Concrete stain and fibermesh

[Guest]

Hello,
I'm in the process of building a new garage/workshop for myself. No one in my area does decorative concrete so I am considering branching my business out into that field also. I'm planning on acid etching (staining) the shop floor and doing some brick stenciling and concrete dying of the driveway approach.
I want to do this for myself first before providing this service and charging a customer and it not come out right. So this project can serve as a test/customer viewing area and my new shop.
My concern right now is how will the staining of the floor adhere to the fibermesh additive that I'll be using. Of all the research I've done on this subject I can't find this concern addressed anywhere. Not from suppliers or manufacturers. They all just state that the stain will appear as a "mottled" or "marbled" effect on concrete and will vary from each slab depending on the age of it and the different mixture amounts of rock, lime, ect.
Has anyone seen this done or have any experience with it. Thanks for any information.

[Guest]

Re: Concrete stain and fibermesh

I was told that the fibermesh will make your floor "hairy", so it's not suitable for most floors that will be finish stained. Maybe for a shop you don't care about the hair. I don't think it would have any effect on the stain itself.

[Guest]

Re: Concrete stain and fibermesh

I added "cat hairs" to the slab (analine acid etched)I poured here that is my front hall, and also the dining room. Theory is that the fibers reduce surface cracking (not a substite for control joints - remember if it is not cracked, it is not concrete.)
The fiber we used is the microfiber; whitish fiberglas looking, not sisal. Most yards can include this in the mix. I was told that you can torch the surface and it will sizzle the fiber away. I tried this, but it was a hassle and a hazard with a weed burner, and with less than dramatic results so I quit. Some areas we sealed and others we didn't. At the sealed areas, the fibers are captured, like cat hairs. But no-one has come out of the bathroom commenting about this yet. At the unsealed areas, I think the fibers have pretty much worn away. And we prefer the softer look of the unsealed anyway.

[Guest]

Re: Concrete stain and fibermesh

Hello,
I thought I might update this post. I finally got my staining and sealing done yesterday and it turned out quite nice. The fibermesh wasn't a problem. I pit a "burnished copper" color down in two coats. Then scrubbed the residue off with water and a stiff bristle brush. After allowing to dry I put a high gloss sealer on it. It really shines and looks great. I defintley got the "mottled" look with some areas darker than others as the stain interacts with the lime in the concrete.
I sprayed it all on with a hand held pump sprayer. Only one problem though. The acid stain said to use a all plastic sprayer with no metal parts. So I bought one for $20.00. Worked great. So I thought I'd use the same sprayer for sealer. Apparently the plastic sprayer should not be used with the sealer as it seemed to "melt" it before I could get it cleaned up. So I ruined the sprayer. No big deal as it wasn't too expensive and the floor looks so good anyway.