Knowing Your Concrete

Every customers tastes are different and we have a decorative concrete flooring solution for each and every one of you! Below you will find examples of different acid stained concrete variations that can occur. This article is designed to show different results that can occur when staining concrete. This should help our customers decide what type of decorative concrete flooring is right for them!

Concrete acid staining often has a misconception that you can stain ANY concrete surface and get beautiful floors like you see in the projects on our website. Concrete staining is affected greatly by the concrete surface that the acid stain is being applied to. Acid staining concrete is a chemical reaction that changes the color of your concrete. Acid staining is nothing like “paint”. Paint will cover the surface and imperfections it is being applied to.  It will not cover up any variations in the concrete such as glue swirls, ghosting from previous flooring, patched concrete, etc… Acid stain will react differently with these variations.

Ghosting – Caused by previously installed flooring  patterns showing through in the color of an acid stained floor. This occurs because moisture and gasses are constantly moving through your concrete. This moisture is not able to penetrate through areas of that flooring causing your concrete to discolor over time. (tile, linoleum, wood, glue swirls, wall deletions, etc)

 

Acid Stained Concrete Tile Ghosting
Acid Stained Concrete Tile Ghosting

Tile Ghosting Example - Micro Finish Resurfacing
Tile Ghosting - Micro finish Resurfacing and Acid Stain. We repaired this homes floor that was ghosting with a micro finish overlay system.

Solutions-

Micro Finish – If ghosting is an unwanted feature in your remodel of your concrete flooring a micro finish overlay can be installed to cover these imperfections in the concrete and give our decorative concrete artists a new canvas to work with when acid staining.

Stamped overlays – Another great solution for resurfacing concrete. Stamped concrete provides the look of natural stone and textures with many color options and limitless design possibilities.

Epoxy Flooring – Solid Color Epoxy, Epoxy Chip Flooring,  or Metallic Metal Flake Epoxy Flooring are great ways to cover any ghosting and provide you with a beautiful floor.

Spray Texture Great for exterior surfaces such as pool decks, driveways, or patios.

Patched Concrete – Since the color achieved with acid staining is a chemical reaction when applied to two different types of concrete there will be a difference in color in each type of concrete. This makes patched areas with different types of concrete stand out much more and can create an undesirable look. (ex. Carpet is in your home and when removed the tack strips that are pulled up will take a small chunk of concrete with them. If we patch this area, when acid stained the patches will be a different color than your main floor color and constancy.)

Patched areas are not the end of the world, some customers don’t mind the appearance of them and describe it as adding to the “distressed” look of the floors. If you would not like to have patched areas visible in your floor bellow is a list of our decorative concrete flooring solutions for you!

Carpet remodel - Topical Stained Border - Patched Tack Strip Holes
Carpet remodel - Topical Stained Border - Patched Tack Strip Holes

 

Acid Stained Patched Concrete
Acid Stained Patched Concrete
Acid Stained Micro Finish Floors
Acid Stained Micro Finish Concrete Floor

 

Acid Stained Decorative Concrete Glue Swirls
Acid Stained Decorative Concrete Glue Swirls

Solutions-

Borders – For areas that where previously carpeted a small border can be cut around the perimeter of the room and stained with a “topical” stain instead of an acid stain. This “topical” stain will cover the patched areas and give you a beautiful decorative concrete look that is only achievable with concrete flooring.

Micro Finish This flooring system can be installed to create a new canvas for our decorative concrete artists to work with. A micro finish flooring system can be acid stained and often creates deep and rich color variations only possible with micro finish installations.

Stamped overlays Stamped concrete is very popular with exterior applications but can also be installed on interior project as well. Stamped Overlays create the natural look of stone and can be installed with very intricate designs only possible with decorative concrete.

Epoxy Flooring – Solid Color Epoxy, Epoxy Chip Flooring, or Metallic Metal Flake Epoxy Flooring can be installed to cover patched concrete and any other imperfections.

Spray Texture Great for exterior surfaces such as pool decks, driveways, or patios. Adds a beautiful design to your concrete with great non slip characteristics.

 

It is possible to create beautiful floors with any type of concrete. We have a decorative concrete flooring system that will fit any type of expectations and budget! We create beautiful quality floors that will out last the rest! Give us a call today and find out what kind of concrete flooring system is right for you! 972-296-2173