My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's
painted and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy feet.
The patio is the same level with the cement outside of the expanse of
sliding patio doors (maybe even the same, just with the track across
it). During hard rains, I get small puddles just inside of the tracks,
which is the subject of another question sometime. The problem, though,
is that I really don't want to put down decent carpeting for traction
until that's resolved. I haven't slipped, but I am a bit concerned that
it could be slick if wet and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled
stuff I've seen for garages?

concrete stain
h&c comes to mind
"Lee B" wrote in message
...

My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's painted
and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy feet. The patio
is the same level with the cement outside of the expanse of sliding patio
doors (maybe even the same, just with the track across it). During hard
rains, I get small puddles just inside of the tracks, which is the subject
of another question sometime. The problem, though, is that I really don't
want to put down decent carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I
haven't slipped, but I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet
and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled stuff
I've seen for garages?

Roemax wrote:
concrete stain
h&c comes to mind
"Lee B" wrote in message
...
My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's painted
and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy feet. The patio
is the same level with the cement outside of the expanse of sliding patio
doors (maybe even the same, just with the track across it). During hard
rains, I get small puddles just inside of the tracks, which is the subject
of another question sometime. The problem, though, is that I really don't
want to put down decent carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I
haven't slipped, but I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet
and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled stuff
I've seen for garages?


For the short term, I'd get one of those mats like they use in lobbies
with terrazzo floors during crappy weather, and lay it right inside the
the sliding door. If it gets to smelling funny, you can just
pressure-wash it at the coin-op car wash. If the concrete is the same
level on both sides of door, they screwed up- probably dropped the
sunroom on an existing patio. A bead of caulk on the outside of the
track will help, but make sure not to block the weep holes on the
outside of the track. Is water coming under the track, or is the track
overflowing and spilling into the room? If the latter, the weep holes
may be blocked. Have you checked the patio for level? If it slopes
toward the slider, there is no painless cure. An overhang or awning helps.

When you decide to repaint, epoxy like for a garage is best, but the
prep work on old concrete, especially painted concrete, is a bitch. I'd
go with non-glued indoor-outdoor carpet, or porch paint with the nonskid
granules mixed into it.

--
aem sends...

Lee B wrote:
My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's
painted and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy
feet. The patio is the same level with the cement outside of the
expanse of sliding patio doors (maybe even the same, just with the
track across it). During hard rains, I get small puddles just inside
of the tracks, which is the subject of another question sometime. The
problem, though, is that I really don't want to put down decent
carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I haven't slipped, but
I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled
stuff I've seen for garages?

I'd repaint with non-skid paint. They have smallish but uniformly sized
particles in the paint so that you get miniscule bumps when the paint dries.
The particles can be any of many different things...sand, ground rubber,
ground walnut shells, etc. It can sometimes be hard to keep the paint
stirred well so that particle suspension is uniform.

The few times I've wanted a non-skid surface I rolled on a coat of paint
(usually polyurethane) and while still tacky broadcast fine sand over it.
When dry, I swept up all the sand that was loose and rolled on another coat
of paint.

Info on non-skid paint
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...aq=1&oq=non-sk

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

dadiOH wrote:
Lee B wrote:
My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's
painted and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy
feet. The patio is the same level with the cement outside of the
expanse of sliding patio doors (maybe even the same, just with the
track across it). During hard rains, I get small puddles just inside
of the tracks, which is the subject of another question sometime. The
problem, though, is that I really don't want to put down decent
carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I haven't slipped, but
I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled
stuff I've seen for garages?

I'd repaint with non-skid paint. They have smallish but uniformly sized
particles in the paint so that you get miniscule bumps when the paint dries.
The particles can be any of many different things...sand, ground rubber,
ground walnut shells, etc. It can sometimes be hard to keep the paint
stirred well so that particle suspension is uniform.

The few times I've wanted a non-skid surface I rolled on a coat of paint
(usually polyurethane) and while still tacky broadcast fine sand over it.
When dry, I swept up all the sand that was loose and rolled on another coat
of paint.

Info on non-skid paint
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...aq=1&oq=non-sk

Following up. Yes, I think they did take an existing cement patio and
build the florida room on top of it. The patio in turn abuts a paved
area at the same height. There used to be a pool in the yard, and
apparently the original owner was quite the party person (there is a
"Tiki" bar with fake bamboo at one end of the room!), so I suspect he
really didn't care about water coming in because with the pool it
probably got got wet a lot anyhow. I can't tell how the water gets in; I
never see it as it happens - just come home to find small puddles. And
it doesn't happen all the time. I do get some puddling on the outside
cement so I wonder it there is occasionally a "high tide" the comes over
the tracks. It's gotten better since I attached some of those extension
tubes to the downspout that was also draining onto the cement.

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which will
have to suffice for a while.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Lee B wrote:

dadiOH wrote:
Lee B wrote:
My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's
painted and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy
feet. The patio is the same level with the cement outside of the
expanse of sliding patio doors (maybe even the same, just with the
track across it). During hard rains, I get small puddles just inside
of the tracks, which is the subject of another question sometime. The
problem, though, is that I really don't want to put down decent
carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I haven't slipped, but
I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled
stuff I've seen for garages?

I'd repaint with non-skid paint. They have smallish but uniformly
sized particles in the paint so that you get miniscule bumps when the
paint dries. The particles can be any of many different things...sand,
ground rubber, ground walnut shells, etc. It can sometimes be hard to
keep the paint stirred well so that particle suspension is uniform.

The few times I've wanted a non-skid surface I rolled on a coat of
paint (usually polyurethane) and while still tacky broadcast fine sand
over it. When dry, I swept up all the sand that was loose and rolled
on another coat of paint.

Info on non-skid paint
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...aq=1&oq=non-sk

Following up. Yes, I think they did take an existing cement patio and
build the florida room on top of it. The patio in turn abuts a paved
area at the same height. There used to be a pool in the yard, and
apparently the original owner was quite the party person (there is a
"Tiki" bar with fake bamboo at one end of the room!), so I suspect he
really didn't care about water coming in because with the pool it
probably got got wet a lot anyhow. I can't tell how the water gets in; I
never see it as it happens - just come home to find small puddles. And
it doesn't happen all the time. I do get some puddling on the outside
cement so I wonder it there is occasionally a "high tide" the comes over
the tracks. It's gotten better since I attached some of those extension
tubes to the downspout that was also draining onto the cement.

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which will
have to suffice for a while.

Thanks for the suggestions.

So how do you tell where the patio stops and the paved area starts? :^)

If this proves to be an ongoing problem, I'd look seriously at removing
some of the paved area, or at least cutting a slot and adding a
sloped-bottom slit drain leading to a drywell, parallel to the wall with
the slider in it. If the concrete was not in the way, how would the
drainage be in your yard? Clay and mud, or sand as deep as anyone has
ever dug?

--
aem sends...

Lee B wrote:

dadiOH wrote:
Lee B wrote:
My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's
painted and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy
feet. The patio is the same level with the cement outside of the
expanse of sliding patio doors (maybe even the same, just with the
track across it). During hard rains, I get small puddles just inside
of the tracks, which is the subject of another question sometime. The
problem, though, is that I really don't want to put down decent
carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I haven't slipped, but
I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled
stuff I've seen for garages?

I'd repaint with non-skid paint. They have smallish but uniformly
sized particles in the paint so that you get miniscule bumps when the
paint dries. The particles can be any of many different things...sand,
ground rubber, ground walnut shells, etc. It can sometimes be hard to
keep the paint stirred well so that particle suspension is uniform.

The few times I've wanted a non-skid surface I rolled on a coat of
paint (usually polyurethane) and while still tacky broadcast fine sand
over it. When dry, I swept up all the sand that was loose and rolled
on another coat of paint.

Info on non-skid paint
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...aq=1&oq=non-sk

Following up. Yes, I think they did take an existing cement patio and
build the florida room on top of it. The patio in turn abuts a paved
area at the same height. There used to be a pool in the yard, and
apparently the original owner was quite the party person (there is a
"Tiki" bar with fake bamboo at one end of the room!), so I suspect he
really didn't care about water coming in because with the pool it
probably got got wet a lot anyhow. I can't tell how the water gets in; I
never see it as it happens - just come home to find small puddles. And
it doesn't happen all the time. I do get some puddling on the outside
cement so I wonder it there is occasionally a "high tide" the comes over
the tracks. It's gotten better since I attached some of those extension
tubes to the downspout that was also draining onto the cement.

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which will
have to suffice for a while.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Indoor/outdoor carpet would be my only choice...it is available in
decent colors, easy to maintain and not expensive. I'd be sure to caulk
wall all around the exterior of the room.

I/o carpet can get real mildewy if it gets wet and stays wet ... also
easy to haul outside, hose off and leave in the sun to dry. I would
tack it down just a little at doorways so it can't curl and cause
someone to trip.

On Apr 18, 10:45*pm, "Roemax" wrote:
concrete stain


You can't put concrete stain on a concrete floor that already has
paint on it, unless you want to remove the paint first.

Why not address the leak issue first, then put down carpeting or other
flooring of your choice? If you figure out why water is getting in,
the fix could be as simple as a tube of caulk.





h&c comes to mind"Lee B" wrote in message

...





My newish-to-me house has a Florida room with a cement floor. It's painted
and can be a bit slick, especially for my dogs with fuzzy feet. The patio
is the same level with the cement outside of the expanse of sliding patio
doors (maybe even the same, just with the track across it). During hard
rains, I get small puddles just inside of the tracks, which is the subject
of another question sometime. The problem, though, is that I really don't
want to put down decent carpeting for traction until that's resolved. I
haven't slipped, but I am a bit concerned that it could be slick if wet
and I have guests.

Any suggestions on how to treat the floor? Deck paint? That speckled stuff
I've seen for garages?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

wrote
Lee B wrote:

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which will
have to suffice for a while.

Indoor/outdoor carpet would be my only choice...it is available in decent
colors, easy to maintain and not expensive. I'd be sure to caulk wall all
around the exterior of the room.

Same here. My sunroom needed something on the cement slab. It had minor
cracks and some minor seepage (darkened stains in spots in heavy rain, no
actual puddles) so we used a bit of acrylic goop on the cracks then a water
sealant 'paint' and put 'outdoor' carpet down. It looks like a very nice
berber carpet but is designed to tolerate a bit of damp or even a full
wetting down (provided it can dry out later). Oddly, it was cheaper than
'indoor carpet' of the same look.

The only downfall is it's a bit scratchy if you sit on the floor (which we
do there all the time). Since the water has not seeped up at all after
treating the slab (could have done internal carpet it turns out), we
overlayed a cheapish but nice looking oriental rug piece that is soft to sit
on.

I/o carpet can get real mildewy if it gets wet and stays wet ... also easy
to haul outside, hose off and leave in the sun to dry. I would tack it
down just a little at doorways so it can't curl and cause someone to trip.

Curling depends on type. The sunroom is a portion of a large extended
'enclosed porch'. All same slab. 11x13ft is the sunroom. The rest is
still a fully screened porch of 36x13ft with a small extra section that
makes it 44ft (laundry room is an 8x5ft cutout of the porch). In the
screened section, the rain blows in naturally and the landscaping also
causes water flow to the center of the slab up to 1/4 inch. The outdoor
carpet type there is the 'fake grass' sort which can tolerate that
condition. No need to pull it up and stick it in the sun. That type wont
curl either while the 'berber-look' one on the sunroom floor, would in those
conditions.

BTW, to avoid any accidental confusion, the original 'enclosed porch' was
55.5ft The missing 6 inches are the ones for the non-structural separator
wall between the enclosed and screened area. An interesting tidbit is the
code and zoning of my area made your taxes go up if your porch was 60ft or
more 'long' or more than 13ft 'deep'. Hence, 55.5x13 is not uncommon here.

cshenk wrote:
wrote
Lee B wrote:

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which will
have to suffice for a while.

Indoor/outdoor carpet would be my only choice...it is available in decent
colors, easy to maintain and not expensive. I'd be sure to caulk wall all
around the exterior of the room.

Same here. My sunroom needed something on the cement slab. It had minor
cracks and some minor seepage (darkened stains in spots in heavy rain, no
actual puddles) so we used a bit of acrylic goop on the cracks then a water
sealant 'paint' and put 'outdoor' carpet down. It looks like a very nice
berber carpet but is designed to tolerate a bit of damp or even a full
wetting down (provided it can dry out later). Oddly, it was cheaper than
'indoor carpet' of the same look.

The only downfall is it's a bit scratchy if you sit on the floor (which we
do there all the time). Since the water has not seeped up at all after
treating the slab (could have done internal carpet it turns out), we
overlayed a cheapish but nice looking oriental rug piece that is soft to sit
on.

I/o carpet can get real mildewy if it gets wet and stays wet ... also easy
to haul outside, hose off and leave in the sun to dry. I would tack it
down just a little at doorways so it can't curl and cause someone to trip.

Curling depends on type. The sunroom is a portion of a large extended
'enclosed porch'. All same slab. 11x13ft is the sunroom. The rest is
still a fully screened porch of 36x13ft with a small extra section that
makes it 44ft (laundry room is an 8x5ft cutout of the porch). In the
screened section, the rain blows in naturally and the landscaping also
causes water flow to the center of the slab up to 1/4 inch. The outdoor
carpet type there is the 'fake grass' sort which can tolerate that
condition. No need to pull it up and stick it in the sun. That type wont
curl either while the 'berber-look' one on the sunroom floor, would in those
conditions.

If the Florida room is in Florida, and the carpet is damp for a while,
it can grow thick coats of mildew. Our neighbors' patios have that
problem. As for curling, I've had plastic grass and low-loop pile and
both did not remain totally flat. Carpet at doorways can get a lot of
traffic and might tend to curl more - better to stick it down before
someone trips.

BTW, to avoid any accidental confusion, the original 'enclosed porch' was
55.5ft The missing 6 inches are the ones for the non-structural separator
wall between the enclosed and screened area. An interesting tidbit is the
code and zoning of my area made your taxes go up if your porch was 60ft or
more 'long' or more than 13ft 'deep'. Hence, 55.5x13 is not uncommon here.

aemeijers wrote:
Lee B wrote:

Following up. Yes, I think they did take an existing cement patio and
build the florida room on top of it. The patio in turn abuts a paved
area at the same height. There used to be a pool in the yard, and
apparently the original owner was quite the party person (there is a
"Tiki" bar with fake bamboo at one end of the room!), so I suspect he
really didn't care about water coming in because with the pool it
probably got got wet a lot anyhow. I can't tell how the water gets in;
I never see it as it happens - just come home to find small puddles.
And it doesn't happen all the time. I do get some puddling on the
outside cement so I wonder it there is occasionally a "high tide" the
comes over the tracks. It's gotten better since I attached some of
those extension tubes to the downspout that was also draining onto the
cement.

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which
will have to suffice for a while.

Thanks for the suggestions.

So how do you tell where the patio stops and the paved area starts? :^)

If this proves to be an ongoing problem, I'd look seriously at removing
some of the paved area, or at least cutting a slot and adding a
sloped-bottom slit drain leading to a drywell, parallel to the wall with
the slider in it. If the concrete was not in the way, how would the
drainage be in your yard? Clay and mud, or sand as deep as anyone has
ever dug?

--
aem sends...

They actually look different. The "floor" / patio material has a smooth
surface and is painted a brown. The paved area is normal "sidewalk"
color and texture. (see photobucket links below) If I had to guess, the
brown part was there first. Then someone put an inground pool in the
yard and added the concrete part. And placed the Florida room on top of
the patio. The pool has been removed, but the concrete has a round
contour where the pool would have been. I guess my problem is that I
want to think of it as an actual room, whereas it's more of a patio with
some glass walls sitting on top of it.

I don't know what the drainage would be like in that area. I just moved
in a year ago, and the pool had come and gone by then. The Florida room
runs across the whole back of the house, but the additional cement
walkway part only exists on the side where the pool was. On the other
side of the room, where there is just grass, I've never seen any water.
I didn't get a picture of that, but the dirt is maybe an inch or so
lower than the concrete floor.

I hope these wrap ok:
View from inside looking out; you can see extension of colored
cement.You can see where some water dried on the floor.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=basene008.jpg

View along the back of the room.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=basene004.jpg

Where the pool would have been
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=basene006.jpg

Is having the cement removed a huge expensive job? The occasional
puddles are annoying, but not enough to justify a huge bill at this
point in my life and economy. I wonder if it'd be possible to remove
maybe a 1-2 foot strip of cement right beside the pink part, and put in
a garden or something to match the other side.

Again, I appreciate the input.

Lee B wrote:

aemeijers wrote:
Lee B wrote:

Following up. Yes, I think they did take an existing cement patio and
build the florida room on top of it. The patio in turn abuts a paved
area at the same height. There used to be a pool in the yard, and
apparently the original owner was quite the party person (there is a
"Tiki" bar with fake bamboo at one end of the room!), so I suspect he
really didn't care about water coming in because with the pool it
probably got got wet a lot anyhow. I can't tell how the water gets
in; I never see it as it happens - just come home to find small
puddles. And it doesn't happen all the time. I do get some puddling
on the outside cement so I wonder it there is occasionally a "high
tide" the comes over the tracks. It's gotten better since I attached
some of those extension tubes to the downspout that was also draining
onto the cement.

I think the next step will be unglued indoor/outdoor carpet, which
will have to suffice for a while.

Thanks for the suggestions.

So how do you tell where the patio stops and the paved area starts? :^)

If this proves to be an ongoing problem, I'd look seriously at
removing some of the paved area, or at least cutting a slot and adding
a sloped-bottom slit drain leading to a drywell, parallel to the wall
with the slider in it. If the concrete was not in the way, how would
the drainage be in your yard? Clay and mud, or sand as deep as anyone
has ever dug?

--
aem sends...

They actually look different. The "floor" / patio material has a smooth
surface and is painted a brown. The paved area is normal "sidewalk"
color and texture. (see photobucket links below) If I had to guess, the
brown part was there first. Then someone put an inground pool in the
yard and added the concrete part. And placed the Florida room on top of
the patio. The pool has been removed, but the concrete has a round
contour where the pool would have been. I guess my problem is that I
want to think of it as an actual room, whereas it's more of a patio with
some glass walls sitting on top of it.

I don't know what the drainage would be like in that area. I just moved
in a year ago, and the pool had come and gone by then. The Florida room
runs across the whole back of the house, but the additional cement
walkway part only exists on the side where the pool was. On the other
side of the room, where there is just grass, I've never seen any water.
I didn't get a picture of that, but the dirt is maybe an inch or so
lower than the concrete floor.

I hope these wrap ok:
View from inside looking out; you can see extension of colored
cement.You can see where some water dried on the floor.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=basene008.jpg


View along the back of the room.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=basene004.jpg


Where the pool would have been
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=basene006.jpg


Is having the cement removed a huge expensive job? The occasional
puddles are annoying, but not enough to justify a huge bill at this
point in my life and economy. I wonder if it'd be possible to remove
maybe a 1-2 foot strip of cement right beside the pink part, and put in
a garden or something to match the other side.

Again, I appreciate the input.
Looks like they didn't actually remove the pool, they just filled it in.
If it was a concrete pool, I hope they punched a hole in the bottom
first. Big problem I see is that the old pool surround slabs, at least
on the one end, are higher than the brown slab. In a driving rain, that
will pond. Best solution would be to tear out the old pool surround, so
you can see what is actually under there, and regrade so there is a
dropoff at the edge of the brown concrete. How young and healthy are
you? Taking out concrete is cheap, if you can still wield a pickax and
sledge hammer. Most people rent a air hammer and bobcat, or hire the
work out. Shouldn't be too hard to cut out a strip along the sunroom,
maybe 24" wide, dig that out, and provide some drainage that way, along
with a planting bed. It'll cost a couple hundred for a concrete cutting
company, or less to rent a saw and do it yourself. You can figure out
what to do with the rest of the concrete later. I would price out just
the strip versus the whole yard before deciding- may not be much price
difference in the work. Cutting straight clean edges is slow, taking out
whole panels is fast, with the right equipment. If a real backhoe can
get back there, they could have the yard down to bare dirt in half a
day. If only a baby backhoe like a bobcat can, it'll take longer, and it
is harder hauling off the concrete, since baby backhoes can't reach up
into a dump truck.

--
aem sends...

aemeijers wrote:

Looks like they didn't actually remove the pool, they just filled it in.
If it was a concrete pool, I hope they punched a hole in the bottom
first. Big problem I see is that the old pool surround slabs, at least
on the one end, are higher than the brown slab. In a driving rain, that
will pond. Best solution would be to tear out the old pool surround, so
you can see what is actually under there, and regrade so there is a
dropoff at the edge of the brown concrete. How young and healthy are
you? Taking out concrete is cheap, if you can still wield a pickax and
sledge hammer. Most people rent a air hammer and bobcat, or hire the
work out. Shouldn't be too hard to cut out a strip along the sunroom,
maybe 24" wide, dig that out, and provide some drainage that way, along
with a planting bed. It'll cost a couple hundred for a concrete cutting
company, or less to rent a saw and do it yourself. You can figure out
what to do with the rest of the concrete later. I would price out just
the strip versus the whole yard before deciding- may not be much price
difference in the work. Cutting straight clean edges is slow, taking out
whole panels is fast, with the right equipment. If a real backhoe can
get back there, they could have the yard down to bare dirt in half a
day. If only a baby backhoe like a bobcat can, it'll take longer, and it
is harder hauling off the concrete, since baby backhoes can't reach up
into a dump truck.

Not that young and healthy... or mechanically inclined, LOL. I don't
know that any large equipment could get back there because of the fence
and gates. Guess I'll call around for some estimates when it gets too
annoying. At least I have a better understanding of my options. Thanks
again.