[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by tejas

Is epoxy the same as stenciled? At the Christmas open houses I saw a couple lanais that looked like they had been painted to resemble stone or tile. Someone said they had been stenciled. Is this the same process? I'm thinking of enclosing my lanai and thought this process might be cheaper than having the floor tiled.

Epoxy, is similar to paint, but much tougher, and typically a single color or a single color with speckles applied. The stone/tile finishes are probably a stamped concrete, but there are many variations, so it would probably be best to ask.
My step son does tiling, and he uses a special membrane between the lanai concrete and the new tile to prevent cracks in the concrete from getting to the tile, not sure if they do this with the stamped concrete, also something to ask. The cut lines in the lanais are stress cuts, so that when the concrete cracks (and it will crack) the cracks will occur where the cuts were placed. Your flooring contractor needs to take this into account so that you do not end up with cracks in your new floor.
Hope this helps.