Stamping and Staining Concrete

dartsportsteve · May 29, 2012

I'm just beginning to check into having the new sidewalk we'll be pouring stamped and stained. I've been quoted $5 per square foot, including labor and concrete, but not including the bag of stuff to dye the concrete. Does that sound reasonable? Is the end result worth the extra cost?

This will be a sidewalk about 40' long x 4' wide, going from our deck and back door to the garage walk-in door.

Steevo · May 29, 2012

Is that the price, including the concrete?
I was once quoted $7 sq/ft for the pour, stamping, staining, sealing, etc.
So, $5 would sound cheap to me.

hockey88fan · May 29, 2012

The end result is worth it, they have to hit the stamping part at the right time in the drying process of the concrete or it won't get right. Make sure the guys experienced and check prior work if possible.

Rory Bellows · May 29, 2012

My mom is getting a new patio put in and for stamping + color she was quoted $12 sq ft. That included removing the existing patio. She decided to go with regular concrete since the stamped and stained needed sealed every other year. keep in mind that the stamped and stained can't be powerwashed and a snowblower cannot be used on it.

dartsportsteve · May 30, 2012

Thanks guys. It sounds like a good price but I'm not sure if I want to deal with sealing it and not being able to blow the snow off.

GeorgiaHybrid · May 30, 2012

Rory Bellows said:
My mom is getting a new patio put in and for stamping + color she was quoted $12 sq ft. That included removing the existing patio. She decided to go with regular concrete since the stamped and stained needed sealed every other year. keep in mind that the stamped and stained can't be powerwashed and a snowblower cannot be used on it.

Don't know about yours, but I have been pressure washing the stamped concrete on my porches for the past 12 years and they still have the polyurethane that was rolled on them when they were finished. This fall I plan on re-sealing them with a GOOD polyurethane from the same guy that did the stamping and that should be good for another 12 years or so.

dartsportsteve · May 30, 2012

Just to clarify, the staining I'm talking about is the type that is mixed in with the wet concrete. Does that still need sealed like you guys are talking about?

We're now leaning toward not stamping, but using the dyed concrete. I've heard that the stamped stuff can also be slippery when wet, and this will be on a slope so I'm leery of that.

GeorgiaHybrid · May 30, 2012

Stamped concrete uses two different dry powders to get the "look" that it has. The first is put down with the second layer on top. The top layer is then washed off to allow parts of the underlaying color to be seen. The guy I had do mine uses the "Increte" family of products and they do look nice when finished. You can see a lot of theirs here:

Increte

Angelfire · May 30, 2012

There's staining which is topcoating the concrete with color (like paint). Then there's dying the concrete itself before placement (mixing color into the grey mix to make whatever color you need). I prefer the dying approach as the stains I've seen tend to succumb to the weather.

dartsportsteve · May 30, 2012

Angelfire said:
There's staining which is topcoating the concrete with color (like paint). Then there's dying the concrete itself before placement (mixing color into the grey mix to make whatever color you need). I prefer the dying approach as the stains I've seen tend to succumb to the weather.

Ok - We're planning to dye the concrete then. Does dyed concrete need any additional maintenance?

mayday0017 · May 30, 2012

I got quoted $800 for enough concrete to pour my new patio, $3k if I have them build the forms and pour it complete, or $6k if I want it poured and stampped and stained.... Decided I'm gonig to find the time to build my forms and pour the slab myself then cover it in slate for $1.50 a sqft and call it a day.... I couldn't justify the cost for tamp/stain

BTW it came out to $10/sf for slab stamped and stained or $2.25/sf for slab and slate... + material for form and my time...

larry_g · May 30, 2012

We chose to have colored concrete and then stamped with a colored release powder. As you see in the picture that we only chose to do a part of the patio and the retaining wall. Enough to give some color without doing the whole area. The downside to the stamping is that each divot in the stamp collects water and then leaves a mud/dirt spot. If I were to do something like this again I would pay attention that the pattern stamped would be self draining.

lg
no neat sig line

Stamping and Staining Concrete

dartsportsteve

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Steevo

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hockey88fan

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Rory Bellows

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dartsportsteve

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GeorgiaHybrid

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dartsportsteve

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GeorgiaHybrid

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Angelfire

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dartsportsteve

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mayday0017

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larry_g

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