Concrete Floor Pigmented Linseed/Beeswax Sealant

Hello friends
I am in Ireland and in need of some advice after a hard slog with the concrete floor in my new house.
It's a 1980s bungalow and the floor is even but rough.  After a costly attempt at laminate flooring and weeks researching non-toxic alternatives, I decided to keep the concrete bare and seal it with Allback Swedish pigmented linseed/beeswax, which is processed naturally to remove gunk and make it less liable to mould. Initially I wanted to use their linseed paint but was concerned about drying times in winter.
So many things that could go wrong have gone wrong. I eventually found someone to remove the nasty adhesive off the floor but they left a lot of toxic dust behind and I became very ill with clean-up. So the past few weeks have been quite the nightmare/refining fire.
The biggest problem, beyond having to live here with no proper floor, is that every mop, cloth, rag, I use to do anything to the surface disintegrates. It's like a giant pumice stone. And the washing is never-ending - forty years of yuck rising to the surface.
I have washed two rooms enough now for waxing and covered the cleaned floors with weed membrane fabric. Then yesterday I began applying the wax with a scrubbing brush along the edges of the living room. I was pleased with how well it was soaking in, but today it is still tacky. I tried 'just rubbing it off with a clean cloth' like they suggest, but the cloth disintegrated. I used a clean scrubbing brush to smooth it out and it made a good job of a patch, but then got clogged itself.
What can I use? I want to get the areas I've done as sealed as possible by hand because I know there is a risk of self-ignition when the linseed wax is on porous materials - like the weed fabric. Can anyone speak to this?
It's just me and my moulting dog - the wax is white and he is mostly black. I have blown my budget and health on this floor. All I have left is faith that it can be finished and beautiful and I will bounce back stronger and wiser for it all.
Thanks for any non-toxic, low-cost advice you may have.

Hi,
My first thought would be maybe some kind of rug to cover it up... but the natural rugs can be quite expensive.

What about milk paint? It's non-toxic and can be used on concrete if it's not sealed.

https://www.realmilkpaint.com/blog/tips/paint-concrete-with-milk-paint/

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi,
My first thought would be maybe some kind of rug to cover it up... but the natural rugs can be quite expensive.

What about milk paint? It's non-toxic and can be used on concrete if it's not sealed.

https://www.realmilkpaint.com/blog/tips/paint-concrete-with-milk-paint/

Thanks, it needs to be sealed, otherwise just a big sponge underfoot. I came across milk paint during my research but it isn't an option as I'm allergic to dairy. Linseed and beeswax work well for me.

I think I need to brush it onto the whole 30 sq m on one day and then turn the heating up and move out for a few days to let it dry thereby avoiding covering or spoiling it. The concrete is super absorbent and dries very quickly even on rainy days so I think it will be happy to soak it all up given time.

I will post a pic when it's all done. It is quite beautiful with the little stones showing through, a bit like terrazzo.

Please post pics!

When I tried sealing my concrete floor with tung oil (which apparently takes longer than linseed oil to cure, but is a drying oil just like linseed oil), it was still tacky and wet looking for about 2 weeks. This was really disheartening, especially since we wanted to move in to our new living room. Thankfully, I only put down tung oil on a small portion, rather than the whole floor.

If I recall correctly, I laid down paper towels on top of the over-abundance of tung oil, since trying to wipe it up just resulted in ripped paper towels. Laying paper towels on top of the oil did help soak up the excess, but it did take a lot of paper towels. At least paper towels can compost or be used for firestarters. But, even after soaking up the excess tung oil, it still took 2 weeks for it to cure/dry. Drying oils--like linseed and tung oil--don't dry so much as "cure." They oxidize and turn hard. Increasing airflow and light might help speed up the oxidization/curing.

I chronicled some of my "how do I make my concrete floors livable" journey here (What can I use to fill deep lines in my concrete floor?) and here (Making milk paint by the gallon to paint my garage remodel!). I used milk paint on my floors, and while the milk paint worked great on our drywall and concrete walls, it cracked and chipped on the concrete floor. (This might be because I did not degrease it before painting. Some areas are fine, while others chipped. It might also have been that my first coat of paint had too strong of milk protein and it pulled at the concrete as it dried. Either way, it was a huge bummer. You're not missing anything by being allergic to milk and unable to use milk paint!)

Trying to make concrete floors livable and nice is hard. I'm hoping that I can save up for a few years and get snap Marmoleum floors (which are made out of linseed oil like the original linoleum floors) and place that over my sad, pealing, milk-painted concrete floors.

For now, I have large rugs that I got for cheap off of Facebook Marketplace and free from people who were giving them away. That covers up most of the concrete floor. It's not perfect, but it's livable.

Nicole Alderman wrote:When I tried sealing my concrete floor with tung oil (which apparently takes longer than linseed oil to cure, but is a drying oil just like linseed oil), it was still tacky and wet looking for about 2 weeks. This was really disheartening, especially since we wanted to move in to our new living room. Thankfully, I only put down tung oil on a small portion, rather than the whole floor.

If I recall correctly, I laid down paper towels on top of the over-abundance of tung oil, since trying to wipe it up just resulted in ripped paper towels. Laying paper towels on top of the oil did help soak up the excess, but it did take a lot of paper towels. At least paper towels can compost or be used for firestarters. But, even after soaking up the excess tung oil, it still took 2 weeks for it to cure/dry. Drying oils--like linseed and tung oil--don't dry so much as "cure." They oxidize and turn hard. Increasing airflow and light might help speed up the oxidization/curing.

I chronicled some of my "how do I make my concrete floors livable" journey here (What can I use to fill deep lines in my concrete floor?) and here (Making milk paint by the gallon to paint my garage remodel!). I used milk paint on my floors, and while the milk paint worked great on our drywall and concrete walls, it cracked and chipped on the concrete floor. (This might be because I did not degrease it before painting. Some areas are fine, while others chipped. It might also have been that my first coat of paint had too strong of milk protein and it pulled at the concrete as it dried. Either way, it was a huge bummer. You're not missing anything by being allergic to milk and unable to use milk paint!)

Trying to make concrete floors livable and nice is hard. I'm hoping that I can save up for a few years and get snap Marmoleum floors (which are made out of linseed oil like the original linoleum floors) and place that over my sad, pealing, milk-painted concrete floors.

For now, I have large rugs that I got for cheap off of Facebook Marketplace and free from people who were giving them away. That covers up most of the concrete floor. It's not perfect, but it's livable.

Thank you. Yes I read your journey with painting the floors before posting. Flooring is intense. This is my third month with it and I will be very happy to close this chapter. Marmoleum was my dream but was quoted over €4000 for 30 sq m which wasn't doable. I did a lot of research before coming to the wax decision and my worst fear was it not drying/curing, which is why I chose the linseed beeswax mix. I have used it before on beehives and sensed it would be quicker.
Thankfully the parts of the floor I waxed are much better today, just a slight white residue to touch. I didn't realise there would be such a density of the white pigment when I bought it. If I was to do it again I would use the clear wax and add my own more subtle pigment. The pigments I added to this were just buried by the white.
I think it's going to be ok. Just need to move out for a few days and let it cure properly, then buy a load of old sheets at a charity shop and give it a good polishing to remove any white sitting on top. The linseed smell is intense and I know will be too much for me to sleep with for a while, so will probably cover it with fabric again til it calms. I wish it was summer so the weather could help. We have been swinging from constant rain to freezing for weeks.
The main lesson I've learned through all this is that how it looks is the least important factor. Health is always the most important thing and includes health through the process, not just the final result. This isn't my forever home, so if I could go back in time I would just leave the nasty coating on the floors and find some already off-gassed laminate to cover it.
Are you familiar with this site? https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2021/02/non-toxic-concrete-paint-floors-walls.html

Today it is pretty hard with no residue to touch but it'll take time for it to harden fully. It's wonderful to see how water resistant it is! I understand the curing process now that I see it. Where I polished the tackiness off after 24hrs is as hard as where I didn't but doesn't look as nice so I'll add more to those areas and not polish any of it. Going to finish it towards the end of the week and move out for three days to let it harden, then cover with cotton sheets to protect it for a week or so.

I had ordered 1kg of white and 1kg of plain wax as my plan was to have it creamy yellow ochre with a little gold mica to look like beach sand, but the damage done in shipping left only 500g of the plain left and the white (non-toxic titanium) just buried the other pigments, which it probably would have done even with the full kg as I think it was a ratio of 1:3 pigment to wax.

Only time will tell if it's a good solution but my sense is that it is for this particular concrete floor which has no issue with rising damp. I am surrounded by mucky ground with really bad drainage and it has been raining pretty much constantly since I moved in two months ago but every time I washed the floor it dried in less than an hour. The grinding work I had done removed the surface so would have taken away any substance impeding the wax's uptake.

Is it a perfect job? Not really, but it is like night and day compared to the horror it was when I first moved in. I thank my God of miracles and all his beautiful cleansing fruits and vegetables, herbs and seaweeds, well water, and clean air for helping my body heal from the awful toxic dust I was faced with. This is one well-earned non-toxic floor.

Aoife Deer wrote:
Thanks, it needs to be sealed, otherwise just a big sponge underfoot.

Why is it a big sponge underfoot?

I have concrete floors and have not experienced anything like that?

I am really happy with my floors.

Anne Miller wrote:

Aoife Deer wrote:
Thanks, it needs to be sealed, otherwise just a big sponge underfoot.

Why is it a big sponge underfoot?

I have concrete floors and have not experienced anything like that?

I am really happy with my floors.

Seemingly there is a massive range of concrete mixes, finishes, and reactions to different locations. In my particular situation if I left it dry and unsealed it would be like a pumice stone/sand-paper and very difficult to wash and that is not what I want. By sealing it I have a floor that is water-repellent so can be mopped regularly and smoother so won't hurt skin - while still being breathable so any moisture in the slab can dry to the inside. I am looking forward to being really happy with my floors too!