Staining Concrete

[SteveB]

My concrete guy is MIA. He poured concrete, and stamped half of it. I need to clean up the job with a power washer, as he got a little fresh on old. Nothing major, and I've got a MONDO power washer.

My question is: Is staining about 1000 sf of concrete something a diy newbie can do? We did our family room, with concrete paint, mixing in gold highlights, then sealed it. It was work, but no big deal. I also want to seal it, and still have some sealer left, although I'll check with the concrete supplier before using THAT on THIS job. I can buy from the local supplier in five gallon buckets.

We want an acceptable job. He was very good, and could have given us a multicolored job, and it would probably have looked good, but he can't do dick if he don't call or show up. Damn. People screaming for jobs, and no one wants to work. What's up with that?

I suspect we'll have to go buy some big rollers, and maybe a few specialty items, but I don't see it being that big a deal.

What say ye?

Steve

[Pete C.]

Couldn't tell you about the concrete work, but don't automatically get mad at the MIA guy. I was once working on a project (remote) with a guy a couple states away and I couldn't get in touch with him to continue the project for a couple weeks. I finally got someone else in the area and promptly found out that the guy I had been working with was dead :(

Shit happens after all...

[gfretwell]

Steve, I stained my driveway and it was no big deal. The stain is usually acid based and you spray it on. Just be sure to use a sprayer rated for acid and wear the appropriate PPE, including a respirator. Avoid a windy day, park your car down the street.

[Oren]

I say yes, but I've not stained concrete on a large area.

I do HAVE wood stain I spilled on the garage floor! Its been several years now and the color remains :-))

[David Nebenzahl]

On 7/8/2009 8:47 AM [e-mail] spake thus:

So you're saying you can spray color onto existing concrete with a fighting chance of it being permanent? I'm wondering because I have a client who wants to have some newly-poured concrete in front of their house painted, and I told them that I thought that painting concrete was not a good idea.

More details? Color range?

[charlie]

there's a bazillion ways to do this.

the color acid actually causes a chemical reaction to occur. different chemicals are used for the different colors, as it's not a dye. it sinks in, so is permanent, but does wear some as the surface of the concrete gets worn down so can change colors (and can fade in sunlight).

it doesn't work well, if at all, if the concrete is acid prepped (like one does for epoxy coating) because the acid from that has already been counteracted by the alkaline concrete so there's not much left for the reaction.

here's a site that explains a lot of it:

there's a lot of sites for this.

regards, charlie cave creek, az

[Oren]

A number of youtube videos. Click the top one on this link.

[Andrew Barss]

We used this stuff on a 1000 sf house floor, and were/are very pleased with it:

-- Andy Barss