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When preparing your concrete surface for the decorative concrete process, there are several steps and considerations that you must do first for the job to succeed.

This is Part 1 of an ongoing series.

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As with any decorative concrete project, preparation is as important, if not more important, than the work itself. Shortcuts at this stage can cost delays and more work, which leads to additional expense as the project evolves.

Be sure to rope off the intended work area in advance of any work. It will alert others to the presence of slip and trip hazards. You will also want to make sure the work area does not take on any new contaminants from foot traffic during the surface preparation process.

It is important to note that any concrete to be stained and sealed must cure for 30 days prior to starting the project. Rushing a project before the concrete cures can result in stain and clear coat failures.

It is also important to note that advanced project planning is another key component of the process. In some unique circumstances, you may need to precut the designs for stain layout purposes in advance of surface preparation. This applies particularly for color separations in circular brick cuts and other specific designs.

Techniques and the process you will use for preparation vary based on whether the project is interior or exterior, and whether the surface has various visible contaminants.

As you evaluate an area to be stained and later engraved, we suggest you evaluate the surface and identify items that will need special attention, such as sealed areas, paint, oil spots, lumber crayon, carpet glue, mastic or tack strips. The presence of each and any of these contaminants will dictate the process, products and methods you use to clean the surface before staining.

We recommend that you have the following tools and supplies on hand when you clean an interior floor project: floor machine with black pad and sanding screens, wet vac: look for a model that pumps waste water while vacuuming, sanding sponges, concrete resurrection degreaser, cure and seal stripper, paint stripper and adhesive remover, floor scrapper, razor scrapper, mop and bucket and margin trowel.

It is important to remember that the goal is not only to clean, but to open the surface of the floor so that a stain can penetrate.

Cleaning an interior floor with minimal surface contaminant is easy. After wetting the surface, scrub the floor with a black pad or sanding screen. Sanding screens are more aggressive and best used on surfaces which are hard troweled. In these cases, a sanding screen will do and excellent job in opening up the pores within the surface before you stain.

It is important that you only apply only the amount of water you can control. Care here will prevent you from damaging surrounding surfaces that may be water sensitive, such as dry wall and molding.

As you are scrubbing, if the floor machine does not remove marks, spot treat with a sanding sponge and rescrub the area.

Work in small sections, so you can immediately wet vac the water and slurry created in the floor machine’s scouring process.

A wet mop-up following the vacuuming is the preferred next step. This basic process will meet the surface preparation needs of floors that have dry wall mud, light markings, standard dirt and dust.

When you encounter an aged interior surface that has an oily and residual film, you should spray small amounts of concrete resurrection degreaser immediately after the initial wetting process, or add the recommended dilution ratio directly into your water bucket in advance of wetting the floor.

To purchase the entire DVD Mastering Concrete Engraving call 1-800-884-2114.