Chosen Answer
greenjoe:  you might be okay painting your floor, but paint tends to chip off concrete floors pretty easily. i recommend you patch the crack, and then apply a concrete stain instead of paint. note that depending on your patch material and whether or not you choose an acid-based stain, the patched area might look very different than the rest of the floor. most any ace/home depot/lowes will carry a number of great colors - many even look opaque enough to resemble paint and will hide irregularities and/or patch marks in the concrete better. find the most experienced person at that store to help you coordinate your patch material with your chosen stain. be sure you understand all the techniques for surface prep, etc. Remember, it is a concrete floor, though, so you have to let go of the expectation that it will look perfect; imagine the inherent beauty of the raw/edgey loft look. if you want to get fancy, you can apply one color, then another overlayed on top of that to create a special effect. another fancy option would be to grind/polish the original floor first to make the finish smoother and to make the stain adhere better. lastly, apply a finish sealer - i like satin finish - it's neither too matte or too shiny. this is also a pretty green solution in that you aren't buying any energy intensive, polluting carpets or tile, you're just using your existing slab floor. unfortunatley, the stuff you're putting on the floor isn't exactly no-voc organic body lotion, but try to get the least toxic stuff you can and follow the instructions for installation, ventilation, etc. good luck.
2008-06-24 17:25:22