“Going for a Marbled Granite Look” with Direct Colors Concrete Acid Stains
“I recently stained the concrete on my back porch, which had been covered in green outdoor carpet for about 30 years. After much elbow grease and with the assist of your Bean-e-doo product, I was able to apply your Desert Amber, Cola, English Red, and Sea Grass concrete acid stains.
Good floor prep can’t be emphasized enough. We had old astroturf glued to the concrete. After several passes with a scraper, Bean-e-doo, and the use of a floor sander, the concrete was ready for stain. This process was definitely more work and took twice as long, but would not have yielded our final result had it been skipped or abbreviated.
A manageable sized section at a time was worked, blending the next section in as the work progressed. All 4 colors were in their own sprayer and used concurrently. First the concrete was dampened with water. Then Desert Amber was used as a base color. On top of that, Cola and English Red were applied making sure to duplicate the graining pattern like that in marble and always blending with the next section to continue the look. Sea Grass was added as a highlighter to the pattern. Leaving areas with the Desert Amber exposed is important to the look. A good amount of all the colors was used, thoroughly saturating the concrete with the stain. This ensures you get enough color down, and helps the colors flow better. It’s not important to have an exact idea of how the whole project will look in the end, but you should have a general idea of how the graining pattern should flow. It’s difficult to imagine the final version anyway, because the actual color of the stain is one color going on and turns to the final color later. 
On this project, the porch was installed when the house was built and has a slight drain angle away from the foundation. This was used to help determine which way the graining stripes should go and the overall pattern. You can run water on the concrete and watch the flow pattern to decide how to use that to your advantage. If you do this immediately before staining, you may have to squeegee off the excess water. The final look is a sheer stain color as opposed to a painted look. Any imperfections or major stains on the concrete might show through. These things can be worked into the overall design, if needed.
I was going for a marble-granite look, and got it. Many thanks to the several conversations with your technician, Frank. I wanted you to see the results.”
Tina N.
Texas
What’s the benefit of wetting the concrete first? Did you leave bare areas then use the Amber to fill them in last?
It looks amazing! Like real marble.
Tina completed her project this summer and during the heat of the Texas summer, wetting the surface helps the stain to better penetrate concrete and increases acid stain reactivity in dry or windy conditions. As far as the application goes, you could begin with a base coat of your lighest color and build with the darker colors or apply them side by side. I recommend you visit the how-to acid stain section of the website for more information on application techniques to determine what method would work best for you.
Thanks for your post.
Direct Colors inc.
Very Impressive!!! It is obvious that this work was detailed and required alot of skill. The color choice was superb.
Thanks for your post. We’re really proud of the finished floors and countertops our customoers are able to achieve. We look forward to doing business with you. Direct Colors
This project looks wonderful! But how much of each stain would you need for a project of 1300sq ft?
Thanks for your response. To create a similar look over 1300 sq. ft., you’ll need about 2 gallons of Desert Amber Acid Stain, 2 gallons of Cola Acid Stain, 1 gallon of English Red and about a quart of Sea Grass Acid Stain (if you wish). The sealer for the project was Sprayable Satin Finish Sealer and 7 gallons would be needed for two coats of the entire surface.
Give us a call at 877-255-2656 when you’re ready to start your project and we’ll be happy to help.
Shawna,
Thanks for the info. I sure will give you a call when I’m ready!
Nina
I would really like to do this professionally is there any one or any where that has a class or something for stained floors and countertops.
Thanks for your email. We don’t offer training classes for our products at our facility or elsewhere in the country. We would be happy to discuss how to apply, construct or care for a decorative concrete floor/countertop at anytime by phone or email. We have several technicians on duty to assist with any project you might be working on. Thank you for your interest in Direct Colors and we looking forward to serving you in the future.
Thanks for the info shawna i have done several different stain floors but really wanting to experiment with dyes, i really want to do my backporch soon who do i need to email for info
info@directcolors.com
We look forward to hearing from you and thanks for your business.