Honing/grinding exterior concrete

[bigjon]

I have a 3 year old concrete path, driveway, etc. that I’ve never been happy with. Concrete was grey and had same day acrylic sealer. Decided to colour seal it (higher solids acrylic with tint) and never had any luck with long term adhesion. Yes, I cleaned and used another product (compatibility to aid adhesion) prior to applying, but it kept flaking.

Decided to hone/grind the concrete. Using a concrete grinder with 3 7” discs. Started on 40 grit metal/diamond and happy with slip resistance, look (salt and pepper with some exposed aggregate) and feel on bare feet so probably won’t go to 80.

Question: My concrete after the grind is white! So white it’s blinding. Is this normal after a grind? If it’s wet it’s grey and the aggregate ‘pops’.

On completion I wanted to apply densify/hardner followed by a penetrating natural sealer, but looks as though we will have to go with a slight gloss to darken it.

Thoughts?

P.S. Big job! I’ll never attempt this again. 2 days in and still have majority of driveway and all the edging still to do.

Apologies in advance. Used iPhone to type this.

 

[dadsEH]

 

[audioworks04]

Yes, concrete typically will be very bright white when course ground. It typically will darken as you get closer to polished, but I also understand your end goal here isn’t that. I would get it to the stage you want it in and use a water-based stain to get a darker gray or really any color you’d like. I say water-based because it is easier to apply especially around finish products. Then follow with a high solids roll on sealer. I recommend the high solids as opposed to a sprayable because once you have “opened up” the pours of the concrete with grinding you need a good thick protective layer, the top dense cream layer is typically the protection for rock pops.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Leaving at 40 without a decent amount of sealer will prove a nightmare to keep clean.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bigjon]

Thanks for the replies.

When I said aggregate ‘pops’, I meant it looked good. They’re not coming out. It’s just if it’s not wet they get lost in the ‘whiteness’.

I always planned on using a sealer, just didn’t want to use a topical acrylic again. Was thinking more a penetrating sealer after I harden and densify.

I will post some pics but when I have time to turn on PC.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi, Ghostshield densifier/sealer would be a good choice for this.

 

[bigjon]

Decided to go to 80 grit. Beyond my scope so have a contractor coming out this week to finish. He will grind again to expose more stone. He will also apply the densifier/hardner (potassium).

Ghostshield doesn’t appear to be available over here. Looking at Rockstar Natural Stone Sealer or Starseal EF. Any thoughts on these?