Acid Staining of Concrete Floor
Has anyone done or had done acid staining to their concrete floors such as in the atrium?
I am also interested in this as an alternative to tiling my concrete slab. It sound so attractive and the radiant heat will be so efficient. Several claim that even the ugliest most abused slab can look pretty after patching/staning. A rep from this company will be stopping by my house (in Palo Alto) at the end of the month:
If there is no response on this forum, you might want to post this on the Home Maintenance part of the forum- I think it's getting slightly more activity.
/Lynn
You may want to also check with Dave, over at Diamond D company (who apparently has been screened by the Network). They specialize in beautiful, higher end concrete flooring and resurfacing and are located in Capitola. They have done a fair amount of Eichlers and also did the floors for Sue Olsen's new showroom in Menlo Park. I cannot say whether or not they specifically do acid staining, but it might be worth a phone call. They also have a website, with samples of their work posted. It may not be considerered a low cost option, but it is certainly a beautiful one.
A neighbor of ours had her floors resurfaced (this was several years ago) and (I believe) also acid washed. They are beautiful, though she claims that if she did it over again, she would use a lighter color, since the current dark charcoal shows every bit of dust.
C
LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKE:
Concrete floors are great! but whatever you do, DO NOT seal the concrete with anything that doesn't allow the slab to breath...(polyeurethane by products) or you'll be very disappointed with welts and bubbles covering your floors! :)
Ahhh...I'm so glad you posted this because this was one of my questions. I noticed that wax is an option for a coating. Anyone have experience with wax?
Concrete slabs always have water coming off the slab. This is why anything with adhesive can be tricky since the adhesive doesn't fully cure and sort of "plasticizes" in the presence of vapor coming off the slab. Also anything that doesnt' allow the concrete to "vent" like my vinyl covered kitchen floor installed by the previous owner.
Oh...and thanks Cathye for mentioning Dave at Diamond D. I called him about a month ago. I think I will exhaust this concrete stain tangent and may eventually end up with tile but who knows...Dave seems very enthusiastic and eager.
Thanks for your posting.
/Lynn
