I live in an apartment with very old carpet. The landlord will not remove or replace it. I want to pull up the carpet and either stain or paint over the subfloor. I will then use area rugs over it. Please pass along your tips for the best process and type of paint and/or stain to use.
I admire what it is you want to do. Ask at the paint section of a home improvement center about what type of paint to use. I'd choose a neutral or wood color.. like tan/brown.
I have done this on my dining room/family room floor using melamine paint (oil based paint). I painted the whole floor, which in my case was chipboard, with a very soft green/grey. I then used 1/4 inch painters tape to mark off 12 inch tiles in a grid pattern. I then sponge painted with a very dark green, almost black, paint and then used two layers of clear coat to cover after I'd taken off the painters tape. It really looked like granite tiles and people got down to feel it after I told them it was paint.
A) Make sure to get in writing from your landlord that you can do what you want to do with the floor (I was taken to court by and ex-landlord for replacing the nasty indoor-outdoor carpet throughout the house with "real" carpet that would be soft enough for the kids to lay on in the living room for slumber parties or even just playing their games. In other words I upped his property value and he tried to sue me for it. Thank God I had taken before and after video, so the judge saw that we were in the right.)
B) Go to the paint section at the store and ask advice from the sales person (Lowes and Home Depot are pretty good at solving paint problems). Make sure you know exactly what type of wood the flooring is.
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