Stained Concrete For Interior Floors

Despite its recent popularity, stained concrete floors are really not that new. Historically, it started as far back as the 1920’s when floors were stained to liven up the look of dull concrete surfaces. Concrete staining is not like adding some color pigment to wet concrete. Instead, it is done on cured concrete. The chemical reaction of the stain (acid) and the concrete made of rocks and binding cement gives the gray colored concrete a “natural earthy” color.

There are two types of staining concrete floors – acid and water. Most acid stains are a mixture of water, hydrochloric acid and acid-soluble metallic salts that work its way below the concrete surface and reacting chemically with the hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) in the concrete. The acid in the stain lightly scrapes the surface of the concrete allowing the metallic salts to penetrate easily. Once the stain reacts, the stain now becomes a permanent part of the concrete, thus not subjected to fading, chipping or peeling away with time. The only drawback for acid staining is there is not much choice in color – only tans, browns, terra cottas, and soft blue-green to resemble natural stone, polished marble, stained wood or even tanned leather.

Similarly, with the water based staining one can still attain the same effect but unlike the acid staining, water staining is water coating that bond with the concrete and, the effect, therefore, may not be as thorough. Unlike acid staining, newer products such as the water-based penetrating stains and water-and-solvent based concrete dyes are now available in the market with colors ranging from soft pastels to vivid reds, oranges, yellows and purples.

One must keep in mind though that in choosing stain colors:

->> Expect wide color variation, especially with acid-based stains. This will become more pronounced when the final coat of sealer is applied.

->> What one sees in the liquid form may not be what one has in mind once the chemical reaction between the stain and the cement takes place. The real color will only appear when allowed to remain on the concrete for several hours or longer.

->> The color effect will be darker or concentrated on new concrete than on older concrete.

Because of these, it might be a good idea to apply the stain to a small test area first before applying on the whole floor.

What makes stained concrete unique is no two concrete floors, walls or countertops will look alike even though they are treated with the same staining product of the same shade. Factors like concrete composition and age, porosity, texture and environmental conditions contribute to this uniqueness. As such, words like “antiqued”, “variegated” or “mottled” all have come to be used to describe stained concrete.

The cost for staining concrete floors will differ depending on the work to be done: type of stain, surface preparation, area, and type of sealer to be used among others. Generally, though, given a minimum surface preparation, a basic one-coat application with sealer will cost from two to four dollars per square foot. More complex projects would up the price to about fifteen dollars per square foot or more, depending on the time and skill level involved.

The www.yellowpages.com/seattle-wa/concrete-stain lists down at least 50 concrete staining services in Seattle.

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