Concrete Stain, Water or Acid Reactive

[barnee]

I'm building a new detached garage and the wife wants the concrete stain look in her studio which is part of the garage (13' by 15').

Since its new space I can do acid reactive or water based stain (no finished walls to worry about and no concern with fumes).

Room will be used for Art and Jewelry making. No heavy or greasy work.

Questions;

1. Which is better for my use? She really wants a dramatic floor.

2. Slab is now three weeks old and was finished well with no cracks or surface blemishes. How long does the concrete need to cure to apply the stain?

 

[Shea]

Acid stain is going to give the most dramatic look. Wait a minimum of 30 days before application. This is how long you would need to wait before applying a clear coat to the stain anyways.

 

[Armorpoxy]

After you stain, an excellent inexpensive clear topcoat would be our SPGX coating.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I'm building a new detached garage and the wife wants the concrete stain look in her studio which is part of the garage (13' by 15').

Since its new space I can do acid reactive or water based stain (no finished walls to worry about and no concern with fumes).

Room will be used for Art and Jewelry making. No heavy or greasy work.

Questions;

1. Which is better for my use? She really wants a dramatic floor.

2. Slab is now three weeks old and was finished well with no cracks or surface blemishes. How long does the concrete need to cure to apply the stain?

Acid stain can be dramatic but is limited in colors.
We have DeltaDye with a bigger palette.


4 weeks, more for the sealer than the stain.

http://www.legacyindustrial.net/products/concrete-stain-and-dye/deltadye-concrete-stain.html

http://www.legacyindustrial.net/products/concrete-stain-and-dye/concrete-acid-stain.html

 

[barnee]

Finally pulled the trigger and ordered my materials, but wanted to check with those who have acid stained their floors.

The space is 210 square feet, indoors, and the slab was poured 6 months ago. The garage interiors are complete and the HVAC system is running. No floor moisture after the plastic tape down test.

Slab was smooth hand troweled and has no sealer, densifier or any other coating.

I cleaned off all the drywall mud and board adhesive, then lightly sanded the entire floor to remove any light residue.





We ordered a gallon each of Taupe and Graphite, and will put the taupe on first and then the graphite. Goal is to have a weather concrete floor look. Also ordered a gallon of the Nohr Polyurea as the sealer.

I wasn't sure if I should use the Nohr primer, and I'm waiting to see the final floor gloss before ordering the wax (which comes in gloss and matte).

Questions:

1. Should I dilute the acid? Each coat covers 200 sf which is right where I'm at (full strength). I was thinking of 25% dilution.

2. Do I need the Nohr Primer?

3. I only ordered one gallon of the Nohr sealer and was going to do one heavy coat (eventually followed up by several wax coats.)

This is for my wife's studio which wont have heavy traffic (no cars or equipment).

Any recommendations from those who have done this?

 

[74nova350ss]

I’m following this one. I plan to do something similar in my 1500sqft shop this spring.

 

[74nova350ss]

Did you get the stain down.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I did the acid stain. I found it easy. Wife likes the randomness of it. If you have an artistic bend, you can later do water-based dye for effect. ( not me!) A $25/ day floor scrubber is a great investment. When you think it is clean, it is not. Acrylic is a waste of money. Who wants to move furniture every two years?

 

[barnee]

Did you get the stain down.

Sure did. It was quite an adventure.

The supplier sent the wrong color for one of the stains which was to be our accent color. We decided to go ahead and test both colors to see how they reacted with our slab and both came out orange which we did not like (trying for grey/graphite).

Switched to a water based stain that we got locally which was a big mistake (never penetrated the slab) so I rented a floor sander and scrubbed off the coating. Even though the slab was fairly new and clean, I think sanding to open the pores is a must. Should have done this at the start.

Got a water based stain from the original supplier to replace the wrong color and ended up putting down the "less orange" acid stain and then going over it with the water based "accent black" to knock down the orange and add contrast.

Loved the look, but then double coated it with Nohr S Polyurea which is great material but very glossy and somewhat ruined the look we were trying for. Nohr is also very hard to place smooth with a roller. Probably should have thinned it, or just used a matte sealer.

Lightly sanded the floor to smooth and knock down the gloss, then applied 5 coats of matte wax.

End product is beautiful (looks like weathered leather) but it took a lot of customizing. I would definitely skip the acid stain since its completely unpredictable what color you will get, and you can achieve variation with the water based stain by different application methods and colors.