Applying water-based sealers in the wintertime can be challenging but not impossible. Certainly, all outdoor decorative concrete should be sealed with a solvent-based sealer from December-February. Though solvents are less temperature sensitive overall, they still should not be applied in freezing conditions. Water-based sealers can be used for indoor flooring projects in occupied homes or businesses under the following conditions:

For best results in dry conditions, dampen the applicator with water from a spray bottle before beginning the application. If you have a new construction project that might be difficult to heat, consider sticking to a solvent-based sealer.

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For pennies on the dollar, add that extra touch of custom color to your brick mortar. Mortar can look a boring gray but not when you include concrete pigment in the mix! Direct Colors offers dozens of color options on our gray-based chart to match any brick pattern.

Here’s a few of our most popular colors:

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Engineering schools nationwide participate in concrete canoe competitions using Direct Colors Concrete Pigment and Concrete Dye. Direct Colors has been delighted to support the efforts of young people at Michigan Technological University, University of Buffalo, UCLA and the University of Maryland.

If college students can make a concrete canoe float, what can you do with decorative concrete at your home or business? Need additional inspiration? Visit our photo gallery to see what other customers have accomplished with concrete pigment, acid stain and more.

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Adding either natural stone or glass aggregate to a polished countertop can enhance the overall appearance of any concrete countertop. Direct Colors offers both Size #1 (5mm-10mm) and Size #2 (10mm-15mm) aggregates in seven varieties. For pre-cast countertops, set up forms and trowel in a thin layer of countertop mix on the surface of the form. Broadcast the desired amount of aggregate onto the mix and press into place with a trowel or float. Apply an additional 1/4 in. of countertop mix, vibrate and add reinforcement.

For poured-in-place countertops after pouring and floating, broadcast the desired amount of aggregate onto the surface and trowel in. After waiting for the necessary curing period, begin polishing with a 100-grit pad to expose the aggregate and continue working the surface with up to a 3000-grit pad for the smoothest possible appearance.

Questions? We’ve got answers. Call us at 877-255-2656 or email at info@directcolors.com

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Liquid Colored Antique is a flexible, easy-to-work with spray-on stain that can really be applied to any concrete surface. Originally developed to restore colored and stamped outdoor concrete, liquid colored antique can be applied to textured, smooth or stamped surfaces to achieve an accented and richly colored appearance. Liquid Colored Antique is available in over 30 colors and can be applied with a pump-up fence and deck sprayer, a foam brush or roller or a sponge.

Direct Colors Tinted or Colored Sealer is a one-step color and sealer application that can be used indoors or out on smooth or textured concrete. Any of our solvent or water-based acrylic sealers can be tinted to over 30 colors. Tinted sealer provides a solid, consistent coloration with some high and lowlights depending on the whether the concrete is stamped or not. Tinted sealer can be sprayed, rolled or applied with an applicator whatever is most appropriate for the surface and sealer type. Consider the level of gloss you’d like before you select a tinted sealer.

Want to try out the product before you buy? We offer kits and individual samples of all our Liquid Colored Antique and Tinted Sealer colors. Need inspiration? Visit our photo gallery to see what other customers have accomplished with our products.

Liquid Colored Antique - 623 and 844

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Direct Colors, Inc. is leading by example in Shawnee, Oklahoma! We’re encouraging members of the community to bring in their newspapers, shredded paper, boxes and other packing materials for re-use in our business.
As a company with both nationwide and international sales, we send out hundreds of packages each week and use a lot of packing, particular during our spring-summer high season.

“We want to promote reducing and re-using as well as recycling at our company. Of course, we recycle everything we can at our facility – aluminum cans and other metals, office paper, cardboard, and plastic bottles, but we want to emphasize using what you’ve already got. With every newspaper or magazine we re-use, we’re not using brand-new packing materials. Hopefully, our customers will recycle the paper rather throwing it into the trash. Then we’ve really done everything we can to cut back on waste,” says Shawna Turner, General Manager for Direct Colors, Inc.

So the next time you receive a package from Direct Colors with pages from the Shawnee News-Star or The Daily Oklahoman you’ll know why and don’t forget to recycle!

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Direct Colors exclusive Deco Gel concrete acid stain gives artists and crafters a refined alternative to acrylic paint or traditional concrete stain. The Deco Gel Patina Stain is the first of its kind, available exclusively on the new Direct Colors website.

“We have a lot of people doing artistic stuff, like freehand drawings or stencil drawings on concrete,” said Frank Turner, president of Direct Colors. “Unfortunately, liquid acid stain has a low viscosity, so it was running under the stencils that they used. You couldn’t draw a straight line on concrete because it would bleed all over the place.”

After seeing so many customers facing this problem, Turner and the team at Direct Colors began developing Deco Gel concrete acid stain. They designed it specifically for people doing close work or vertical surfaces.

“Artists can create complex designs with this gel concrete acid stain, without streaking the concrete surface,” said Turner. “You can’t do that with traditional acid stain.”

The Deco Gel Patina Stain has about the same consistency as heavy acrylic paint, and can be applied with an artist’s brush or a foam brush. Turner has even had clients draw a freehand design before filling it in with gel concrete acid stain.

Colors available for the Deco Gel Patina Stain include avocado, azure blue, coffee brown, cola, English red, and more.

“We have artists who decorate statuaries, and let’s say they want to decorate concrete frog,” said Turner. “With this gel concrete acid stain, you can make the head and the back of the frog different colors without once worrying about the color bleeding.”

Another benefit to the gel concrete acid stain is the color’s durability. According to Turner, most acrylic paints on concrete will start to crack after two years, which means they’ll have to be repainted repeatedly. A gel concrete acid stain, on the other hand, will last much longer.

“With this stuff, the color is pretty much permanent,” said Turner. “It does have to be sealed periodically to retain the intense color. Even if the sealer is gone for years, you can go back and seal it and the color will come back as it was when it was new.”

In addition to its ease of use and durability, gel concrete acid stain is fairly inexpensive. Even with the sealer, the cost for gel concrete acid stain is about 30 cents per square foot, comparable to the cost of acrylic paint.

“And because less upkeep is required, the gel will pay for itself in the long run,” said Turner.

Give your concrete crafts a rich new color that you can’t get anywhere else.

Find out what Deco Gel concrete acid stain will work best for you.

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In difficult economic times, homeowners are cutting costs with alternatives to expensive carpet and tile treatments. Concrete acid stain has emerged as a low-cost, low-maintenance floor treatment with a high aesthetic value.

“We color a lot of concrete flooring in homes now. Concrete is no longer just a base to be covered by tile or carpet,” said Link Cowen, a Shawnee contractor. “It’s becoming more popular as people get past concrete being a base product. It’s now the finished product.”

Homeowners use contractors like Cowen to transform concrete floors into unique, beautiful pieces of art with a palette of concrete acid stain and overlays from Direct Colors.

“They can’t go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and match that product,” said Cowen. “And no two are the same.”

“Direct Color’s liquid color release agent helps us do a job in one day, where other products might take two days,” said Steve Salmon, president of Salmon Concrete. “People can be walking on the floor the next day.”

Homeowners use area rugs and runners to bring foot-friendly carpeting into a room with concrete acid stain. For a different look, they can just replace the area rug rather than replacing carpeting in the whole house.

For durable, low-maintenance beauty, concrete acid stain offers sizable advantages over traditional carpet and tile floor treatments.

“The great thing about the interior concrete flooring is the ease of maintenance,” said Cowen. “There are no mortar joints like there are in tile floors. There’s not a quarter inch of dust and mildew underneath it like there is in carpet.”

Give your own floor the ease and appeal of concrete acid stain.

Browse our Concrete Acid Stain Gallery to get inspiration for your next project.

View our Concrete Acid Stain How-To section for step-by-step instructions.

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People looking for long-lasting color for their concrete walls need look no further than Direct Colors’ new Deco Gel Patina Stains, a particularly useful product for design and stencil work on concrete surfaces.

TULSA, Okla. (February 11, 2009) – For years, people have colored their concrete walls with acrylic or paints, which wear down faster than the concrete they’re covering.

Because of these durability issues, Direct Colors, a concrete stain manufacturer in Shawnee, Oklahoma, developed Deco Gel Patina Stains – gelled acid stains for concrete that become an integral part of the surface and last much longer than paint or acrylics.

Direct Colors is the only company with a gelled acid stain product on the market.

“The Deco Gel Patina Stains were designed to give concrete walls long-lasting, decorative color that’s nearly impossible to get any other way,” said Frank Turner, president of Direct Colors. “These gelled acid stains won’t bleed or run on porous surfaces, and they’re developed to work with both vertical surfaces and for close work such as stenciling and freehand art.”

Deco Gel Patina Stains are a unique formulation of blended metallic salts in an acidic, water-based gelled solution. These salts penetrate and react with the cement to deposit colors into the concrete pores. The colors in the gel stains have no pigments or resins, which creates a more effective chemical reaction and deeper colorization than other coloring methods.

Because the Deco Gel Patina Stains react with the concrete surface, they have a durability that far exceeds any paint or acrylic. As long as outdoors surfaces are properly sealed, they wear only as the concrete does, which means that homeowners won’t have to worry about the stain fading, peeling, chipping, or cracking.

It’s not just concrete walls that can benefit from gel acid stains. Deco Gel Patina Stains are also perfect for marble, limestone, statuary, and cultured stone applications.

Colors include avocado, azure blue, coffee brown, cola, and English red, just to name a few. They match all of Direct Colors’ liquid acid stain line, and can be used in conjunction with them to stain hard-to-reach areas or for quick and easy touch-ups.

“With gel stains, acid stain stenciling and design work is a snap,” said Turner. “There’s no bleeding or running, so your design and stenciling will come out looking professional every single time. With some creative application methods, you can make a work of art on your walls or floors.”

Breathe new life into your concrete walls and floors with Deco Gel Patina Stains. Visit Direct Colors online at www.directcolors.com to see all of their Deco Gel Patina Stains.

About the Company

Direct Colors, a family-owned and operated business since 2001, has become a pioneer in the decorative concrete marketplace through their innovative products and excellent customer service.

From Bass Pro Shops and multi-million dollar casinos to home and small business owners, Direct Colors provides high quality products at affordable prices to all their customers.

Contact Information

Shawna Turner
General Manager, Direct Colors
430 E. 10th St. Shawnee, OK 74801
405-275-6657
877-255-2656
shawna@directcolors.com
www.directcolors.com

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