Several clients want us to consider doing staining and engraving of basement floors. New to us. How difficult and is it worth getting into? We do not do concrete.
Edited 3/6/2006 3:25 pm ET by Rackman
Several clients want us to consider doing staining and engraving of basement floors. New to us. How difficult and is it worth getting into? We do not do concrete.
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Replies
stay away from it. its not forgiving, what you get is what you get.
my opinion... it's simple... it's easy... there is no "magic" the first things i ever did with no instruction looked and continue to look good... the beauty of concrete art is... you don't know what you'll get... but it always has character... you can get into this for less than $500 and thats way more than i ever spent... same deal with concrete countertops.... but then i happen to like concrete... it's like make'n your own rocks which usually takes god...
p
my biggest problem is, the first slab was suppose to be tan but came out dark brown,. The lady of the house, said ,Redo it. I dont like the color, too dark. not paying. Sorry lady, that it, no second chance. Too many finky women to make money at it.. 2+3=7
I would think you'd have to spell it out real clear... what you get is what you get... there is so much that affects the color and the consistantsy of the color that I think people would just have to be told... you get what you get...
I think if your are to score a pattern then you have a little more control as you usually stain each section by itself... I have restained over a dark color and made it lighter... never thought it'd happen...
I've stained 60yo slabs and 6 day old slabs.. and was happy with the results.... any time i can get a finished floor for less than 20 cents a sf (not counting the concrete that has to be there anyway) I'm a happy puppy
p
Mr. Bagg, was this a floor or countertop where the lady wasn't happy because the end result was too dark? I would think that an easy and simply protection would have been to either make some samples (1'x1' or larger) and present them for final determination.
Also, it would be relatively simply to come up with a shade chart and disclaimer to let the HO know that any time and materials spent in the customer development stage would be at the customer's expense therein. That way if you had to re-do the job (kind of difficult if it was a floor) its at the customer's expense--meaning more money for you.
Hard to make up samples of unknown concrete.
Joe H
Thanks, guys, I think will try some samples on my garage floor and see what happens. Any suggestions on suppliers??? Thanks again.
Kemiko is the standard has a great website. Stay away from their wax finish though (masking tape marks it) stick with urethane finishes. We just had a great outcome with standard Minwax floor finish. Copperas is an acidifying soil conditioner that comes in powder form from nursury houses and works quite well at much less cost. All acid stains work better on older concrete, at least the 28 days cure time. You need to keep nail gun oil and panel adhesive off the slab if you expect to have a nice outcome.I always try to steer people away from stained concrete to tile on concrete and let them know that there are basically two types of concrete, concrete that has cracks and concrete that hasn't cracked yet. If they go with the stained concrete make sure thay understand that it is an economy finish and that they will not really know what it looks like until it is done. All that said we have had many clients who love the stained concrete floors we've done for them. They are especially sweet with the radiant floor option. http://www.heatinghelp.com si good for radiant info.
Thanks, I feel positive about this and realize that there is a learning curve and we must educate the people whom we work with and for, so they understand what they are getting. we do alot of referrel business and want to keep these people happy. Again thanks for the help.
http://www.miracote.com has two types of stain. The usual nasty stuff that requires neutralizing and washing and another that is self neutralizing and has little order. Lots and lots of color choices. I understand they distribute thru WhiteCap among others.
I made sample boards to test the colors of stain by using the Miracote Protective Coating (what they call MPC). Its a polymerized cementitious protective coating that looks and acts like ceement. Trowel (roll, brush, spray) this on a 2' x 2' 1/4 masonite board and its almost like your floor - without the contamination, spills, dings, chips, and such that give it character.
Pete, can you help identify which of the product lines on the miracote website are self-neitralizing?
The Mirastain II product .
Note that is is more of a pigmented stain like Minwax is on wood. It is applied and let dry before sealing.
The Mirastain I line is the usual acid /metalic based product that uses the acidic chemical reaction to cause the color. That has to be neutralized to stop the reaction and then washed to remove the resultant unbound salts (that always occur between acids and bases).
I've noticed the Mirastain I colors are more vibrant. But much of the final appearance depends upon the sealer used. At the installation school, they had us playing with multiple color combinations to achieve certain appearances.
They offer probably 10 or 12 different sealers. Each has it's place in the application world. One should understand the uses of the stained area, whether there is a moisture issue present (and how much), VOC issues, and ultimately how the customer wants it to look - matte, gloss, wet, dry, etc. Their customer service people can help figure out what's needed.
We must remember that concrete composition, finishing, and curing are all different. How a particular piece of concrete reacts to these stains can be highly variable. Notice the disclosures in their products sheets.