So we went with stained concrete floors on the first floor our house (about 2300sq ft worth). Our GC told us he had a sub that could do it for about $7000. We said fine, told the sub what we wanted, and he did it. To make a long story short, the sub screwed it up royally. We've been refusing to pay the GC for the concrete floors, and he's now got a lawyer hounding us. We did lawyer up as well, and we got an inspector out who listed about five deficiencies he found with the floors (wrong sealer, failure to thoroughly clean the floors before staining and again before sealing, etc).

We also got a quote from a reputable stained concrete floor on repairing the floor. He told us the only way was to grind down the surface, trowel on a thin layer, and then stain that. All in all, a $19,000 job -- and that doesn't include the clean up of the mess that will be created. Naturally, the GC and his lawyer are balking, and we're waiting to see what their reply is to the inspector's report.

Is there any other way to remedy the floor? Can we still go with tile and hardwood, or would grinding the surface still be required? Anyone ever covered up stained concrete floors successfully?

(Naturally, if anyone has ever had the "pleasure" of having your formerly good-natured GC turn around and have his lawyer threaten to sue you, and you have some good advice, that would be appreciated, too!)