staining concrete

[deerhunter88]

Guys, im getting mixed answers so thought i would come to the pros. I have 1200sf of concrete (indoor) that i want to stain, and another 600sf thats under an awning. Cement is 4 months old. I know the cement must be cleaned propely but does it need to be acid etched? Im told when it comes to staining the acid etch takes away the lime content in the cement and the lime is what the stain reacts with. Any help is appreciated. I plan on cleaning the floor on friday and applying the stain on saturday.

 

[joes169]

Correct, no acid etching for reactive stains, acid staining included, for all of the reasons you mentioned.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

If your go water based stain then you will need to etch.

If acid-stain then you should be ok. Be sure to neutralize before sealing.


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[deerhunter88]

how do you neutralize before sealing.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Ammonia or baking soda diluted in water.

 

[rburke65]

Be sure to post pictures when finished!

 

[Manganos]

Yes Please post pics. I have 7 itesms in my legacy industrial shopping cart but I'm hesitatnt to pull the trigger I wanted expoy at first but I'm worried about tire pickup. I'm in the market for a new toy and more then likely it will be a Viper with some soft compound tires. I'm thinking the acid staining and sealing might be the way to go!

 

[Marctrees]

I am telling you- I did ridiculous amount of research a few years ago about the "Acid Etching"

After all that, we bought like 40 lb bags of Citric Acid powder from a local bulk chemical house.

Cheap.

I have NO understanding why it is not more widely used and obvious.

Even if you Google, it is relatively unknown.

But believe me, it is THE way to go.

Needed to do 1100 sq ft in an enclosed sheetrocked new house.

Mixed it w water, I don't recall the dilution sorry, poured it on and worked it around -- WEARING OPEN SANDALS, FEET GETTING SOAKED WHOLEEEE TIME.

You can tell it's doing it's work, evidenced by "fizzing".

NO NO hurt to my foot skin, OR noxious fumes.

You still want some air flow, but NOTHING like Muriatic or similar.

Like TOTALLY non offensive, and does the SAME job.

If you search DEEPLY and discern, you will see commercially sold etching liquid w a citric base (not on label or obvious)

I cannot recommend this method more, it worked awesome, and in no way offensive or injurious.

Like any other acid, lots of dilution rinsing, floor squeegee, and wet shop vac, Marc

 

[Marctrees]

We did not do any "neutralizing" past numerous rinsings.

Then used a water thinned out latex paint in a sprayer for color.

Then applied one of the Sonneborn sealers, 5 gallon pails, (There are about 5 different ones to choose from, we got one that was more Gloss w a thicker build, do not recall the stock #)
poured it on , spread w a paint roller on a stick (kinda like a varnish made for concrete)

Of course, we let the floor dry for a number of hot days after the paint tint, before the sealer.

Done.

Lasted for at least 3 years, then we sold the place. Marc

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

We have a water based stain coming out in a few weeks. Whoops the pants off the reactive stains with many more color options!!


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[jives]

We were users of a new Rustoleum water based stain in our new house. Litterally took two days to prep . .. clean, etch, clean, rinse, rinse, rinse. Dried for a month under cardboard. It never set. Failed miserably. Money refunded. Still living with a floor that melts when wet and wears like putty. Waiting until we are empty nesters before re-doing.

 

[deerhunter88]

first we mopped with a good degreeser, hosed out, and mopped again.
first two coats were a 25% cola stain. 3 coat is a 10% black stain.
After the stain we mopped twice using a PH mix the floor people sold me. It was cheap and can be used to clean the floors from here on out.
I have 3 coats of sealant on it. After putting the second coat of sealant on it i put a fan on it to fast and it caused some of the sealant to pool up in spots. I went mess with family some and when i got back i had white spots in the floor from the sealant. didnt look bad but i broke the big spots up and put another coat on top of it.
I will do one more coat of sealant this evening when i get home from work.

 

[RPH]

Looks good, wonder why more people don't stain. Did my 2100 square feet and wouldn't do concrete any other way. It was that easy.