Concrete is known for its durability and easy maintenance, but not for its looks. Most homeowner think there is nothing to do with the dull eyesore that are concrete floors. However, there are actually a ton of options when it comes to making your floors more visually appealing.

If you have a plain surface that you want to change here are some of the ways to consider coloring concrete that are definitely impressive.

Acid Stained Concrete Water and Solvent Based Dyes Water Based Concrete Stains Shake Color Hardeners Integral Color

While some of these techniques work better than others, any of them will help make the surface look more appealing. The acid based stains will allow you to capture the earth tones of expensive stone or marble, while the others can create nearly any look you like. Depending on the type the color maybe one-tone or multi-tone, or have a marbled look.

Dry Shake color hardeners are added to the poured concrete and then mixed in after, achieving a limited amount of color. Integral coloring is made possible by adding special pigments to the unpoured concrete, which allows for many different shades to be possible.

The water based stains and dyes penetrate the surface to give a deeper,richer, and more durable color. However, unlike acid stains no chemical reaction actually takes place. The most intense and powerful change comes from using an acid based concrete stain.

Acid concrete stains is the only product that colors by causing a chemical reaction with the minerals in the concrete. This allows for a permanent change in the composition and color of the surface. This allows for long lasting, rich, beautiful colors that will last a lifetime if done properly.

Let’s learn how to make a beautiful and precise stairway for homes or decks. Building stairs seems difficult, but it’s really fairly simple if you use the right formula. This is how you measure and construct professional-looking stairs with accuracy.

Before we can start the process of building stairs, we’ll need to take some measurements of the stairway area. We can think of it this way: we have a certain amount of height that we need to reach and we need to do it within a certain length or distance. The part of the stairs that helps us accomplish the height is the stair riser. The length part is the stair tread. The part of the stairs that will hold all the weight is called the stringers. The stringers are the most important part of the stairway.

The treads are usually a standard size of around 10-inches. The risers completely depend on the measured height from the bottom floor to the top floor.

Now we need to get an exact measurement from the bottom floor to the second floor, including the second floor particle board. Now, we use the formula for getting the height of each stair riser. Suppose the distance from bottom floor to top floor including the thickness of the second floor is about 9 feet or 108 inches.

108 divided by 7 equals 15.428. That tells us that 15 risers will be needed. Next, let’s divide 108 by 15 and we’ll get right around 7 inches or the exact height each riser needs to be. The treads need to be right around 10 inches. The amount of treads will be one less than the amount of risers, so to find the total run or length of the stairs, we just multiply 10 by 14 and that tells us that our stairway will be 140 inches long.

Now, try to find a knot-free 2×12 board for the stringer. We can also use prefabricated wood made for stair stringers or an even cheaper selection is strong softwood like Pine or Fir. It will need to be around one foot longer than the distance of the stairs. This would need to be 120-inches or twelve feet long.

Next, while the board is lying flat, measure up about 8 inches to mark the first stair tread. Use a carpenter’s square to measure 10-inches over (tread) and 7-inches up (riser). We’ll do this on every step. Once that is done, we’ll go back to the bottom of the board and measure and cut the first riser. We’ll use the carpenter’s square to make it exactly 7-inches.

When weve finished marking the stringer we can cut out the stairs with a handsaw or a Skilsaw. We will cut really close to the inside corner, but we’ll need to complete the cut with a handsaw to get completely into the corners. When we finish that we can use the stringer as a pattern or a template for the other stringers by it on top of the other boards and tracing in the steps.

Once everything is all cut out and the stringers are identical, we can stand them up and secure them with screws or nails. Once the stringers are screwed or nailed securely in place well put the tread plates on and then the riser plates if we want enclosed stairs. There are special tread boards available that are rounded in front. Theyre made for carpeted stairs. Many people like to have hardwood stairs that are exposed; in that case we would want to use high quality oak or some other quality hardwood. That’s how we make stairs for our home interior or our decks.

I built my own home back in 1995 without the help of contractors. I didn’t do it to prove anything or to make a point at all; I just wanted to make a nice place to live for my family without the high mortgage payments. I paid cash or traded labor for as much of the materials that I could. Most of the time, I used whatever money I could get from credit cards.

I did my own excavation with a pick and shovel. I made all the cement forms and had the cement delivered and poured. When the foundation was all dry and completed, I started putting on all the floor joists and covered them with wafer board and plywood. I then built the outside walls that included the rough openings for doors and windows.

I also did most of the plumbing and electrical systems while the walls were open and exposed. I constructed the stairs and started the second floor. After the second floor was finished I built the roof and enclosed the whole house to keep the snow and rain out. I put on metal roofing and installed all the windows and doors.

Next, I put up all the interior walls and finished the electrical wiring and the rough-in plumbing so I could have those systems inspected before the sheetrock walls were hung. After the first inspections passed, I enclosed the walls with drywall.

I also covered the outside of my home with vinyl siding and trim. It looked really good. I had kitchen cabinets built and started all of the inside finish work and trim. I installed all of the electrical systems and appliances.

I passed my second inspections with the building inspector, electrical inspector, and the plumbing inspector.

I had all of the flooring and carpeting installed by professionals. When my house was finished, I still had one final inspection to get the occupancy permit. After we got the occupancy permit we moved into our home. We consolidated all of our debt from credit cards into one home mortgage loan with low interest. We had a good amount of equity in our home from our hard-earned labor.

My cost of materials was around $60,000. The final appraised price of my home was $140,000 when we moved in.

After all of my building experience, I realized how much the cost of hired labor is and why contractor built houses are so expensive to build. The price of contracted construction labor has gone up so much over the last two decades that people earning average incomes cant afford average-sized homes.

Banks have had to get really creative and take a lot of chances so people could have homes. Wages haven’t kept pace at all with the inflation of homes or anything else and that’s the biggest reason why we are in the financial crisis.

I built my own home back in 1995 without the help of contractors. I didn’t do it to prove anything or to make a point at all; I just wanted to make a nice place to live for my family without the high mortgage payments. I paid cash or traded labor for as much of the materials that I could. Most of the time, I used whatever money I could get from credit cards.

I dug the foundation out with a pick and shovel. Then I constructed the cement forms and poured the cement. When the foundation was finished, I started the first floor by putting on the floor joists then covering them with plywood and wafer board. I then built the walls that included the door and window openings.

I also did most of the plumbing and electrical systems while the walls were open and exposed. I constructed the stairs and started the second floor. After the second floor was finished I built the roof and enclosed the whole house to keep the snow and rain out. I put on metal roofing and installed all the windows and doors.

I then built all the interior walls and finished the electrical wiring and the rough-in plumbing so I could have it inspected before the sheetrock walls were put on. After the first inspections passed, I closed in all the walls with drywall.

I also sided the outside of the house with vinyl siding and trim. It looked great. I built kitchen cabinets and started all of the interior finish work. I then installed all the appliances and electrical systems.

I passed my second round of inspections with the plumbing inspector, electrical inspector, and the building inspector.

I had all of the flooring and carpeting installed by professionals. When my house was finished, I still had one final inspection to get the occupancy permit. After we got the occupancy permit we moved into our home. We consolidated all of our debt from credit cards into one home mortgage loan with low interest. We had a good amount of equity in our home from our hard-earned labor.

My total cost of building materials was right around $60,000. The final appraised value of our home was $140,000 when we moved in.

It was only after all of my building experience that I realized how much the cost of labor is and why contractor built homes are so expensive to buy. The price of construction labor has increased so much over the last twenty years that people who make average to good incomes cant afford average homes.

Banks have had to get dangerously creative and take many chances so people could have homes. Wages haven’t been able to keep pace at all with the inflation of homes or anything else and that’s the main reason why we are in this financial crisis.