The pandemic hit and I decided, like a lot of other homeowners, that it was time to do some upgrades around the house. I took on quite the project and decided to turn my garage into my very own man cave (erm woman cave). I knew I wanted to keep the existing concrete, but I hated the look of it. I had seen someone online post about turning their concrete floors into faux wood floors, so I scoured the internet looking for something that shows how to make faux wood floors on concrete but all the articles I could find didn't provide much direction. I am a novice DIYer and I though "Hey I bet I could come up with something and put it on instructables". This is my first time writing an instructable so bear with me as I take you through my journey.

Supplies

Painters Tape (1/2" and 2")
Painters Plastic
Broom & Dustpan
Shop Vac (optional)
Mop & Bucket
Garden Hose & Nozzle
Squeegee
Floor Buffer & Diamond Buffing Wheel
Paint Roller & Roller Covers
3" Paint Brush
Wood Graining Tool
Rags (lots of rags)
Gloves
Fan (optional)
Respirator
Concrete Paint
Gel Wood Stain
Wood Stain
Clear Coat for Concrete

Step 1: Prep the Area

First sweep up all the dust and debris on the floor.

Next, tape up painters plastic to protect the wall from any paint splatter.

I then rented a floor buffer from the orange big box store, if you've never used one of these machines before I highly recommend you find a video to watch showing how to use it.

Go over the entire floor twice with the buffer, until the floor feels like 180 sandpaper, and then bring in a hose with a sprayer nozzle.

Spray the floor with lots of water and used a squeegee and broom to push the water out of the area (if you're doing this indoors where you can't push the water out of an opening use a wet/dry shopvac to suck up all the water).

Next use a mop and water to clean up the remaining dirt on the surface.

The most important part of this process is making sure the floor is clean.

I'll say it louder for the people in the back THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROCESS IS MAKING SURE THE FLOOR IS CLEAN.

If the floor isn't clean the next steps will be a waste of time and money as they will fail.

Step 2: It's Faux Time!

Read and follow all manufacturers recommendations for the paint you're using.

Paint the floors whatever color you wish (I chose a Behr premium 1 part epoxy in the color khaki shade).

Once the floors are dry decide if you need a second coat of paint (mine did) and paint if desired.

After the floors are painted to your liking decide what size "planks" you would like.

For this project I went with a 6 foot by 8 inch pattern.

You'll most likely need a partner to help with the taping of the floors (I did).

Using 1/2 inch tape (if I did this project again I would use 1/4 inch) lay out all of the "planks".

Once the planks are laid out take the gel stain (I used minwax gel stain in the color chestnut), and start painting the stain onto the plank (if doing this indoors I highly recommend a respirator). It doesn't matter what direction the brush strokes are going at this point the next step will straighten that out.

Take the paintbrush and lay it as flat as you can and pull back in one continuous motion the entire length of the plank (don't worry if your "woodgrain" isn't straight, remember this is supposed to replicate real wood and nothing in nature is perfect).

Continue until the whole plank has been smoothed out.

Next take your woodgrain rocker and add in some wood grain. Remember no two pieces of wood look the same, we aren't going for uniform here.

Repeat this process until the whole floor is done.

Once the gel stain has dried remove the tape and apply a thin coat of regular wood stain (I used minwax in the color espresso).

Allow the wood stain to dry for a minimum of 3 days before applying a clear coat to the floors.

Lastly apply a clear coat to the floors.

Once the clear coat has dried step back and marvel at your new "wood" floors.