Stained Concrete Colors

Variability is the most recent trend for most home owners and architects. Stained concrete colors not only provide depth and natural color to the concrete floor but also come in different colors including Colas stain, Black stain, Malay tan and English red stain among others. These options help to create a personalized variability.

There are two types of stained concrete colors; acid based colors and water based colors. The acid based colors are limited to the subtle earth colors such as soft blue-greens, terra cottas, browns and tans. The water based colors expands the color palette with colors that range from vivid reads, purples, yellows and oranges.

Water based stained concrete colors are easy to work with and allow one to have more control of color; arrive at a color that meets one’s expectations. All you need to do is vacuum your concrete to remove loose dust and soil, scrub it with hot water to remove oils, rinse it with hot water, tape the edges of the concrete and apply the water based stained concrete colors of your choice.

While applying water based stained concrete colors, you need to start with applying a thin layer followed by the second layer at a 24 hour interval time difference to enable the stain penetrate the concrete. However, note that even though water-based colors are easier to work with than acid colors, their durability cannot match the acid based colors.

Most architects say that concrete is a perfect blank canvas that allows easy application of the stained concrete colors. Most acid stained concrete colors are a mixture of hydrochloric acid, water and the soluble acid metallic salts. Considering that concrete is porous and neutral, the colors penetrate the concrete surface and chemically react with the hydrated lime present in the concrete.

Once the stained concrete colors penetrate the surface and react with hydrated lime, acid present in the stain etches the surface slightly in order to enable easy penetration of metallic salts. The stain reacts with the concrete elements and permanently becomes part of the concrete; it never chips off, fades or peels away. The stained concrete colors produced are usually translucent and vary depending on the condition and condition of substrate applied to.

Besides lasting longer, acid stained concrete colors can be easily be applied by spraying the concrete using a pump sprayer. Unlike water based acid colors that require one to wait for 24 hours in order to apply the next layer, acid colors only require 4-6 hours. This takes lesser time than the water based colors.

The main disadvantage with acid based stained concrete colors is that one gets to use toxic chemicals that must be handled with care failure to which they can cause great harm to the person handling them. Additionally, one has to be well versed with the chemicals, know the amount of various chemicals needed to make the correct mixture in order to achieve the desired effect.