Stained concrete on 26 year old slab

[snorky18]

Looking for some advice from someone who knows more about concrete chemistry than me, which is probably a good portion of you.

I am considering staining the concrete in our (finished) basement, laundry room, and garage. Basically the whole downstairs of our house. I've researched lots, and I see lots of really pretty pictures, but what I'm wondering is if the stain will look as good on a 26 year old slab? Seems like all the stuff I read is about people staining it relatively soon after construction. Will the old slab even be affected by the stain? Or would I need a thin overlay of new material that would accept the stain more readily?

Our basement floor had the same layer of carpet over it for all 26 years till we pulled it up recently (can you say "dust mask"), so lots of dust on the floor but no stains to speak of.

The garage on the other hand.... I think the guy who lived there before us probably never had to change his oil, just add more, b/c there are some substantial oil stains. Any idea as to if I would be able to clean those up enough for the stain to look "normal" in those areas?

Thanks.

 

[premierguy]

I would think your main goal to be “Color Brilliance”.

Have you considered any other options for your Basement Floor?

 

[snorky18]

Color brilliance would be nice

I'm just trying to figure out if I'll get any color at all.

We've also considered various epoxy, painting the concrete, tiling, or even some kind of wood floor. Overall though I think staining the concrete would be the cheapest, and would be quite functional at the same time.

 

[tbgallant]

Curious about this as well (my stained concrete garage sealed and stained would be a nice change)

 

[SC-Eric]

Hi Snorky,

There isn't enough information to answer your question unless I've skimmed it too quickly and missed something. There are many ways to stain concrete and the answer would be different depending on what you are planning to do. What method are you looking at to stain the concrete? example... Acid Staining, Epoxy Stain, Acrylic, Silicone Acrylic, Dispersed Pigment????

 

[snorky18]

I apologize for the lack of details Wolverine.

I plan on using Kemiko stain (but I'm open to suggesitons, Kemiko is just local), I believe it is acid stain, spec sheet here:
http://www.kemiko.com/pdf/Specifications-Concrete_Floor_Stain.pdf

From that document:
Concrete Floor Stain: Kemiko Stone Tone Stain.
1. Description: Combination of acid solution, wetting agents, and metallic ions. When mixed with water, chemically combines with portland cement to form permanent colors.

 

[premierguy]

To be honest... Wolve has some good options in place of the painstaking work thats necessary for Acid staining.


Tell us about your coloring goals...

 

[thegarageguy]

Old stained concrete will not look good with stain on it. You just might have to do a microtopping over overlay, which is a polymerized cement. This would give you a new canvas to work with.

When sealing it, remember to make sure pilots are out and you have plenty of ventilation if you are using an acrylic sealer.

Not really a DIY job, in my opinion, but good luck

 

[SC-Eric]

I apologize for the lack of details Wolverine.

No need to apologize dude... I just don't want to assume one thing and it's another and then give bad advice.

Some good points... So, here is the scoop...

Acid Stains react with the top layer of the concrete that you would normally remove if you were epoxy coating. Many times, on older concrete, that layer has been damaged and the acid stain does not 'take' well. That doesn't mean that it won't on yours... it means that you should get a little bit and see if it's going to 'take'. Another way to get the same look is to use an acrylic stain and apply it with a string mop. If you kind of flop the mop around you can create the mottled look.

Either way, you need to make sure that you seal the stain well... and keep it sealed. You'll notice at some of these chain restaurants that a path is worn away in the traffic area and then it gets black. Avoid that by always keeping the sealer on there...

There isn't alot that's special about acid stains... I've never heard any real complaints about Kemiko... So, that should be a good choice.

Good Luck with your project... post up some pics!

 

[premierguy]

Old stained concrete will not look good with stain on it. You just might have to do a microtopping over overlay, which is a polymerized cement. This would give you a new canvas to work with.

When sealing it, remember to make sure pilots are out and you have plenty of ventilation if you are using an acrylic sealer.

Not really a DIY job, in my opinion, but good luck

Well, well....

Albeit, I cannot disagree with the microtopping method you have mentioned, as they do allow for much better coloration...


Could you explain to the folks what type of acrylic sealers (in conjunction with pilot lights) to be aware of?

 

[SC-Eric]

Could you explain to the folks what type of acrylic sealers (in conjunction with pilot lights) to be aware of?

I'm going to guess that he's referring to the majority of acrylic sealers for decorative concrete that contain flammable solvents. In fact, the most common of those typically contain over 70% of flammable solvents.

As far as waterborne acrylics go... almost all (if not all) contain co-solvent to aid in proper film formation. So, even though the system contains water, the vapor of the faster evaporating solvents is still flammable. The question is the concentration of those vapors. Since a portion of the normal solvents are replaced with water the vapor concentration is typically low.

One important thing to remember is that solvents are HEAVIER than air. So, they want to travel along the floor and stay low. So, open flames or sources of sparks are more dangerous at the floor than up higher.

It's a bad day when you get blown up!

 

[thegarageguy]

Thanks for explaining Wolverine, but I'm sure PremiumGuy new that and much more.