Before & After

Concrete Wall & Facade Staining: Before & After

Sep 7, 2024 Justin Richardson

A big gray wall dominates a garden the way nothing else does, and a brick facade sets the character of a whole house. Both take stain, and both are cheaper to stain than to replace or render. The projects below run from a 150 sq. ft. brick facelift to a 7,200 sq. ft. riverbank wall — and every one of them was done by a customer, on a vertical surface, which is its own skill.

Full view of the house showcasing its finished Portico Black stone facade transformation

A stone facade taken from gray to charcoal with Black Portico™, deepened by satin sealer.

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The vertical rule: Work top to bottom so drips get absorbed into what you have not done yet
Drips are the enemy: Thin coats, small sections, and expect to come back rather than load it on
Two people helps: One applies, one chases drips — it dries fast on a wall
Shake constantly: Pigment settles; an unshaken pour is a different color
Buy more than the calculator says: Vertical work and multiple layers drink stain

Note on results: these are real customer projects, and our colorants are semi-transparent — the existing color and condition of your wall will shape the outcome. Test a patch before committing to an elevation.

A stone facade, gray to charcoal

Four days, 400 sq. ft., and the wood trim painted to match the new stone color. The applicator note here is the single most useful thing in this article.

Product: 5 gal. Black Portico™ & EasySeal™ Satin Kit
Size: 400 sq. ft.
Time: 4 days
Coats: Two stain, two satin sealer — both sprayed, sealer back-rolled

Full view of the house showcasing its original grey stone facade before staining — Before — the original gray stone facade.

Full view of the house showcasing its finished black Portico stone facade transformation — After — black Portico™, with trim matched to it.

House facade after the first coat of black Portico stain, showing a darker shade

After the first coat — before the second and the sealer deepened it.

“Spraying the stain on a vertical surface is a must. Initially tried a roller but the stain is so thin most of it drips off the roller before you can get it on the wall. I was able to get the hang of putting down a uniform coat of spray after a few minutes… I used painters tape/paper to protect the siding/windows etc, but drop cloths for the porch and walkways — paper didn't work well for vertical surfaces as it bled through. Lacquer thinner or acetone worked well to clean up overspray.”
“I think the house really pops now — I've had several neighbors comment on it.”
— DIY Customer

A black retaining wall, restained three years on

This is the most instructive pairing in the cluster: the same wall, the same product, two different application methods three years apart — and the customer's verdict is the opposite of the facade project above. On a textured block wall with crevices, brush and roller beat the sprayer outright.

Product: 5 gal. Black Satin EasyTint™
Size: 600 sq. ft.
Time: 4 days
2021 method: Pump sprayer, back-rolled, one coat
2024 method: Paint brush in the crevices, roller on the flats, two coats

A black concrete wall with a wooden fence above, during staining — Midway through restaining in Black EasyTint™.

A backyard fence with a black concrete retaining wall and fresh landscaping — The finished wall.

“Three years ago we used a pump sprayer and the sprayer clogged a lot and it just wasn't a consistent way to apply it. This year we used a paint brush in the crevices and roller. It went on much better. We did two coats this time and it made a huge difference… Brush and roller was a much better route and it saved us a lot of stain — we could have bought half what we did.”
The warning: “It does dry quickly and gets sticky, at least in mid July, and it cannot be rolled or painted once that happens. Cover small sections at a time.”
— DIY Customer

So which is it, spray or brush? Flat or lightly textured surfaces spray well. Deeply textured block with crevices takes brush-and-roller, because a sprayer cannot get into the recesses and clogs trying.

Verti-Block walls in Cafe Royale

A thousand square feet of Verti-Block, and a customer who had wanted to stain it for years but found the scope intimidating. A stain-and-sealer-in-one is what made it feel possible.

Products: 5 gal. Cafe Royale EasyTint™ Satin + ProClean Degreaser™ concentrate
Size: 1,000 sq. ft.
Time: 7 days

Before A plain grey concrete retaining wall. After A beautiful richly colored retaining wall usin — Before — plain gray concrete block.

EasyTint Retaining Wall Cafe Royale After 2 — After — Cafe Royale EasyTint™.

EasyTint Retaining Wall Cafe Royale During 1 — Application in progress.

Completed staining of a large riverbank retaining wall with one coat of Cafe Royale EasyTint — One coat down on the wall.

Contrast shown during Cafe Royale EasyTint staining on a concrete retaining wall — The contrast during application — lower wall stained.

During application of Cafe Royale EasyTint on a large concrete retaining wall at a riverbank — Upper wall not yet.

“The grey concrete color was bland and soul sucking. I have wanted to stain the block from the start but was intimidated by the scope of the project… Stain and sealer in one! It was what I needed to take the leap.”
Tips: “Anyone can do it! Use a good sprayer and wait for a calm day. Less is more. Drips are your enemy. You can always come back and add more color to some areas.”
— DIY Customer

7,200 sq. ft. of riverbank wall

The largest wall project we have on record. A stark white concrete retaining wall along a riverbank, stained so it would stop announcing itself and start blending into the bank behind it.

Products: 7 × 5 gal. Cafe Royale EasyTint™ Satin + 7 × 5 gal. EasySeal™ Satin
Size: 7,200 sq. ft.
Time: 7 days
Method: Pressure washed days ahead · one coat by electric garden sprayer · sealer by pump sprayer days later

Worth noting the tool choice at that scale: an electric garden sprayer for the stain, not a hand pump. On 7,200 sq. ft. the pump would have been the limiting factor.

Faux stone on cinder block

A standard cinder block wall turned into convincing faux stone with four Antiquing™ colors — Aztec Brown, Cumin, Driftwood and Terracotta. Multiple colors are what make it read as stone rather than as painted block.

Full view of a faux stone concrete retaining wall in a garden setting — A faux stone cinder block retaining wall.

Detailed view of a faux stone concrete retaining wall with mixed stains — The same wall up close.

Reclaiming brick under siding

A bilevel home where the brick had been covered with lathing strips and siding since before the owner bought it in 2016. Pulling the nails left broken brick needing repointing, so the staining had to hide replacement mortar as well as darken the brick. Four weekends — stretched by having to reorder.

Products: Charcoal Portico™ on the brick, Light Charcoal Portico™ as a base for the mortar
Size: 150 sq. ft.
Time: 4 weekends
Applied with: Sponge brushes for stain, standard stain brush for sealer

Before photo of a bilevel home with brick facade — Before — the brick facade uncovered.

After photo of a bilevel home with brick facade stained in charcoal — After — Charcoal Portico™ over brick and mortar.

Before photo of a brick wall on home facade — Before — a brick wall on the facade.

After photo of a brick wall on home facade stained with charcoal — After — charcoal Portico™.

“I used the charcoal color on the bricks in various layers, and the light charcoal as a base for the mortar in between the bricks to bring it together. The process was overall easy, even considering we were staining on a vertical wall.”
Tips: “Shake, shake, shake. Every time you pour more, shake again. There may be some separation and deeper dye as you go — I used this in my favor to create depth. I wasn't looking for a uniform look. If you are, shake even more! Order more than you think you will need — I used 3× more than I anticipated.”
— DIY Customer

Two more facades

The same approach at whole-house scale — Black, Charcoal and Light Charcoal Portico™ layered for depth on one, and a traditional red brick wall taken to charcoal on the other.

Before photo of a home facade prior to staining — Before — the facade before staining.

Complete view of a home's stained facade — After — mixed Portico™ stains.

During the staining process of a home facade.

Close-up of the finished facade staining with mixed Portico stains.

Colored stucco: a wall in Barragán blue

A different route to a colored wall — not stain, but pigment mixed into the stucco itself. Inspired by the Mexican architect Luis Barragán, the interior face of this masonry wall was coated in white stucco tinted with Pigment 202. One day, about 120 sq. ft., and only three pounds of pigment.