Acid staining a concrete basement floor adds color and character for very little money. This is one DIYer's real second-time-around project — a sectioned basement where the laundry/workout area got an Azure Blue and Coffee Brown acid-stained floor — with every step, from prep to final wax.
Before and after — a basement floor acid-stained with EverStain™ Azure Blue and Coffee Brown.
— Kimberly Raley
Their basement is split into three zones — a 400 sq. ft. rec room, a 300 sq. ft. laundry/workout area, and a 638 sq. ft. storage section — and this project tackled the laundry/workout floor.
1. Clean & etch
Vacuum or sweep, then mop with a concrete cleaner and degreaser. Apply an etching solution and let it sit about an hour — longer than the usual 20 minutes here, because the floors were machine-troweled — then rinse thoroughly.
2. Spray the base color
Wearing long sleeves, pants, goggles, and gloves, apply acid stain with a pump-up sprayer. Using the wet-on-dry technique, the Azure Blue went down first and dried for about five hours.
3. Add the accent color
Coffee Brown is rich and dominant, so they used it sparingly — only half of what they'd ordered — layered over the Azure Blue for depth.
For more on combining colors, see How to Layer Two Acid Stain Colors, and for timing, How Long to Leave Acid Stain on Concrete.
4. Neutralize & rinse
Neutralize with a bucket of water and baking soda, worked in with a sponge mop, then clean up with degreaser — a couple of hose rinses before scrubbing it down.
— Kimberly Raley
More detail here: How to Neutralize Concrete Acid Stain.
5. Seal
For basements, where smell and ventilation matter most, a water-based sealer is nearly odorless and safe around family and pets. Once fully dry, spray and squeegee the first coat, pushing mostly forward to limit lines. Apply thin coats to avoid puddling and let each dry 12 hours.
6. Wax
Finish with ProWax Polish™: soak a trim-pad applicator, wring it out, and spread a thin, milky coat — it dries clear. Smooth out any foaming, let it dry 12 hours, apply a second coat, then wait 24 hours before using the floor.
More from this basement
The same DIY approach turned other sections of the home into a warm rec room and, elsewhere, a bright acid-stained art studio.
A finished Coffee Brown and Desert Amber rec-room floor elsewhere in the home.
What's Next
- Full basement how-to → How to Stain a Concrete Basement Floor
- See more projects → Stained Concrete Basement Floor Ideas
- Layer two colors → How to Layer Two Acid Stain Colors
- Shop → EverStain™ · Trial Kits
Direct Colors. Shawnee, OK. Manufacturing the full decorative concrete system since 1997.
