How To Use And Love Water-Based Concrete Stains
Where do you stand? From baby steps to giant leaps, the ground beneath our feet constantly supports us as we walk through life. Concrete floors and surfaces are the foundation of our homes, outings, and activities. Concrete is easy to walk all over, which is exactly why it’s important.
Water-based concrete stains make it easy to add beauty and resilience to the concrete we move and groove on every single day.
By Sarah Cicconetti
ColorWave – Navy Blue, Blue and Blue Spruce
ColorWave – Navy Blue, Blue and Blue Spruce
A World of Concrete, Floors, and More
Wherever you tread, roll, or run there’s a floor silently bearing your weight. It’s not something we think about very often, but they’re not complaining. Concrete is everywhere, especially in our floors.
With so much of our world built from concrete, it’s not surprising that it’s one of the most supportive, stable, and structurally sound flooring options. Concrete floors are also some of the most widely used. Here are just a few places where you can find concrete, floors, and more in your daily life.
ColorWave – Molasses and Mahogany
ColorWave – Sunset
ColorWave – White
ColorWave – Molasses
- Living: Concrete is popular in kitchens, bathrooms, basements, garages, patios, pools, and other residential surfaces because it’s cost-effective and low maintenance.
- Shopping: Restaurants, retail stores, warehouses, and factories built with concrete can handle high foot traffic and heavy, easy cleaning.
- Showing: Showrooms, vehicle dealerships, and museums have concrete floors for their load-bearing capacity and sleek, visual appeal.
- Working: Hotels, lobbies, schools, and universities use concrete for durability and longevity. Plus, concrete floors help regulate indoor temperatures and promote energy efficiency.
- Healing: Sealed concrete floors are a hygienic choice for hospitals, clinics, and medical offices to reduce dust and allergens while promoting cleaner, healthier environments.Concrete is durable, affordable, practical, and a very present, powerful force in the real world. This mighty material makes up so many buildings and surfaces, but it’s the versatility of concrete and its ability to take on additives that really make it shine.
What’s In A Name: Concrete + Water-based + Stain
Concrete is a mixture of cement, water, and usually sand and gravel. This fine but grainy mix leaves little pores in poured cement. These tiny holes are the perfect size and space for water-based concrete stains and their colorful pigments to stick to.
Water-based concrete stains deposit colors all the way down into your concrete. They don’t just coat the top of it. The pores in concrete absorb and pull water-based stains deep below the surface. As a water-based concrete stain penetrates into your floors, its colorful pigments go with it. When the water dries out, the colors stay in.
Water-based concrete stains, like ColorWave, rely on the simple process of evaporation. Since there are no harsh chemical reactions, colors are more predictable and uniform. By harnessing the penetrative power of water, colors from these topical stains are more durable and endurable.
All this magic that makes water-based concrete stains an easy, efficient solution for revitalizing concrete floors also makes them deliver some pretty incredible results.
ColorWave – Iron Gray
ColorWave – Persimmon, Molasses, Steel
Advantages You Want, Results You Can See
Remember, our floors take a lot of wear and tear. That’s their job after all, silent structural support. But just because concrete floors are strong and supportive doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a spruce. Besides, “sprucing up” your floors isn’t just for their benefit and beautification. It’s for yours, too, and here’s why.
Revitalizing your concrete floors improves their aesthetic appeal, adding elegance and personality to your space. Water-based concrete stains are customizable, stylish, and long-lasting. They’re easy to clean and require minimal upkeep. This makes water-based concrete staining an extremely cost-effective flooring solution. It also makes them a smart, fast investment for increasing property value.
Here are a few more smart, fast, and user-friendly features of water-based concrete stains.
Versatility
Water-based concrete stains are unmatched in their ability to create eye-catching visual effects. They’re semi-transparent, which allows the undertone of your concrete to show through. This allows you to layer them and create marbled, mottled designs. Their micronized pigments sink deep and soak evenly into concrete’s pores. They come in 24 vibrant colors, all of which are UV stable so they can be used indoors and outdoors on any type of concrete to make customized designs that match your decor.
Durability
Water-based concrete stains are highly durable. Since the stains penetrate the surface instead of just sitting on top of it, they withstand heavy foot traffic, weather, and daily wear and tear. They have to be properly sealed first, but after that, every family member and furry friend you know or own can crawl, walk, or wag their way across them without worries. A regular sweep or quick mop takes care of cleaning them. So you can save time, money, and stress throughout their long, brightly colored lifespans.
Environmentally Friendly
Water-based concrete stains have zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The lower the VOCs, the less harmful chemicals they release into the air. So lower VOCs contribute to healthier air quality indoors and out. Using low VOC products is better for your family and the environment. This makes water-based concrete stains a safer, more eco-friendly choice. It’s also a brag-worthy benefit for your own environmental responsibility.
Easier Application
There’s no denying that water-based concrete stains are useful and user-friendly. But their most impressive benefit is that they’re easy to use. Since they work with water and evaporation, you can work with them faster and easier. No harmful chemicals, less protective gear, minimal cleanup, and a lot less fuss (and odor!) make for simpler, more enjoyable projects you can complete quicker. With less intimidation and more convenience, water-based concrete stains make for a great first-time DIY.
With one of the simplest, safest, most earth-friendly application processes, water-based concrete stains are fast and fearless. Especially if you start off with a trial kit.
ColorWave – White
Try It With Confidence
Concrete floors are a blank canvas. They’re functional, but on their own are pretty ordinary when it comes to form. Since the pores of concrete are always open, they’re ready and waiting to absorb the pigments of a water-based concrete stain, transforming your concrete canvas into a work of art.
Using a water-based concrete stain like ColorWave makes transformations easy, but it’s still a big commitment. Starting with a trial kit allows you to test different colors and finishes while getting familiar with the application process on a smaller stage.
Whether your concrete is poured, paved, stamped, sunbathing, or subterranean, a trial kit is a simple place to start. (Plus, all our concrete stain colors trial kits have free shipping!)
Trial kits help bring your ideas to the surface. They give you more freedom, more experience, and more options. They come with everything you need to experiment and practice at home. You get to pick three different colors of ColorWave water-based concrete stain and they include foam brushes and a satin or gloss sealer.
ColorWave Stain Trial Kits are the perfect chance for you to mix, match, and master water-based concrete stains. Whether you like sleek and modern, rustic charm, or don’t know which bright, bold, and beautiful foundation you prefer–a trial kit gives you a way to explore whatever strikes your fancy and your feet.
How To Apply It Like A Pro
Anybody can turn their concrete floors into lasting expressions that match their style and space. All it takes is 3 easy steps and a weekend.
1. First The Prep
The first thing you’ll need to do is prep your work surface. That means giving your existing concrete floor a good, thorough cleaning. The best tools for this are a soft bristle deck brush and a cleaner that’s gentle on your floor and the environment, like ProClean Degreaser.
Mops are not your friend here. They tend to spread grime and dirty rinse water across the surface of your floor rather than actually getting rid of it. A soft bristle deck brush will help you remove the dirt and grease from your concrete–not just push it around. Opting for an industrial-strength solvent that’s free from harsh chemicals is the way to go. Those types of chemicals can create negative reactions with your water-based concrete stain and sealer.
Arm yourself with a bottle of ProClean Degreaser concentrate, a pump sprayer, and your soft bristle deck brush. Scrub and rinse as you go. When your concrete is washed and dried, you’ll have a clean slate, primed and ready for staining.
2. Then The Stain
For this step, the most important thing to remember is that it’s easy!
Water-based concrete stains like ColorWave have small but mighty pigments and a water-based formula powered by evaporation. This makes them the safest, simplest concrete colorants to work with.
Here’s how:
- Shake your bottle of ColorWave.
- Take all the filters out of your pump sprayer.
- Pour in that perfect color you picked.
- Then just spray it down how you want to see it.
- Apply two thin coats–wet on wet.
- You don’t even need to wait for it to dry between coats.
The most common application method is using circular coats that are overlapping. It also helps if you jostle or shake your sprayer back and forth frequently during this step. This ensures that those powerful color pigments are evenly dispersed throughout the stain while you’re applying it.
After the second overlapping layer goes on, the color may not look as vibrant as you were expecting. This is normal. After the sealer goes on, in the last step, it will make your color pop.
If you apply too much water-based concrete stain, you’ll overflood the concrete’s pores. When that happens, your sealer won’t have any concrete pores left to soak into and will stick on the pigments instead. This results in stained concrete floors or surfaces that could chip or flake.
The key to a worry-free water-based stain application is two, thin, overlapping coats. It’s that easy.
3. Never Skip The Sealer
The last step on your path to concrete floor greatness is sealing.
Sealers are a shield between your newly transformed concrete masterpieces and the rest of the world. This strong, impenetrable barrier is your best ally for achieving color perfection and concrete protection.
Sealers lock out moisture, weather, UV, dust, dirt, and the countless steps and stains of daily life. They also lock in and build up the color you chose, adding vibrancy and vitality to your stain.
Once your water-based concrete stain has evaporated and the concrete is completely dry, it’s time to seal:
- For a flatter, matte finish try a water-based sealer like AcquaSeal™
- For a slightly richer color finish opt for a solvent-based sealer like EasySeal™
- Or you can explore all the best concrete sealer options from indoor to outdoor use and gloss to satin finishes.
Sealing, like staining, needs two, thin coats. When you’re sealing though, do each coat one at a time. Sealers have to be completely dry between applications and before you walk on them. It will take at least 8-12 hours for each layer to dry. The longer you wait, the better your final results will be.
No matter which type of sealer you choose, it will harden as it cures. This tough top layer protects the floor beneath your feet from scuffs, scratches, and spills. Outdoor concrete sealers also help prevent damage from freeze-thaw cycles and the elements.
Overall, sealers extend the life of your concrete color while making it easier to maintain, clean, and keep looking pristine for years to come. This is not a step that you or your beautifully revitalized concrete floors want to skip.
Before Sealer & After Sealer
A World Of Colored Concrete
Water-based concrete stains are powered by pigments, evaporation, and the natural pores in concrete. They’re the easiest way to color the concrete in your world. From bright white to evocative greens like ivy and avocado to the warm, welcome of molasses and nature-inspired neutrals, blues, and sunset shades, there’s a hue just right for you.
With its eco-friendly, water-based formula and straightforward application, ColorWave is what you need and your concrete floors (and surfaces) want.
No matter where you stand, make every step stunning and sustainable with ColorWave water-based concrete stain only from DirectColors.com.
