LESLIE: Gary in Utah has a question about concrete staining. How can we help you with this project?
GARY: I’m finishing my basement and I would like to stain my concrete floor. How do I prepare the floor for the stain?
LESLIE: I think you really want to make sure that it’s a clean, fresh surface; so it depends, really, on the product that you’re using. There are some that are a concrete stain that’s almost as thick in viscosity as paint and there’s a certain primer that goes with it. There are some that are translucent. I think the best thing would be to give it a good cleaning and really then make sure that it’s dry …
GARY: OK.
LESLIE: … before you go ahead and apply.
GARY: OK, great. Great. Do you think there’s any kind of acids or anything that I could use or …?
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Oh, gosh yeah.
TOM: Sure, acid stains are great. They have somewhat of an unpredictable result, so you’ve got to be prepared for an unknown finish but you start small in a corner and work your way out they can look pretty cool.
LESLIE: There’s a good website, Gary, for you to check out -it’s ConcreteNetwork.com – and they not only give you the step-by-step to concrete staining and acid staining but they also give you links to the products to help you do it because I know with acid staining on a concrete, like Tom says, it really depends on sort of the chemical structure of the concrete itself when it was made. So you can get a variation of the effect that you’re trying to get. It might turn out looking something completely different but they really do talk you through and help you get the best sample kits so you can really test it out before you commit. Because it could be beautiful.
GARY: Great, great. Well thank you for your help.
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