What do you use to fill in the cracks and places where the tack strips were on a concrete floor ?

Question

I have recently removed the carpet, but there are several cracks in the concrete and holes where the tack strips were. I want to fill these, then paint or stain the concrete floor in my den and hall way. Any suggestions on how and what to use will be much appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

Go to the local home improvement center. They carry concrete repair epoxy in squeeze bottles. Buy a bottle and a putty knife.

Squeeze a little epoxy into the crack or hole, smooth with the putty knife and let the epoxy dry 24 hrs. The concrete will be smooth and good as new.

Answer 2

The cracks and craters from carpet tack nails are making an otherwise seemingly simple way to beautify ordinary concrete problematic for me too!  A professional today recommended I get him to overlay the entire concrete floor with a bonding agent and 1/8 inch portland cement to address nail holes and, importantly, to make the whole floor look the same after staining, painting, etc.  (Google "concrete overlays").  This may provide the best aesthetic result, but may not be a do-it-yourself job.

Short of that, check out  good article  http://www.mimcon.com/stain_instructions...

which says: "Carpet tack strips can be pried up, but they will leave small divots in the concrete. You can also cut the wood part off with a chisel and grind the nail off flush with the concrete to reduce divots. We prefer filling holes with ZipCrete, but it isn't easy to find. Any patches will probably be a different shade than the rest of the floor," and .... "Patch any holes you want to patch with a cementitious concrete patch. We prefer ZipCrete but even use Quikcrete because it stains pretty well."

I also found this elsewhere: "to repair nail hole chips around the edges where the carpet tack strip had been, workers taped off a line then troweled-on a polymer concrete and colored it with an acrylic stain, which works well on polymer-based concrete."   Maybe this is like an overlay limited to edge of the floor near the walls a few inches wide to cover the holes.  The color of this "overlay" might turn out different from the rest of the old concrete floor, but at least it will be a continuous strip, rather than odd-shaped patches for the many divots and craters.

less helpful: this article called "Repair Carpet Tack Strip Holes in Concrete Floors" at, http://www.articlesbase.com/remodeling-a...

Answer 3

Go to your local hardware store or Home Depot or Lowes and go to the building department by the cement. They have a little gray bottle which is cement filler. That should fill the holes.