Piper,
It is very unlikly that the floor was stained either with acid or water based stain and not sealed. It really could not be done becasue it would so bad you would no it was not sealed, the sealing brings out the color and iniformity. Try this in an area.
- Go to Home Depot and get a wax striper, a gallon of Xylene some TSP substitute.
- Use a rag and the wax striper to take off the wax if there is any.
- Use a rag and the xylene to take off the sealer if there is any
- Use a rag and TSP solution to clean the floor and then rinse it twice with clean water.
Now, splash some clean water on the floor. How does it look wet? This is how the floor will look sealed. When you wax a sealed floor it does not add color it adds a little shiny uniformity and protection of the sealer. The reason a floor breaks down is because the wax wears of then the sealer wears off then the stain comes up. I don’t care if it is acid based or water based they all come up if they are not protected by sealer and wax.
To find stains in your area go to Google and type in “decorative concrete” and “supplies” there will be a place near you.
I say go these places because they can give you, a do it yourselfer, good advice. You can also find these products at WhiteCap, Sherwin Williams. Also do a search for ONE by NCL and you will find a distributor in your area.
Jokergerm,
There is no oil based stain for concrete. Well let me say this, I don’t want to be one of those “there is no such things” posters. I have been in the decorative concrete business since 2006 and have not heard of oil based staines for concrete. You might mean acetone, alcohol or acid based stain but there is no oil based stain for concrete. Staining a floor seems easy and it can be, but you have to prepare the floor for the stain. I just did a dance studio with a water based stain and acrylic solvent sealer and it turned out awesome. Its like pizza ovens, when someone says what makes the best pizza, it’s all in the configuration for what type of pizza you want to make.
As to water based sealers, they have there place. There are some locations where you just can’t use a solvent based sealer because the smell and flammability of the fumes is just to much.
You said if you etch it it will last forever. Etching the concrete invovles opening up the pores of the concrete with muratic acid and then staining it so the stain can penetrate further. Have you ever done this and then cut the concrete to see how far that stain went in? Try about the depth of 6 pages of paper. the ONLY way a floor will last forever is keeping it sealed and waxed. Like pizza ovens there are people in decorative concrete that only use non-reactive stains like- water, acetone or alcohol and there are those that only use reactive acid based stains because they think the acid in the stain etches the concrete. And it does, but the reality is the floor only stays protected by sealer and wax.
And lastly let me show what Kemiko stains has on their website referring to acid stains. “This specially formulated stain chemically bonds metallic ions with the lime component in the concrete to form various colors that are
permanent.” Yes this is true the top couple of mil’s of the concrete surface is transformed to that color in a chemical reaction. The reality is that without sealer that permanent color will wear off down to plain grey concrete.
