Q. We installed radiant floor heating in our house with concrete over the subfloor (tongue and groove decking subfloor with crawl space underneath). We plan to stain and seal the concrete. My question is, what is the best material to patch the cracks (1/8 " + in width) before we stain the concrete? How about hydraulic cement?
It has been over a year since we poured the concrete and about 6 months since we've been running the radiant floor heat. We are hoping all the major cracking is finished. Thanks for your advice!
A. I would use a polymer modified crack repair material to fix the cracks if you want to stain the concrete floor. This material will accept an acid stain unlike an epoxy crack repair product.
Keep in mind the patching material will stain differently than the concrete floor will. If you have a lot of cracks to repair it might be a better idea to overlay the entire floor with a microtopping, then stain the concrete microtopping.
Seal Green has a product you can use to patch the cracks and then stain the floor.