Concrete floor sealant/cover??

Our house floor is concrete and eventually will be tiled (when funds allow []) but in the meantime I need to do something with the kitchen floor to protect it a bit and make it easy to clean

Any suggestions? Bearing in mind I have kids, cats, dogs and even a rooster that apparently thinks he's a cat running round all over it.

If you do nothing, over time it will attain a scummy patina which will defy any new stain! I know this from long experience.

We've been living on unsealed concrete in the very places it most needs sealing, for about 15 years. Pretty grotty of us really, but the lino has just never happened - always "we'll do that when we remodel the kitchen".

Do you wash it at all or just sweep it? I certainly missed the "cleaning" gene when I was being made, but when my cats decide to dissect their dinner on the floor and leave blood stains I start to get concerned (more so for the fact that it looks terrible to visitors [:0])

Also while I'm undergoing the chemo, my immunity is pretty low so I'd be nice to be able to mop it or something.

Quite understandable for your last reason! I keep things pretty clean when they're for food prep. and eating, but the rest falls down the priority list after far more interesting things. The floor is beneath everything else. []

I spilt a container of udder-washing water pre-milking the other day, so got out the mop and washed the piece of concrete with it while it was all over the floor. Sometimes I've attacked it with a brush and detergent. It depends how much area you're dealing with - ours is a very small patch of concrete in a very small kitchen place.

Can't recommend anything but have seen pictures of concrete floors that have been sealed so they have a shine but with something coloured underneath so so they look like proper floors. Very, very nice! Obviously there is stuff out there for the purpose.

We have a concrete floor throughout our home

we went to Peter Fell Ltd in west Auckland, as they have all the sealants and stuff. Mind you we did the whole coloured concrete thing happening here - but the floor looks fantastic. We were going to do something different with the kitchen floor - but loved the look of our floor so much, that we decided to leave it as is.

Sorry - It's a mop on sealant - so very easy to apply.

Thinking further, the rest of our concrete is painted - a paving paint of some sort. It wears well except where the concrete isn't of great quality so the paint has flaked a bit there. Everywhere else it's done well over about seven years so far.

If you seal it, be careful that the sealer is non-slip. No point curing the cancer if you slip and break your neck/back/ hips .

There's a two-pot sealant you can get from Resene (and possibly other places) that is very good, though the fumes weren't nice! You paint it on with a roller. Clear finish in a choice of glossy or less glossy finishes.

Before you choose any sealant, check it will be compatible with the tiling adhesive you plan to use. It would be very annoying to find you have to use an expensive noxious chemical to get the adhesive to bond to your nicely sealed floor.

We, too, lived on a raw concrete floor for many years. It wasn't that bad with the stains - cats are fed raw meat outside!!! (at night, otherwise banty steals it).

Highgirl - I'd be very wary of the fumes of the more durable sealants. Can you wait with sealing the floor? We had 2 large pieces of second hand carpet just lying on the concrete, no hem or anything, and they did a good job. I had taken a normal carpet knife to cut off the folded up rims.

We tried another sealant in my office, before the paint went onto the other areas. It was some fancy thing from Resene and was utter crap. It flaked off all over the place.

Kipling - that's really interesting to hear. WE plan to have a coloured, sealed concrete floor in our house too, and were thinking about having a wooden overlay floor for the kitchen as we didn't think concrete would be nice to stand on. But you've found it ok?
highgirl - a temporary but reasonably effective solution is something like linseed oil. But you have to give it a good scrub and redo after a while. And it may not work very well with your future plans for lino etc. Maybe you could get an offcut of lino and just put it down over the worst bits for now?

This is the finish on our floor - well before dogs, kids and assorted dirt... While it looks shiny, it has dulled down somewhat in the past 6 months, and has a lovley patina on it now.
We had the concrete coloured when it was poured, then it was acid washed and the sealant put on it - almost no smell, and all eco friendly. Should be another 10 - 15 years before we have to re-seal it again - again mopping it on, takes a day to dry...