Decorate Your Concrete Surfaces with Dyes and Stains
Decorative concrete flooring has completely ascended over the years. Homeowners and a multitude of businesses, big and small, have shown a keen interest in coloring their concrete surfaces. Your concrete floors provide you an opportunity to become creative and absolutely transform the surface of your floors to appeal any style or pattern that you may desire.
Concrete dyes and stains produce earth tone and vibrant colors on concrete and cementitious overlays. There are a few important factors to consider when you dye or stain your concrete floors. Some of these factors include determining the type of cement your coloring, selection of pigment, water content, mixing, and finishing techniques to achieve a beautifully decorated surface. Listed below are different types of decorative styles you can choose from for your concrete floors:
Stamped Concrete
This is an extremely popular flooring choice because the process consists of the concrete surface being patterned or textured, which ultimately provides you with your own individual style. Stamped concrete is able to resemble other building materials making it a less expensive alternative to those other authentic materials. Stamped concrete is commonly used for patios, sidewalks, driveways, pool decks and even some interior flooring.
Acid Staining & Water-Based Staining
Acid staining is not a dyeing or pigment-base coloring system, but a chemical reaction. A mixture of water, mineral salts and a slight amount of muriatic acid is applied to the concrete surface. This chemical reaction creates earth tone colors on the concrete. Acid staining creates a variegated or mottled appearance that is unique to each slab. Water based stains are similar to acid based stains in the sense that one can still achieve a translucent look like acid. Some stains are able to achieve an opaque color and/or a translucent effect. The main difference is that acid stains react to the concrete and change the physical makeup of the concrete material, whereas water based stains are more of a coating that bonds with the concrete. There are many variations of water based stains that have come into the decorative concrete industry that perform in a number of different ways.
Dry-Shake Color Hardeners
Dry-Shake Hardeners are hand broadcasted on the concrete surface and come in a wider array of hues and integral colors, including various shades of blue and green. Because the color is concentrated on the surface, it tends to be more vibrant.
Integral Coloring
Another popular method for coloring concrete is integral coloring admixtures. These admixtures infuse the top layers of the concrete with rich, long-lasting, fade-resistant color. This layering of color is what enables them to replicate multi-tonal appearance of natural stone.
