What is a Concrete Acid Stain?

Many people are not familiar with the concrete acid stain technique. Concrete acid staining is not a paint or coating agent; it is the process of coloring concrete by setting off a chemical reaction on the surface. 

The chemical reaction that takes place during a concrete acid stain is caused by mixing water, acid, and inorganic salts. These three ingredients mix with the minerals that are already present in the concrete, which in turn causes the concrete to change color. This process can work very nicely on both new and old concrete. If properly protected, concrete that has been acid stained will last a very long time. 

An acid stain project can be done on either interior or exterior walls. This is a common misconception. A lot of people think that you can only acid stain exterior walls, but this is definitely not true. Acid stain can be applied to many different areas including: walkways, entrances, driveways, patios, interior walls, retaining walls, or any other concrete area that is in need of a little sprucing up.

An acid stain gives the appearance of mottled, marbled look. It creates beautiful colors on any type of concrete. The end color is an earth tone brown, mixed with some reds and greens.  A great advantage of a concrete acid stain is that you can also make your own color by mixing and matching available colors that can be bought at any hardware store. One thing that you should remember is that you can never expect an acid stain to stay uniform in color. One slab of concrete will not look exactly like another.

If you are looking for a way to add color to your existing or new concrete surface look into acid staining. An acid stain can give your concrete surface a life of its own.