Water based concrete stain enhances the look of the basement floors

All completed by other companies. RS Concrete Solutions received a call in March to look at the floor and provide pricing for a simple acid stain treatment, w/ concrete sealer and wax to finish. It was agreed that the contractor would prepare the surface, score decorative tile cuts at 30 inches apart on a 45º angle(as well as a small border at the base of the stairs, stain the entire floor with Walnut acid stain, seal the floor, then wax it.

The project went under way:

1. the decorative cuts were chalked out
2. saw-cuts made in the floor
3. preparation of surface, mild sanding and cleaning by wet scrub
4. application of walnut at a dilution of 3 water:1 acid

From here is where RS Concrete Solutions ran into a problem. Due to the circumstances and timing the customer and the contractor were unable to have an onsite meeting to look at the colors and confirm that it was good to seal the surface. They spoke with the customer over the phone, and based on the things they had discussed the homeowners told the contractor to use their own judgement to go ahead. So the floor was sealed with an acrylic concrete sealer that was meant for decorative stained surfaces, from a local construction supply company. Well I am not sure what happened, but when the contractor came back next day, neither the home owner nor the contractor were happy with the color on the floor. They both felt that the floor was lacking any sort of depth and was very light in appearance.

Jordan Ridsdale of RS Concrete Solutions called us to discuss the situation. We recommended Aqua Color – Mocha diluted with acrylic polymer and/or water. We suggested them to do site trials to ascertain the dilution. The contractor started out by using a mixture of 1 part water to 1 part acrylic polymer with a very small amount of Aqua Color – Mocha and tried it out on a clear piece of plastic. The water was greatly slowing down the cure time so they went with a mixture of straight acrylic polymer and mocha. After playing around with the color for a bit they ended up going with the following ratio: 1000ml acrylic polymer to 10ml Aquacolor – Mocha. A couple of thin layers of this solution was sprayed on the sealed surface to get the depth in the color. Then to add just a little more accent a mixture of 1000ml acrylic polymer to 15ml Aquacolor was sprayed in a few lighter areas.

After the Aquacolor dried, the entire floor received two coats of acrylic sealer and 2 coats of acrylic wax. Once dry the floor was ready to go. We applied 2 further coats of sealer, using the same product as before and then 2 coats of wax. The homeowner was thrilled to see a stunning finished product. Needless to say RS Concrete Solutions was pleased with the results from using water based stain, Aquacolor

Another great fan of our water based stain, Aquacolor is one of the leading decorative concrete contractor in North Carolina, Jeroen H.F. Kaijser Bolts of EURO Floors.

Please Contact Us to discuss your next water based stain project.