Stamped concrete coloration problem
Well, I WAS very pleased with the stamped concrete job from a very reputable area company. Both the back and front porches of my new home were done. The concrete is level except for the needed slight dip running toward the outside edges of the porches. The stamping job is excellent! The coloring is perfect with my brick, etc. Then yesterday, when I saw the L shaped front porch after the sealer had been put on, my stomach dropped!!! Take a look at the below photos.
Can anything be done to fix this short of redoing the entire porch?
Before: The day of porch pour as it was still drying, and 2 days before any antiquing and sealer. Notice the difference in color from the foreground to the background.
After antiquing and sealer: 3 days later. The porch was also scored. What looks to be sealer overrun on the lighter portion is actually concrete overrun from the 2nd pour. Both areas are antiqued and sealed at the same time and with the same coloring.
Note: When I arrived on site, I was made aware that the front porch had to have two separate pours. We arrived after the second half had just been poured, and of course, the one side was darker and still drying. I was told that it would dry the same color. Nothing was said about a possibility that the two pours could turn out differently once they were dry. We did not see the porch for 4 more days.
Again, can anything be done to fix this? Very disappointed!
Comments (15)
cpartist
2 years agonhb22
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Stamped Concrete vs. Stamped Overlay
Comments (3)Overlay would be done with Acrylic which if a good material is being used can be much stronger than concrete. You can get Acrylic that is 8500psi at 1/8th inch thick. Concrete is only 3600psi. So in the long haul Overlay should last a lot longer. Also gives you the opportunity to change if you would want to. If you stam,p the concrete and it cracks as they all do eventually, you are pretty much stuck with it. Overlay can be fixed, so I would have to agree that overlay is better....See MorePavers vs stamped concrete vs dyed concrete
Comments (22)On the front elevation I'd get rid of the gable over the garage. All it does is lead your eye to the garage and detract from the main body of the house. It's not a feature. The other thing I'd do is insist on them not doing the pork chop returns. Your house has a historical feel to it and that just screams contemporary mass builder.Below the red arrows point to the pork chop returns. Lastly on the rear, you have one window that isn't consistent with the rest of the windows. The one with the arched top. I'd change it to a transom window top to match the other transom windows. BTW: What is above the window I changed? That's a large blank wall on the exterior....See MoreStamped concrete stain problems!
Comments (1)Most issues with stained concrete that occur after application revolve around sealer failure or lack of sealer maintenance. Too much stain residue remaining on the surface when sealing is the most common cause of sealer failure on stained concrete floors. These residues are highly acidic, which can chemically alter the sealer film as well as act as a bond breaker by clogging the pores of the concrete. This is why neutralization and removal of stain residue from the concrete surface is such an important step in staining. If significant amounts of color can be seen on pieces of the failing sealer, chances are that excess residue is the cause of the failure. Stripping the sealer, neutralizing and cleaning the floor, (sometimes re-staining) and then re-sealing are the common fixes for this avoidable, but all too common problem....See MoreHelp! Brickform Stamped Concrete Powered colors?
Comments (3)Here are two pictures - one is the front of the house, with a bit of the side walk to the stone steps, which is the second pic. Welcome any advice on color for the front walkway! Thanks!...See Morenhb22
2 years ago
just_janni
2 years ago
K H
2 years agoUser
2 years agonhb22
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoThe color is added into the concrete mix beforehand. It was 1/2 the formula of a color called Pewter, and had brown antiquing and a sealer added after it dried. We are wondering if the second batch was accidently mixed with the full strength of Pewter.
For those that say that you like the darker color better because you think it goes better/has a nicer contrast with the brick, I don't know how you determine that from the photo that I posted the other day. It's a bad photo and you can barely see the lighter color, or compare it with the brick for that matter.
Below is a better photo of the porch with the correct (lighter) color. We purposely picked a lighter shade of gray because we did not want it too dark. We think it looks best with the brick and the gray/green (SW Sweet Carolina) of the shutters. However, if the whole porch can be made to look the same, we will gladly go darker.
Front porch finished (the door has not yet been stained)
Trailrunner - Thank you for the article. It's upsetting to know that this happens and nothing can be done. No one said a word to me or DH about the fact that the front porch could need two pours...or that the coloring could be off. We were not given anything to read and sign, either. Had we known, would we have done something differently to the porches? Not sure! I will say after reading the article that I can understand what happened. The example given sounds likely what happened to our pours.Our screened in porch turned out perfectly!!!
User
2 years agonhb22
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoUser
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agonhb22
2 years agoUser
2 years agoK H
2 years ago
nhb22Original Author