Patio concrete staining

Helping you learn more about Patio concrete staining.

When working with chemical stains, almost any concrete will do. No matter the age or the color, chemical stains will react with the lime in the concrete to create a beautiful array of colors and textures. Another common name for chem. staining is acid staining. The staining salts are suspended in an acidic solution meant made to react with the lime content.

The reactions will affect the concrete generally, in 3 ways:

To create a black surface, a brownish surface, and a blue-greenish surface.

The solution works into the concrete surface, react with the lime and create a permanent color. There are a number of factors that will decide exactly how much color and the depth or shade is visible in the end product. Things like the age of the concrete, if any admixtures were used, if the concrete is wet when you stain it, even the humidity can affect the results.

Some other factors include what went into your concrete when it was laid. Some accelerators with chloride compounds in them will cause blotches and spotting, so you should be careful and keep that in mind to avoid a mottling affect. Aggregates with a strong calcium base will take the color much more efficiently then siliceous based, because it’s mostly the calcium that the stain reacts with.

How was your concrete flattened? Did you use a float on it and then a light troweling, or did you just use a metal trowel on it? The first method tends to take deeper colors better because that creates what’s called an “open finish” On the other hand, though, open finished concrete tends to lose the edge of the color quicker, as it wares away faster then hard troweled surfaces. Moisture tends to create deeper, richer colorings.

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