What are some ideas for painting a cement floor?

For painting a cement floor, options include a water-based stain, a concrete dye or a tinted sealer. These products work much better with concrete than traditional paints for walls and other surfaces. Prior to staining or dyeing a concrete floor, it must be free of sealants or coatings.

Water-based stains penetrate the concrete to permanently change the color. These paints may be transparent or opaque and come in a variety of colors. Concrete dyes also change the color of concrete through penetration but achieve better saturation. Tinted sealers provide the benefits of a sealant along with subtle, semitransparent color to the floor and can also act as a color corrector or enhancer to stains or dyes.