One of the most popular articles concerning Do It Yourself Concrete Staining was written by Mr. Kirk Muhlhauser and has been viewed over 50,000 times. We felt it was important to include it here in case you have not read this well written article.

It gives a realistic viewpoint as to what concrete stains can do for your concrete surfaces and what are the realistic expectations that you can expect.

While we believe water based polymer bonded stains are superior to acrylic stains it nonetheless explains the difference between acid stains and water based stains

Cudos Mr. Muhlhauser

Do it yourself concrete staining is the cheapest and easiest way to enhance the appearance of your concrete surfaces. The alternatives, tearing out existing concrete and replacing with new or decorative overlays, are not recommended for do-it-yourselfers and can be very expensive. But before you begin your staining project there are a few things you need to know.

There are two types of concrete stains to choose from, acid stains and acrylic stains. Acid stains work by chemically reacting with free lime in the surface to produce a natural looking, translucent color. They create a mottled, variegated, multi-hued coloring. Every concrete surface reacts differently to acids stains making each job unique. Acrylic stains are waterborne and have pigments that seep into the pores and adhere to the concrete, therefore creating a more consistent, semi translucent color like that of a dye. Acrylic stains will help mask imperfections and discolorations whereas acid stains actually accentuate them.

For many surfaces, acid and acrylic stains will work equally as well, but which one you choose depends on the look you want. However, there are situations where one type will work better than the other. For older, exterior concrete (more than 15-20 yrs old) acid stains may not work because much of the free lime has leeched away. Acrylic stains are great for old concrete because of its increased porosity over time. Acid stains work well with newer concrete because of the availability of free lime. If repairs need to be made such as patching pop outs or scaling, then acrylics may be the better choice to help disguise the repairs. Any patching materials will stand out with acid stains. For smooth trowelled interior surfaces with less porosity, acid stains are usually better because they don’t require as much penetration to color the concrete.

Before beginning it’s also important to have realistic expectations. Staining can turn dull, gray concrete into a beautiful and colorful finish, but it’s impossible to know exactly how the finished product will look, especially with acid stains. Every concrete surface is different and so will accept stains differently. The exact same stain will have two different appearances with two different slabs. Even seasoned pros can’t predict the exact outcome of a staining job. For this reason, it’s not a good idea to try to exactly match the color of concrete to anything else such as brick or siding. There’s a very good chance you won’t be successful. Instead, choose a complimentary color or shade for your concrete. For instance, if you have light brown siding, then choose a dark brown stain.

The most critical part of staining is preparation. Take time in deciding how you want your concrete to look and getting the surface ready to apply the stain. You get one shot at getting it right unless you want to do a major overhaul to the surface. Do it yourself concrete staining is not a difficult process but does require an honest effort to be satisfied your finished product.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kirk_Muhlhauser

Do It Yourself Concrete Staining: Things to Know Before You Begin is a post from: How To Stain Concrete

A. The short answer is yes, but there are a few things you need to be aware of and a few remedies to the issues you may face.

1. Your carpet may have been held down by tack strips which when you remove them will leave small holes in the concrete all the way around the perimeter of the room.
2. Your carpet was held down with glue. Now this may be glue all over and completely covering the flor or it may just be little squiggles of concrete all over the floor. The latter occurs sometimes in conjunction with the tack strip installation, ” just great two problems to deal with” is probably what your thinking right now.

Never fear I have some quick and easy solutions to both these issues. Lets first address the situation of the tack strips because this seems to be the installation of carpet that most folks have.

Removing the tack strips is not that hard as you can use just the claw end of a hammer but you may want to use a flat sided nail puller also. A hammer that has a straight claw is easier to use for this application as you can use another hammer to tap it under the tack strips and then just gently pry it up.

When all of the tack strips have been taken up you will find that you will probably have small holes all the way around the room. This perfectly normal, the next step is to brush out the holes and make sure they are clean and dry.

You will need to purchase a bucket of Anchoring Cement (hydraulic cement) and a bottle of bonding agent. Now you will need to dilute the bonding agent 1 to 1 with water, then use a small brush and coat the holes with the bonding agent and let the bonding agent dry. This diluted solution will penetrate into the pores of the concrete better than just applying the bonding agent straight.

After the bonding agent has dried mix the anchoring cement to a pancake batter consistency and  apply another coat of bonding agent to the hole and fill with the anchoring cement. Use a trowel or plastic putty knife to scrape off the top to make it flush with the concrete.

The next day use a drywall sandscreen to “sand” the surface and smooth it off. These “repaired” areas probably will not stain exactly the same as the rest of your floor. You can use acrylic paints to faux paint the spots later. That is another lesson we will touch on in another post.

This may be against what you may have already read about putting in the bonding agent. Some say put in the bonding agent and then immediately fill the holes with the anchoring cement. Over the past decade of experimenting with this procedure we have found that diluting the bonding agent and then applying a second coat before filling the holes with anchoring cement works better in keeping the cement in the holes long term. In fact our concrete staining business has never had a call back indicating that the fill material has ever come out.

Next let’s move on the address the glue on the floor if there is any. There are several products on the market that can do a very good job in removing glue such as Glu-Gon and Bean-e-doo. After using either of these products to remove the glue from your floor it is recommended that you scrub the floor with a buffer (floor maintainer) and black pad. It would also be advisable to use a sandscreen under the black pad as an extra measure to ensure that all the glue has been removed from the floor and will not act as a “resist” to the stain that you are planning to apply.

Can a Previously Carpeted Concrete Floor be Stained? is a post from: How To Stain Concrete

My husband and I are writing to you with hopes that you can answer a few questions about the concrete staining. We would like to do this to our basement floors, a last minute change as we were going to put carpet in… and because of this, we were not clean painters as we painted our walls. We now have primer and acrylic paint on our floors… what do you suggest we use to get that off before we do the stain? Also… is there a difference between concrete staining and concrete acid staining? And. I am 7 months pregnant, would you recommend that I do not assist in the treatment of the floors?

A.  If you were my wife I would not involve you in the staining process, that being said, I think it would be perfectly fine for you to assist in the cleaning of the floors if you are using a product such as Soy Gel, available at franmar.com, to remove the paint on the floors.

To actually scrub the floors for the prep stage I would just use the floor buffer with a black pad and a sandscreen under the black, this will clean the floor as good as anything. You could use a citrus degreaser such Citra Pro diluted in water and scrub the floors wet.

Make sure to shop vac the water to remove all the crud from the floor and up and out of the pores of the concrete.

I really don’t think it would be a good idea to be around when the acid stain is sprayed down and it definitely wouldn’t be a good ides to be present if you are planning to use a solvent sealer, if you are in fact using a water based sealer it would be no more harmful than painting your walls so you be the judge.

Hope this helps

John

Can I Stain My Floors While I’m Pregnant? is a post from: How To Stain Concrete

There simply are two types of concrete staining namely, acid staining and acrylic staining. Acid stains are caused by the chemical reaction with free lime on the surface and give a translucent floor with natural looks.They create a mottled, variegated, multi-hued coloring.Every concrete surface reacts differently to acids stains making each job unique. The outcome of acrylic stains is more consistent and imparts semi translucent color comparable to that of a dye because they are water borne pigments that seep thru pores and remain stuck to the surface of the floor. Acrylic stains help you to camouflage defects or discolorations of the floor, but acid stains may make them somewhat conspicuous.

For many surfaces, acid and acrylic stains will work equally as well, but which one you choose depends on the look you want.

However, there are situations where one type will work better than the other. For instance, exterior concrete older than ten to fifteen years may not be to hold acid stains as it has already lost most of the free lime on its surface. Such a concrete would give excellent results with acrylic stains because of its increased porosity over time. You can’t get this with epoxy paint. Acid stains work well with newer concrete because of the availability of free lime. If the concrete is already in need of repairs and requires a bit of patch work or scaling, it will be good to use acrylic stains as it helps to disguise repairs. Such patches would begin to look apparent on being treated with acid stains. Smooth trowel led interior surfaces with less porosity give better results on being treated with acid stains that do not require so much penetration for coloring the concrete.

Rick Maselli, Editor of LevelAdvice.com, has been a home builder and remodeler for over 40 years. He is also Founder and Editor of Showroom411.com, The #1 Home Improvement Resource on the web. LevelAdvice.com offers advice and information related to all aspects of home building and home improvement.
the original article can be found here

Learn How to Stain Concrete Floor is a post from: How To Stain Concrete

It is always best to find a closet or another out of the way place to test your stains. Tape off several squares and mark them with the color to be used in each square, this way you’ll remember which stain is which. Clean the floor with a damp cloth and allow the floor to dry for at least 2-3 hours. The floor may seem like it’s dry quickly but the water is surely still there in the pores and if you rush the process you are actually putting the stain on wet concrete and this will dilute the stain and may not give true results.

Wait for 2-3 hours for the stain to react with the free lime in the concrete and complete the color change. The next step is to simply use your wet cloth and wipe the residue of the sample sample and while the stain is wet observe the color. If the color is good nothing else need be done, but if it is not dark enough you can apply the stain again and repeat the process. This time you should only need to wait about a hour for the color change to occur.

This simple process should give you a good idea of which color to pick for your staining project.

Tape off squares and mark each colors to be used

Spread the stain with a sponge or rag and allow to sit for 2-3 hours

Concrete Stain Samples is a post from: How To Stain Concrete

The best way to prep your concrete is to scrub the floor with a floor maintainer (buffer) with a black pad. Do this pretty wet and the reason for it being pretty wet is you want to come right behind the buffer with a shop vac and vac up the sludge. This leaves the pores pretty darn clean and if you are at all unsure if the floor is clean or not do a simple “white glove” test and you will know, do it with a wet “white glove” or terry cloth towel.

We recommend you first spray the floor with a mild acidic detergent such as Dyna Blue which will not effect the staining potential of the concrete and will provide a good pre-stain opening of the pores of the concrete. Do Not Use Muriatic Acid to clean your concrete. The use of this acid will render your concrete unstainable. This is because the muriatic acid is in fact a diluted hydrochloric acid and will react with the free lime in the concrete.Iin simple terms it uses up the free lime and then the metallic salts in the stain will have nothing react with.

If you don’t have Dyna Blue then we recommend the use of TSP or a TSP substitute for cleaning with the floor buffer and black pad. The Dyna Blue will also open the pores of the concrete on a power troweled floor enabling you to stain the floor more readily and if fact use less stain and we all want to use less stain.

If you have any questions on this email us at help@concrete-floor-stains.com or call us at 770-347-7685

Concrete Stain not taking too well is a post from: How To Stain Concrete