When ours was poured they spread color powder all over it then put down the mats for stamping. The next day they came back and presure washed it down (not sure if there was acid in the wash)to wash off the excess powder. They put some type of shiny finish on top. But, color went on just after they poured and smoothed.

Thanks lostinga for your response. They poured on SAT. they spread a colored release/powder on it and stamped just as you said. Today they are hosing down, but not with a pressure washer, they're using my garden hose.
Was yours stained? I heard (but I can't find the info. anywhere) that the concrete needed time to cure... something like 2-3 weeks? Thus my post. When did you have this done?
thanks

The powder that lost refers to is a dry release. I'm guessing you didn't get that. You can acid stain concrete. We had a friend who used to do this as his business. He had some left over stain, so we just acid stained our outdoor kitchen counter tops. It was a small area, so we used a sponge to apply the stain, and let it sit overnight. The next day we used a baking soda and water mixture and spread it over the counter tops, let it sit, and then washed it off. The baking soda mixture brings the ph back up to a normal level. The acid stains the concrete by a chemical reaction. The stains come in several different colors. Your concrete person should do a sample piece from your pour for you to look at for you to get a good idea of how it will look, but acid staining will give you more of a variation in color than if you had used stained concrete with a dry release over the top. You'll have lots of different shades of the color you choose, and it will be very random. You can only control it somewhat. I really like the look of our counter tops. I guess it just depends on the look you are going for. On the containers of stain, it said to let new concrete cure for 28 days, but we only waited 2 weeks. I'm not sure how much that matters. You have to have your concrete really clean before doing the stain. The concrete guy should take care of that. Hope this helps.

For Acid Staining, you need the cure time so that you get more of the moisture out of the top layer as some of the colors will turn black if exposed to moisture. Blues and Greens are basically a no-no outdoors as they are the ones likely to turn black.

Also, with grey concrete, you need to test on a sample first. The stain colors can/will look different so it's a good idea to test first before it's too late.

The link below is to the pictures of our Acid stained compass being installed. Also, if you back-up to page 29, I've got the whole deck stamping and powdered color/release process too.

Jeff

Here is a link that might be useful: Acid Stain Compass

I see that there was an posting that I missed.

We used a red acid stain over colored concrete. The colors weren't exactly what we wanted, so we did the acid over them. We wanted more variation.

Ours was a mixture of two colors. They did tell me it would lighted up as it hardened. not sure if this is what they mean by "cure time" - we were walking on it and using it as soon as it was washed off. In fact, Pebbletec was applied the day after the decking was washed off.

thanks for the responses!
jeff loved your pics and the compass is beautiful.
Actually, I've been ogling your pics for some time. we were considering a "solar sun" in our conversatioon pit area.

Anyway, what I'd like to know... is acid stain and stain the same thing? What about acid wash and then stain? Would really like to know the process, if anyone can tell me?

Acid staining and regular stain (pigmented) are different animals.

An acid stain is a mix of metallic salts and acid. The acid is used to open up the pores of the concrete and the salts react with the hydrated lime in the concrete to form insoluble colored compounds. The artist applying the acid stain will neutralize the acid when it gets to where they want it. The color can take up to about a month to fully develop. Several weeks after completion, It is very... very... important to use a penetrating sealer on the area. If you don't, water can continue to activate the salts and you'll eventually have a lot of black areas where you once had color.

A pigmented stain is basically a dye. It similar to how you dye a piece of cloth. Dyes can be UV sensitive and solvent-based sealers can make them bleed or smear.

Can't really say if one is better than the other. The dyes have more color options, and create a more consistent look, but the Acid Stains create a more varied pattern that more closely matches a real stone like a marble.

The link below is to one of the authoritative sources on the subject.

Here is a link that might be useful: Decorative Concrete Institute

Been to 3 different demonstration classes and World of Concrete convention here in Vegas. It is amazing what you can do to concrete. I personally like the acid stains vs dyes because they have such a depth and variation in color. My favorite is Elitecrete because of their color variations after application, it developes over a few hours. Any acid can be changed or added to before it is sealed. We wait 30 days to stain new concrete. See elitecrete website and also concrete network website for lots of ideas. Barb

Thank you afnajs and airborne101!

The links you both provided were very informative.

Jeff thank you for the breakdown. I really appreciate it.
Is the link you provided where you got your idea for the compass?

It looks like the 2 week wait is the rule rather than the option for us now as there is some finishing to be done with the pool before we can get started. don't want the stain to get ruined.

Thanks again for all the info!

The idea for the compass came from the Brickform site. We saw a compass on one of their pages and we wanted to duplicate it. Brickform's corp offices are not more that 15 minutes from me so I stopped by and inquired about it. They, in turn, pointed me at the business where it was installed (about 5 mins from Brickform). From there I got the contact name of the guy who did the compass, and the rest is history.

Here is a link to some additional photos of this guys work. Everything you see _is_ acid stained concrete. Even the mexican pavers are stamped concrete that has been acid stained and grouted to look like the real deal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acid Stained Concrete