Five Steps to Acid Stain Concrete

 

Acid stain is a popular concrete coating that is most preferred by homeowners. It is also recommended that we have a professional do this for us but it is not unheard of for the homeowners themselves to do it on their own. While it can be learned, it is not an easy task and will probably make you do a couple more tries before you can finally perfect it. Though staining your concrete floor is a tough process, we can simplify things by discussing it in five steps.

1. Prepare Your Materials

Like all jobs that requires timing epoxy flooring orange county on your part, you need to prepare all the materials you need. Eliminate the possibility of panicking and ruining the job just because you forgot to buy baking soda or cleaning finish. Don't forget to prepare some protection for yourself, too, like putting on safety goggles and rubber gloves. Other necessary materials would be the acid stain, a sealer, concrete cleaner, brushes, broom, roller, sprayer, and other tools that you think may come in handy.

2. Cleaning the Area

When you've gathered all the materials, the next sure thing to do would be to start preparing and cleaning the area to be coated on. Acid stain is semi transparent so you have to make sure that the whole area is clean and devoid of dirt and dust particles. You need to clean the area thoroughly. Use muriatic acid mixed in water to make an acid mix strong enough to remove unwanted particles on the floor.

3. Applying the Acid Stain

In the application on the concrete floor, you can use a roller, a sprayer, or whatever else is more compatible. There are many ways to apply the acid stain. Just remember to do this by section. Make sure the brush strokes don't contradict with each other and leave unfavorable marks as a result. Remember, do this from one section of maybe 10 x 10 ft square to another section of the same size, until you have finally completed applying the stain on the whole floor.

4. Washing Up

After the concrete has finished reacting to the acid stain, it is time to wash up. Neutralize the floor with a mixture of baking soda and water solution. This will neutralize the stain and also remove any excess residue on the floor. To make certain you have washed over the floor thoroughly, go over it twice.

5. Applying the Sealer

When the floor is completely dry, we can now apply around two to three coats of sealer. Use a paint roller. When the final coat is dry, then stay back and look at the result of your hard work!

The whole thing may seem very simple as you read this but don't be fooled. There is a reason why it is recommended that you have a professional do this job for you. The application can be dangerous, and the results can be ugly if it is not done properly. This is not saying that it is impossible for an ordinary homeowner though. You can always practice over and over until we get the right way on applying acid stain on our concrete floor.