Do - it - Yourself Concrete Acid Stain

The General Procedure for Acid Stain Application

1.Apply one strip of 2” blue painter’s tape to your baseboards at the floor level all around your work area. Next, apply another strip of tape on top of that one, about 1” from the floor level and don’t stick the top 1” down. Come back with a roll of 18” plastic (the cheap, thin stuff) and stick it to the top of the tape. Extend it up your wall and attach it with small pieces of tape to all your electrical outlets and anything else that the tape won’t pull the paint off of.

2.Remove your carpet, linoleum, vinyl, or tile. Scrapers are available for removing hard floors. You can rent a power or manual scraper or buy a manual from Home Depot, Loew’s, etc. Remove as much as possible at this point. every scrap if you can.

3.Carpet tack strips can be pried up, but they will leave small divots in the concrete. You can also cut the wood part off with a chisel and grind the nail off flush with the concrete to reduce divots. We prefer filling holes with ZipCrete, but it isn't easy to find. Any patches will probably be a different shade than the rest of the floor.

4.If the linoleum or tile glue is yellow or white it is probably water based, so apply hot water and let it soak for about 10 minutes. Use a black pad on a buffer and a small amount of cheap playground sand (for extra grit) and remove it. ANY PAINT, DRYWALL MUD, VARNISH, GLUE, OR OTHER FOREIGN SUBSTANCE LEFT ANYWHERE WILL SHOW THROUGH THE STAIN!

5.If the tile glue is black, apply a glue stripper, let it soak, then remove as much as possible with scrapers. Once that is done, in a WELL_VENTILATED ROOM, pour thinner in a small area (about 20 sf) and buff over it with a black pad. Immediately spray it with water and wet vac it up. Dispose of the goop in the proper manner as it contains nasty stuff that shouldn't go in the garbage. Only work with old black glue while it is wet (and wear a mask) as it may contain asbestos. ANY PAINT, DRYWALL MUD, VARNISH, GLUE, OR OTHER FOREIGN SUBSTANCE LEFT ANYWHERE WILL SHOW THROUGH THE STAIN!

6.If there is paint, drywall mud, etc under the carpet usually water and a 60 grit sand screen will remove it. Be patient. Scrape along the walls with a 4” razor blade scraper. ANY PAINT, DRYWALL MUD, VARNISH, GLUE, OR OTHER FOREIGN SUBSTANCE LEFT ANYWHERE WILL SHOW THROUGH THE STAIN!

7.Wet vac as you go. Use water, water, water. Do not let water accumulate along your base boards for long periods of time. This can come back to bite you when you stain and/or seal. If you have MDF (medium-density fiberboard) base boards, be very conscious of the amount of water along them. It will ruin them if they soak up water. If your floor has none of the above stuff on it, use a black pad and some water and quickly buff over it to remove dirt, etc that has been there for years. You’ll get a better stain job.

8.Patch any holes you want to patch with a cementitious concrete patch. We prefer ZipCrete but even use Quikcrete because it stains pretty well.

9.If you plan on scoring your floor, now is the time. We use a 5" Jepson tile saw, but a 7 ?” worm-drive saw will work. Use a continuous rim diamond wet/dry blade on the saw and a 5” Makita grinder with a 3 3/8” or 4” continuous rim diamond wet/dry blade. Be very careful with these saws! Even though you can’t see “teeth” on the blades, they cut through your thumb like butter (been there, done that). You can use a non-worm drive saw, but it will burn it out rather quickly (you can probably do a few floors). Chalk the lines with purple chalk because sometimes the red and/or fluorescent doesn’t want to come back up off the floor. Freehand the small cuts, circles, and irregular cuts with the grinder. Long cuts should be made with the bigger saw and a guide. Have someone hold a wet vac in front of your saw while you cut to vaccuum up some of the dust you will generate.

--To make a guide: Take a section of Hardiboard siding 1/4"x10"x12' and 1"x4"x12' Hardie trim board. Lay it flat. Measure how far your saw blade is from the saw base and screw the trim board onto the siding so that the blade hangs over the edge. The saw body should run along the trim board to make straight cuts.

10.When sawing is complete, wash the floor down again and either scrub like hell around the saw cuts or run your buffer and pad over it to remove any loose concrete dust. Be sure to vac all the cuts, pits, holes, and gouges with an attachment so you leave no extra water in them. Also use an attachment to vac along the baseboards so as to pull any water out from under them.

11.Fill an acid-resistant garden sprayer (gray pump-up Craftsman from Sears Hardware) with how ever much stain you need (coverage is roughly 400 ft² per gallon). Spray in circles while brushing in circles. Don’t let your stain get in the area for the other color, if doing 2 colors. Do the edge of any borders with a spray bottle and a paintbrush, then start with the big sprayer and broom. YOU MUST STAIN WET ON WET OR THERE WILL BE A NOTICEABLE SEAM. Don’t let the edge of one application dry, then go over it with another application. If you do, you have applied 2 coats to the overlap and it will show.

12.Let the stain dry. If you are doing a 2^nd color apply it once the borders of the 1^st color have completely dried. This helps prevent bleed across the colors and this is why you scored a demarcation line between the colors. Put on a 2^nd coat the same way.

13.Wait. Drink a beer or iced tea. Don’t watch it dry, it’s boring. No, the color the stain is when it dries is not the color the finished floor will be. While your floor is wet (during wash down), that is close to the color it will be when sealed. If you don’t like it you can still add another coat once it dries.

14.After your staining is complete and the stain is dry, add 1/2 cup of baking soda per gallon of water, stir it and spread liberally across the entire floor with a broom (every inch, edges too). Add copious amounts of water and vac it up while scrubbing with a broom. Vac while scrubbing so that you vac up the stain residue while it is floating in the water. Not sweeping, not brushing, not swirling... SCRUBBING.

15.Wash (with only water - you now have to remove the baking soda), scrub, and vac again.

16.Yes, one more time. Seriously.

17.Put fans on it or whatever and let it dry bone dry, probably at least 12 hours.

18.If the area is big enough, roll on the sealer with a 3/8” nap roller. If it isn’t that big, use a paintbrush. Put on 2 THIN coats. Not 1 THICK coat. Two THIN coats. You can mix and match roller and paintbrush as necessary. Don’t over roll it as you will cause bubbles. If you see bubbles that aren't going away (be patient, they are slow to disappear), backroll with a 1/4" nap roller. The streaks will go away, no worries. Again, wet on wet, not wet on dry. Also, wear a mask, extinguish flames, open the windows (unless it’s cold and/or wet outside) ? it stinks if you are using a solvent based sealer.

19.It should dry in about an hour or two at 70°F and 60% humidity. It needs to be completely dry before you put on the 2^nd coat. To apply the 2^nd coat, do it in only socks. I mean no shoes, not naked in socks. Do it in socks in case you step on a tacky spot. Your shoe will take the tacky 1^st coat off, your sock won’t hurt it.

20.You are done when the 2^nd coat is fully cured. You can walk on it when it's dry, move furniture on it usually in 48 hours.

21.Ain’t it purty? Drink beer (or iced tea) and invite your neighbors over to see your masterpiece.
 
 

22. If you want to wax, apply 2-3 THIN coats of wax with a synthetic hair mop (they sell them at Home Depot and NO, cotton is NOT synthetic). Wring your mop out till only damp, lay flat on floor, and drag in straight lines across the floor from wall to wall. Each coat should dry in 15-30 minutes. If you want to further harden the wax coat, when completely dry, buff with a white pad till glossy.
 
 

23. Once again, admire your work and BE PROUD!.

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