Re: Apartment landings, new floor idea's
We just had all of our outdoor walkways coated as well. Our walkways are all concrete and they were coated with a layer of spreadable concrete and then scored/patterned to look like field stone. They were then stained different colors and sealed to give it the natural stone look. In my opinion it has not held up well. The material appears to be too soft and is easily marred through the color coat and into the base spreadable concrete. I believe this is probably an application or materials error as I have heard of these types of coatings being very durable. In your situation I think your only choice over the plywood is vinyl or carpet. I don't see any hardened material going over the plywood that is not going to eventually crack, break up and come loose. They do make some vinyls that look like stone and wood plank flooring so you might want to check into this. For your concrete walkways the sky is the limit. You can apply anything to them you want. A good paint job, tile or decorative concrete coating like we had done. If you go with tile make sure it is a tile with the color all the way through. You do not want to use a ceramic tile that if chipped shows a different color below the glazing.