The second floor of my house is stained concrete. There are 1 inch deep cut lines every 9 feet and 1/4 inch cut lines every 3 feet, so it looks like big tile. The cuts don't need to be under the plates. It was done after the walls were up, but before sheetrock. The floor was covered with some type of thick paper then a layer of card board. Pressure wash first then acid wash then the color goes on. Try it in a closet first to see what the color looks like. This way you can change something if the color doesn't come out like you want. We have had ours 10 years and love it.