Lowes doesn't sell real concrete stain. If it's in a metal can, it's not acid stain here's a clip from www.acidstainconcrete.com Add to that the fact that unlike others floor finishes, acid stain is translucent. Rather than covering the slab with color, it creates a chemical reaction that transforms the color of the concrete itself. It doesnÂt cover up the imperfections in the slab, it accentuates them. here are some links http://www.decorative-concrete.net/stained.php http://www.kemiko.com/ www.scofield.com www.elitecrete.com http://www.concrete-stains.com/ www.askthebuilder.com/219_Concrete_Stains.shtml www.advancedsurfaces.com/

You're welcome! maire_cate - No pool, but the existing patio does get slippery when wet, especially when I am in flip flops. tinam61 - Our patio was poured, and then it was suppose to be acid stained. Instead, they rolled some type of stain on top, and then sealed it. As I said, the inside has held up with two more applications of sealer in the last 5 years. The outside has actually been re-stained (after the first season and flaking began)and has been sealed 4 times. Yes, the overlay has color applied before the epoxy is poured. Are you thinking of having the lower driveway done with stamped concrete, or brick pavers? If you are in an area that gets lots of snow (and salt) I would not try the stamped concrete. My neighbor has has his torn up and redone, and still had it ruined over the winter with the salt trucks. susieq07 - I've seen your driveway before. You've had that quite a while. Has it held up well? Talked to DH today. We are going to wait for the estimates to come back on our project. If the numbers are within our budget, I think we are going to go ahead and either add to the existing pad before having a coating put on it, or tear the pad up and pour a larger pad. We could also do pavers instead of a concrete pad. Maybe the yard would not get as torn up if we are just taking out the old pad, and not having to have a new pad poured. Again, it all depends on the expense and our budget. I wish for a larger patio to be able to serve our needs. Here is the rest of what we are doing. Pergola will be attached to house. So instead of four columns, we will have two. This will improve our siteline from the house and screen porch. From backyard looking at patio and screened porch From backyard with pergola mock-up From backyard with pergola, grill enclosure and fireplace mock-up Fireplace and/or pergola examples that I like. We are not sure whether to go with brick to match our house (if we can find it) and use stone accents like this. There would be seats on either side and the chimney will be higher to tie in with pergola. I like this the best, but chimney would not be quite this tall because we will have gas. Take away the two columns, and scaled down a bit, plus add the seats. Original dream photo. I've hung onto this for a couple of years. Saw this at General Shale yesterday and was determined that this was it! Today, I am having second thoughts that it may be TOO formal. Plus, the white detailing may become a headache for cleaning. I think that I'd rather go with detailing like the following photo, whether used with stone or brick. Did I tell y'all that we will also be improving the looks of the screened porch post? Instead of the solid paint stain on rough treated post, and the vinyl cladding on the outside of the porch, we will have the post re-wrapped with a smooth paintable wood and then redo the screening and trim them out. Again, this is something with can put on the back burner if needed. After all, I just stained the post last summer. Throw in some landscaping, lighting and furniture, we will be all done!

This is our third house with a screened in porch. Maine-Bugs. Could not live without one. We left wood planks on one floor.(our cabin in the mts.)The second had wood planks and we used indoor/outdoor carpet. The home we live in now is a cement slab. Because it is Maine we had to use a certain type tile. We looked at some that looked like slate. Then we saw real slate at HD for soooo cheep. It is absolutely beautiful. We used 16x16" tiles and my DH laid them at an angle. It has multi faded colors like greenish, grayish,rustish,maroonish. Typical slate just not a solid color.

We put porcelain slate on our covered screened room last year. We LOVE it. Totally non-slip and so easy to clean with a hose and broom! We sealed only the grout lines and it has held up beautifully. This is the most used room in the house. Also put it on the covered front porch and have had no problems. In fact, when tropical storm Fay came ashore about two miles from us the pool patio was totally under water for hours. No problems whatsoever. Best $600 I ever spent. We did the work ourselves. Backbreaking but so worth it. This was put down over a concrete slab that was cleaned well in advance and the total height of the tile and thinset was about 1/2 inch. Please don't mind my "decorating". Someday .... :) This is what we used for the stoop or whatever you call that small step up into the house. This was from the front porch install and obviously before grout, but it is what we used on the back patio also, going into the house thru the slider. ~Betsy