Do it yourself concrete staining is the cheapest and easiest way to enhance the appearance of your concrete surfaces. The other options of achieving similar looks of your concrete floor, like epoxy floor, are rather expensive and may not fall in the category of DIY project as they involve tearing of the existing floor to be covered with new or decorative overlays.But before you begin your staining project there are a few things you need to know.

There simply are two types of concrete staining namely, acid staining and acrylic staining. 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. The interesting part is that as every concrete behaves differently to acids, the stains created on one floor can’t be reproduced on another floor. Acrylic stains on the other hand are water borne pigments that seep thru the pores and adhere to the surface of the floor, thus producing a more consistent semi translucent color as if obtained from a dye. A very positive aspect of acrylic stains is that they help to conceal some of the defects or discoloration, but acid stains on the contrary, tend to highlight such limitations.

Acid and acrylic stains work equally good on many of the floors and you have to choose one, depending on the kind of looks you wish to have.

Yet, there are situations where a particular type may be found to give better results. 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 flooring. Acid stains work well with newer concrete because of the availability of free lime. A good feature of acrylic stains is that it will be able to conceal minor repairs like patches and scaling on an old floor. Any patching materials will stand out with acid stains. For smooth trowel led interior surfaces with less porosity, acid stains are usually better because they don’t require as much penetration to color the concrete.

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