Stains you won't want to remove
There aren't many times when a stain becomes something desirable. However, when it comes to concrete that?s exactly the case. Concrete stains can be used in many different applications from floors to countertops, indoors and outdoors. You may not find...
Although Gonzalez and his father completed all the staining with just a two-man crew, the prep work for the project called for a little extra help. Before any staining could be done, the entire area was diamond grinded to prepare the surface and remove anything that was not part of the concrete. Unique Concrete Systems decided to hire some extra help so they could get the prep work done faster, Gonzalez says.
"There was one or two guys working an HTC grinding machine, and they did most of the prep work. And we were right behind them doing the rest of the work," he says.
When the prep work was done, the staining could begin. The job was done in nine sections, Gonzalez says, with the largest one consisting of 30,000 square feet. A 15-gallon tank with a 12 volt battery powering a pump was used to spray on the stain. For smaller, more detailed areas the stain was applied with brushes.
After staining was complete Gonzalez says they used water and baking soda to neutralize the concrete. The water and baking soda worked quickly allowing Gonzalez to pressure wash the concrete right away without having to wait. "It's not something that takes that long. It's just wash and rinse. What takes the most time is the drying process," Gonzalez explains.
Once the concrete was dry, Gonzalez and his father used paint rollers and paint brushes to apply a polyurethane, solvent-based acrylic sealer that was manufactured locally in Finland. Gonzalez says the sealer worked so well that no wax coating was required for the job.
The biggest challenge Unique Concrete Systems ran into while working on Ideapark was the different aggregate that is used in Finland. Gonzalez says the aggregate is much darker than aggregate used in the United States. "We had a really hard time staining the concrete because it wouldn't stain. Every color would turn very, very dark, especially the blues and greens. Those stains are very difficult to get on the dark concrete," he says. "In reality there was nothing much we could do. There were times when we had to reapply. If there were areas that we stained in blue, and if they wouldn't react, we would just do a sprinkle effect of another color that would just give it a different effect."
Ideapark was no small project, especially for two people. But the size of a project isn't necessarily what the employees of Unique Concrete Systems pride themselves on. "What separates us from other competition is we do very specific work, very artistic work," Gonzalez says. All the staining designs for Ideapark were created by Unique Concrete, and it is just one example of the artistic work the company is capable of.
Floor Seasons; Las Vegas, Nev.
www.floorseasons.com
To Cary Grant and the employees of Floor Seasons, staining is not just another option for concrete but an art. "We really specialize in putting down art, logos, saw cutting and awesome designs like eagles, sundials and random blocks and using different additives like ironite, pennies and Miracle-Gro," Grant says. Floor Seasons, which was started seven years ago by Grant and his wife, is a family business (Grant's brother Jon is the field supervisor) that does concrete staining for commercial and residential customers in both Nevada and Arizona. Floor Seasons works on interior and exterior projects on new concrete as well as tenant improvements, Grant says.
A few months ago, Grant completed a 4,000-square-foot staining job for Visions, a hair salon in Las Vegas. The job took five days to complete and used approximately 4 gallons of L.M. Scofield stain.
The salon floor had a lot of cutouts where plumbing had been put in, and they were perfect to incorporate into the random block design Grant had planned. Grant also used the existing expansion joints to help create the blocks. The design called for smaller blocks in the lobby of the building. The blocks then get larger as you go toward the back of the building.
Grant used acid-based stains for this project. Four gallons of a diluted Padre Brown stain were used over the entire floor. To give the design more dimension, black or Fern Green stain were added to some of the blocks. Grant said he also used ironite in some squares to give the design yet another visual dimension. The ironite creates a spotted effect in the concrete, he says. The ironite dots get darker than the color around it, but the concrete still remains flat.
