Browse Forums Paving & Concreting 1 Jun 26, 2009 9:27 am My husband and I are currently owner-building our first home. We are almost done, but are now faced with a horror flooring situation. We stained the entire internal concrete slab with tex-stain, which turned out beautifully. We washed and neutralised the stain as per instructions and once dry, used the water-based acrylic sealer the tex-stain supplier had recommended (Lustreseal waterbased sealer). Initially we had white streaks in the sealant (we learnt that we shouldn't have used a roller for the application) but managed to rectify this problem by using a solvent throughout the house which dissolved the sealant and allowed it to re-dry without streaks, and then coating with a second layer of sealant. Then the painters came through! Despite asking them multiple times to use drop sheets and take care of the finished floor, they managed to cover the entire floor in white specks and dragged around their equipment so carelessly that the entire floor is covered with scratches going right through the sealer and in some cases taking away the acid stain to reveal naked concrete! When the painter pulled away the tape with which he had taped off the edges of the floor, he ended up taking the sealant up too in many areas! We are incredibly unhappy with the painter, but also with the sealant for being so soft and not bonding to the concrete floor. The painter has since stripped off the paint specks using metho but in the process has sometimes stripped off the sealant too. He doesn't know how to save the floor, and neither do we. What can we do? Our plan is to re-stain the patches where stain has been removed, to carefully sand back the edges of the scratches, and then to re-seal a number of times. But we are so unhappy with the acrylic water-based sealant, that we'd love to use a harder product which would actually bond to the concrete. Can we use a different sealant type on top of the current sealant, or would we need to remove the current sealant? How would be remove the current sealant without taking the acid stain surface of the concrete with it? Is mixing of different sealant types okay? Our biggest concern is that if we use the same sealant again, we'd end up with a similarly ugly floor within a year or two of normal use. I'd appreciate any advice! Has anyone faced a similar problem? Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 2Jun 27, 2009 2:12 pm normally internal acid stained conc etc has a clear epoxy seal as far as i know dont know if it will react with acrylic though Da Vinci Outdoor Living Architectural landscaping http://www.davincioutdoor.com Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 3Jun 27, 2009 10:02 pm Any chance of a pic? I am curious as to the appearance that's all. It gave me an idea Unfortunately not one for solving your problem, but Davinci's advice is always sound Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 4Jun 27, 2009 10:22 pm I searched and found these youtube links on acid staining. What a nice finish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAtG6QItQvY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_cFT2Z5vRY&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE573O3s ... re=related Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 5Jun 28, 2009 12:35 am I feel for you! It has happened to me a few times. We don't use acid though, have a look at eco soycrete. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 6Jun 28, 2009 12:51 am Hi I use acid staining (Patina stain)on a regular basis here in WA. I have had 1 job turn pear shaped in the past where the coating came out with stripes in it and had to diamond grind it off and start again. If you send me some pics via email I might be able to give you some tips on rectifying the situation. I think the painter should be back charged for the damage he caused. I have done this on a few occasions, they should take pride in their work or pay up thats why the paint gods made drop sheets and low adhesive tape etc. Sends the pics to exposed@ozemail.com.au Cheers Slugger Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 7Jun 29, 2009 12:47 am I am skeptical about using acid on concrete and putting a coating on the top. Though this does seem to be OK on exposed agg, but then a rough surface is hard to detect micro damage. Only IMHO. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 8Jun 30, 2009 9:19 am Thanks for your replies. I've tried to attach some photos to show the problem(s), but the computer is telling me that the board attachment quota has been reached. Is there any way I can get some photos up? The photos are less than 100kb each so I don't think the file size is an issue. Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 9Jun 30, 2009 9:24 am You need photobucket, then link us back to it Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 10Jun 30, 2009 9:42 am thanks onc_artisan. okay, here are the links. http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/FenjaandEike/5091_99484018758_544373758_21518-1.jpg http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/FenjaandEike/5091_99484038758_544373758_2151887_.jpg http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/FenjaandEike/5091_99484048758_544373758_2151889_.jpg the photos show several issues: There are plenty of scratches going right through to the concrete, including where the painter stood (!!) on his paint cans leaving nice imprints of them going through to the concrete. Where there are scratches, the sealant is starting to chip away at the sides of the scratches, widening them up. Then, massive white patches have developed where the painter cleaned his paint splatters away with metho. In other areas, the metho has completely taken away the sealant as well as stain. where you can see a skirting board, you can also see where the painter's tape has taken off the sealant. Now that the skirting boards are on and our walls are painted white, we are very hesitant to start over due to the mess we'd create and would prefer to patch up the problem areas. But any advice is most welcome! Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 11Jun 30, 2009 9:53 am that is shocking. I think I would be checking the applicators indemnity. That won't be cheap to fix. Sorry the only thing I can suggest is to remove by grinding,(dustless) and re-apply. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 12Jun 30, 2009 7:19 pm Hi there! Unfortunate outcome there. Must be really disappointing! I see no easy fix, but don't prolong the agony by trying all sorts of things that may not be a real solution. Get info from the supplier of the stain & sealer to remove it, and look at your options from there. The painters are probably liable in part at least, so you may be able to get some financial compensation from their insurance. Get in some concrete polishing experts, and see what they have to say. May be that stripping off the old stuff, and having the floors properly polished is a good remedy. Or laying floorcoverings over it all. Would you consider?.... (dare I say it) CARPETS?!!! There. That feels better! Ash. Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 13Jun 30, 2009 7:25 pm Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 14Jul 07, 2009 12:15 am ...any follow up? Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 15Jul 17, 2009 9:16 am Okay, after much dilemma we have admitted that we'll need to grind back the entire floor. Happening next week. Since all the walls are painted, we don't want to use acid staining again because of the messy washing process. We've decided to try a product called newlook concrete colour stain. We'll put on a solid colour and then overlay with a few different translucent colours, hopefully getting a similar result to the acid stain without the need to wash after each step. We'll then seal with a harder sealer this time. does anyone have any feedback on the newlook product? Would anyone recommend a particular sealer to put on top? Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 16Sep 01, 2009 2:58 pm Just to finish up this post satisfactorily - we have redone the floor with a non-acid concrete stain called newlook, and the result is fantastic. We ground back the entire floor to get rid of all the remaining sealer and most of the acid colour. The newlook product was applied in several stages. First, two solid sand coloured coats: http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... NY0278.jpg Then, several coats of a translucent colour (spanish clay and dark brown) enhancer to bring depth to the surface. Here is the floor after the first colour enhancer treatment: http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... NY0287.jpg And here it is after two more coatings and then two coats of a matt two-part polyurethane sealer: http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... NY0295.jpg http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... NY0294.jpg Hard to tell from the pics, but the floor looks almost like seamless sandstone, and the matt finish of the sealer re-emphasis that rough stone effect. After all that panic and work (and more work), we are glad to be done! Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 19Nov 18, 2009 6:53 pm Hi F&E how is the floor coming along? We love the look of the acid stain, but it costs a bit to do. Did you find it hard to do, and where did you source the newlook material. In other words, do you need a particular skillset, was it expensive, and are you still happy. cheers Michael Re: Acid stained floor disaster. Need advice 20Nov 23, 2009 2:51 pm Hi Michael, Yep, still happy with the floor, and glad we've got a hard-wearing matt sealer on top. not a single scratch in the three months we've lived in the house. We got the new-look colour shipped from Queensland (Coopers Flooring), but we were warned that it's not a DIY product. We did follow the instructions to the book though, so our end-result was pretty good. It feels great to walk over with bare feet! Hi, We have warm light throughout our house and it sort of makes are already dark stained floor more darker. We always wanted a lighter colourwd flooring but it turned… 0 22634 I am not a brick expert, but rendering would be 1 option, it would be costly to do the entire house though.... 2 6672 Hi. 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