I learned something new - acid stain

[BoxMN]

My cousin showed me to acid stain my concrete in my basement (with wirsbo/heat in floor). This is from the bathroom, where he "made" me grind in some cool grout lines to look like big tile. Now that I know how to do it, and have confidence, I am going to put a really cool pattern with BIG diagnol tiles at the bottom of the stairs out to the walkout door, when I get that far..

The "copper petina" or greenish is a bedroom, and it was and Amber color first, followed by Copper Petina, followed with a hint of some dark browns over the top. It was neat to do, but they left me to do the mopping afterward, haha!! The mopping is a hassle but certainly not hard. The little splotch in the bedroom was a spill

 

 

Edited June 20, 2016 by BoxMN

[delcecchi]

That is very cool. 

[gertds]

It looks good.I am in the midst of a home renovation right now.I thought about getting either a ceramic tile or porcelain.I read a blog that listed out the benefits of having both ( http://www.avonlearenovations.com/blog/home-renovations/ceramic-versus-porcelain-tile-does-the-difference-matter-to-you/ ). Can this acid paint be done on either of these tiles? 

[BoxMN]

I am no pro, obviously, but I am pretty sure the stain cannot be used over those, as they already have finishes on them. If it has ever been sealed or other type "finish" applied to it, the stain won't be absorbed and react with the floor/concrete. For example, even areas that had drippings of pvc cement do not react with teh stain. The acid stain has some type of chemical reaction with the content of the concrete. 

 

I do know that you can keep adding additional acid stain, or even water based stain, as long as you don't seal the floor. Just make sure to always start with lighter stain, and move to darker, as once the reaction takes place there is no going back or making a lighter color cover the darker color.

 

I did an additional room using only water based stain and it not nearly as cool looking or deep colors as the acid stain. Had I known you can add acid over water based, before sealer, I would not have added the sealer over the coatings of water based, but added more acid to change color a bit.

 

Others more knowledgeable than me can correct anything I misspoke about.

[BoxMN]

Wow Jimmy, that is awesome! You must do it for a living!