial aspects.  Concrete is the most important “Earth” element known to man.  Its use in a home or place of business brings positive Chi energy in several ways:  1) grounding and stability; 2) peace, safety, and security; 3) family happiness and joy; 4) self-confidence, kindness, and personal generosity in relationships with others; and 5) good health.  The use of concrete may then be enhanced through the use of earth tone colors (e.g., yellows, oranges, browns, and greens) and earthen shapes (e.g., rectangles, squares, and horizontal and vertical lines).  In Feng Shui thinking, acid-stained concrete flooring incorporates Chi energy in a major way.  Not only are these modifications based on the earth element of concrete but they best incorporated through the earth tone ‘coloring’ of acid stains, and through the earthen ‘shapes’ of saw-cut squares or rectangular tiles or linear borders.  At the same time, the smoothness of concrete flooring, its ability to be easily cleaned and maintained, and the fluidic, confluent, marbling effect of acid stain work to prevent what is referred to as “stagnated Chi energy" from accumulating in your living or working space and blocking the positive Chi energy which has been generated separately.

Feng Shui has grown greatly in popularity in the Western hemisphere over the last 33 years, and its principles have become mainstream in U.S. architectural and interior design circles and the world of corporate consulting.  Whether it is Chi energy or merely great ambience, acid-stained concrete flooring indisputably provides a terrific foundation and sense of security to a room that cannot help but be impressed upon the souls of its occupants, guests, and customers.