concrete colorant or stain

Woooosh,

I'm very interested in the acid stain method. Any way you could post some pictures of your project? What was the age of the concrete you stained?


Ken

Here are pictures from Woooosh of his stained floors.

Beautiful home Woooosh, wish you had higher res photos to see the floors better.





[Edited on 1-29-2010 by tripledigitken]

woshhhh

thats some BIG fish tank

is that where you eat the sushi?

do the fish get excited

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob and Susan woshhhh thats some BIG fish tank is that where you eat the sushi? do the fish get excited

240 gallons. There was a snowflake moray who would eat the sushi out of your hand I got tired of going back up just to feed the fish and do the tank work. Once I finished the Baja house I put that one on the market. Sold it with the fish in the tank. I figured for what they paid- they deserved to get the fish in the tank too... (Obviously before the market turned south)

Sorry Ken. No better photos. I had to scan those and that's the best resolution I could get. The brown really looks like distressed leather up close and the color penetrates a quarter inch down or so (yes we chipped a spot and the color was still there). We finished the stain with a diamond-coat plastic, but many people use waxes instead. You need to use a rotary floor buffer/polisher a few times a year to bring it back to life.

[Edited on 2-13-2010 by Woooosh]

Here's two more Woooosh sent me.

From "Home and Garden" no less!

Nice work Amigo.

The architect set that stuff up, not me. I got very tired of the gawkers and student tours after it won an AIA award (honor prize). They had it on HGTV Dream Homes as well- which is where the buyer saw it. All that stuff is great for some people, but it really wasn't my thing. We used the same architect for the baja house- but said no to the circus that wanted to follow us down. I have a face made for radio anyway...

Concrete stain

I had a gallon of blue in the garage. Not sure why I didn't use it all. Maybe I liked the sample test with the Kemiko Blue stain better. I am fairly sure the colors I used throught the house were Kemiko: Cola, Blue and Forest Green. They used to have a "sampler" (small bottles) of all the acid colors. That was helpful in doing color tests.

http://thestainstore.net/concrete/index.php?page=shop.browse...

The brown under the overhang is the same Cola color of the living area. There were exterior blinds protecting it from direct sun and weather. The blue on the deck was fully exposed to the elements. But why would a permanent acid etch color be a problem outdoors? We did use a UV blocking plastic coat mixed with xylene for deep penetration into cracks.

Try asking The Stamp Store. These guys are very nice (doug banister) and respond fast to e-mails. They even do one-day training seminars at locations all over the country. I'd just ask them your outdoor stain question. Let me know how it goes.

www.thestampstore.com

[Edited on 2-2-2010 by Woooosh]

[Edited on 2-2-2010 by Woooosh]

done

Is there a concrete stain or acid wash that can give me this color?

Hope you don't mind if I join your thread to ask a question Luckyman.

Have you guys with concrete experience ever worked with a product that can give me this sandy-tan color(s)? Our mason will make moulding like this out of concrete and use a styrofoam piece to shape it. I'd love to use this stone but transportation to my location would be $$$.

In the past he used grey concrete/black sand. Should he use white concrete and or white sand?

oladulce--here's a pizza oven I just built in the backyard---the final coat was made with the tan sand, grey portland cement, a little lime, and powdered color at a rate of about 2 pounds per 90 pound bag of cement. The counter walls are buff, the counter tops are terra cotta, and the oven is a golden color...we're waiting for it all to cure, then we might put an acid stain on it. The buff color seems closest to your Canterra stone.

Mexitron, your BBQ area looks great with your stonework. Your "buff" color looks like a good base to start with and I like the idea of using an integral product. What brand did you work with?

Brickform that Diver spoke of has some nice natural tan-ish colors and Capt Mike's Cohills looks interesting.

My only acid staining experience was using a Scofield product on these concrete top cap moldings and scuppers. There were no natural browns or tan color options to choose from and this wasn't quite what I was shooting for, but oh well. It was good practice.





The black sand they use here for most concrete mixes come from a local riverbed, white sand has to be "imported" from La Paz (about 200 miles). I'll have to get a current price quote to compare.

You mentioned diluting a stain to apply over a base color- an acid stain?? What would you dilute it with?

My only other concrete coloring experience was the floors in our casita. I showed the mason a picture of a tan/buff color floor that I liked and he came back from the Comex paint store with baggies of black, yellow, and red powders -very basic plain colors. I was skeptical, but we played around with the powders and he mixed test batches in to white sand and white cement and came up with a nice smooth tan color.

But the day of the floor pour evolved in to the night of the pour when the concrete wasn't drying as they had expected and the resulting color was quite a bit different than the samples we'd made. The poor mason told my husband he tossed and turned all night worrying that I'd be very disappointed. Turns out, I loved it and to this day think it's the coolest.



But there's no way we could re-create the effect if we tried it again. Which is what I've learned about coloring concrete, floors especially- results can be unpredictable for a novice which is a little scary considering the permanency of the medium. If you hated your results, you're looking at them for a very long time.