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Live and learn and ask for help. Help! I have a 12 x 30 covered conrete deck that I am working on staining. My idea was to stain it with a semi transparent stain then tape it off and stain it with a darker color to create a grid pattern. It looked great....until i pulled up the tape. The tape pulled up the stain and now.....ARRG. I etched the concrete before staining it...however I DID NOT prime it. I assumed (NEVER ASSUME)that to put down a semi transparent you would not prime it as you want it to soak into the concrete to show the variations in the concrete. Wrong. What I didnt know was that the concrete primer is clear. Hope that info helps someone out there from making the same mistakes.
With all that said, I am now in the process of correcting my mistake. I have used two gallons of stain stipper and presure washed until my feet were waterlogged. It did not take the stain off. It did it spots, but I would say 75% of the stain did not come up. Here is my question....
The guy at the Home Depot said that since my plans are to now use a SOLID COLOR instead of a SEMI TRANSPARENT that he would not waste anymore money or time on strippers. Instead he suggested to re-etch over top of what reamains and them prime and paint. Is this an advisable solution. I still would like to tape and make a pattern over the solid color. Is this going to work out for me or am I setting myself up for more nightmares.
Without seeing what you have I would not give much advice other than quit listening to folks at HD or any other store. If they actually knew a trade they'd be at it and not working the shelves at HD.
I thought I gave a pretty clear description of what I was faced with. I dont think the insult on Home Depot employees was warranted. I would expect they would have to receive some training in the departments they work in. I was simply looking for an affirmation of his advice from another expert or from someone who may have faced the same situation. If you dont feel comfortable in giving advice from the info I have provided I completely understand. Simply dont give it. You might also want to leave the insults of others out....that was a real arrogant thing to do, completely unhelpful, and unappreciated.
Howie, please tell me the inaccurtae part of my answer. The Experts here have many folks telling us about the bad advice given at box stores, there is no missing that fact. Yes, that was a smack but a well earned one. The folks at that same store told one of my other posters that you can not replace a dip tube in a water heater and must buy a new one, this is totally wrong but she believed it. They also told another poster that the sacrificial anode can not be replaced, again totally wrong. From what you gave us to work with I could not give further advice, what type,brand stain do you now plan to try. I need to know that so I can tell what the manufacturer has to say. You had 15 folks read your post and I was the only person to respond, your quick use of an inaccurate rating will not likely encourage others to jump in after this. You could probably use something like this right now. http://www.getnewlook.com/
My apologies. You're correct in that I should not have given you an incorrect rating. Perhaps incomplete, but not incorrect. I have never given an incorrect rating before, so no one should be afraid to answer any of my questions. I am usually very thorough in explaining my situation, and thought I had been this time as well. Had you asked the same questions at first that you asked after my reply to your initial response I would have seen that as helpful dialouge and responded in kind. But I took your response as a little flipped, and I guess being so frustrated with this project coupled with your (incomplete) answer along with the jab at the only person who thus far has given me any advice, left me a little irritated. I am sure there has been some really really bad advice come out of some of the box stores, but to make a blanket statement that insinuates that no one who works at a box store knows what they are talking about is a little harsh. Maybe the better statement to people would be to be careful and double check any advice you get out of a box store, which is simply all I was trying to do. I dont know if the guy who gave me advice from there knows what he is talking about or not....that is why I came here. To either affirm his info or disprove it. He seems like a very knowledgeable guy, and I have gotten nothing but very good advice on Ask Me Help Desk in the past, and wanted to compare the advice. Again.....my apologies for the mis communication and mis understanding.
With that said....I am planning on etching over the remaining stain that did not come up with the stain stripper, with BEHR cleaner/etcher and then applying a coat of BEHR concrete and masonry bonding primer no. 880, and top coating with BEHR solid concrete stain no. 830. After allowing the proper cure time, I plan on taping off my desired design and applying BEHR solid color concrete stain no. 830.
My initial question....simplified....is, will the primer adhere to the old stain after etching, and will the solid stain then adhere to the primer and not pull up when I remove the tape? Also, should I re-prime between the two coats of stain?
I hope I have been clear with the info. If not....just let me know what info you need and I will attempt to clarify. Thank you.
The primer will adhere to the etched surface as will the solid stain. However, be careful to read and follow the recommended drying times for each and what your weather is like. Hot humid days will cause both primer and stain to dry slower. That tape will give you a generally clean edge but not like blue painters tape on a window. I tried this stuff from a home show FrogTape and it worked much better than painters tape, duct tape or masking. there is a chemical in the adhesive that reacts to the paint or stain.
Howie,
Hope things went well on your project. We are in the same situation and etched our concrete several times yesterday with pure muriatic acid, but stain does not come off. We are going to try mottling the color with something else lighter and as a last resort, painting. We also got our stuff at Home Depot, but it's certainly not their fault. We even asked all the right questions but did not take the advice. Behr was not able to give any advice.
My deck is now finished and looks GREAT!!! After the set backs and the advice given both on here and from the rep at home depot I was able to come up with a solution. After trying to strip the semi transparent stain without much success, I went ahead and re-etched and then primed with concrete primer( dont forget the primer...my initial mistake). I then went back over with a solid concrete stain, and then used the darker solid stain to create my grid patterns. I finished off with 4 coats(although in hindsight I would use only 3 coats) of wet look sealer. I got a slight milky look in a couple of indiscreet areas after the 4'th coat. Not a big problem since it occurred in areas I will have furniture over, and I am hoping it fades in time. The frog tape reccomended on here is awesome and I found that at Lowes. The only small problem I ran into(and this actually worked out for the look I was going for) was that in the areas where the semi trans. stain did come up there is a slightly noticeable texture difference. I was trying to create a terracotta look so this actually enhanced my look. Hopefully my mistakes can help you and others from making the same ones. Over-all my deck looks awesome and I have gotten rave reviews from friends and family....and even my father-in-law, who doesnt complement anything :-) GOOD LUCK!!
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