Nothing about plain concrete is pretty. It gets stained every spring from the pollen and leaves. I'm constantly cleaning it. I sure hope staining it will make me happy.
I'm using an etching stain I got from Lowes. The first thing I had to do in preparation was clean it really, really good. I had the porch pressure washed a month ago but the pollen stained it again. No such luck for me! I had to clean it again.
I scrubbed with concrete cleaner that had some sort of acid in it because it burned my hands a little. Oh well! That did not do the trick, so I borrowed my neighbors pressure washer. That did not get the stains off either. Last resort good old clorox bleach! Straight bleach right on the stains. Worked like a charm. Wish I would have tried that first!
Cleaning and taping took me most of Monday. (All that squatting and bending makes my back hurt really, really bad.)
I was going to wait until the next morning to do the staining but the weather man predicted wind so I decided to do it that same night. At 7:00 P.M. Monday night I'm staining my back porch, and of course I ran out of product. One container was not enough. Luckily Lowe's is not far from my home.
The next step which I did this morning is to scrub it with a water/ baking soda mixture and a push broom. Working in a four foot area at a time and picking up the baking soda water mixture with a shop vac. I have a small vac so another back breaking ordeal. I have to clean it again with the baking soda mixture because there is still powdery residue that needs to be lifted. Next step is to paint on the high gloss finish. This step will probably not happen until Saturday. I'm really pleased with it so far. The picture does not do it justice. It is a really nice rusty color and looks pretty natural. I think the gloss finish will make it look better.
