New Garage - Anyone Use Concrete Stain?

So why do think that stain is not a good option Paco? Actually if you liked the look of an acid stained floor you could put a clear epoxy over it and have the same durability, but basically it boils down to this ANY type of product that is topical will eventually wear off a cheap sealer/epoxy will be gone in 6 months to a year especially where the vehicle tires are driving over it, a high grade epoxy you'll get anywhere from 1 to maybe 8 years (maybe) with the proper maintenance. A polished floor is different because there is nothing topical to wear off, during the polishing process the concrete is densified and hardens the concrete up to 40%, and increases light reflectivity to name a few, epoxys can yellow or discolor, get burn marks if using a welder, when you do fix or reapply/replace epoxy you have to stay off it for 1 to 7 days (a high traffic church floor that was about 20,000 sqft I polished over 10 years ago, I brought the shine back up to like new by burnishing it in 6-8 hours and people could walk in that area during the whole time I was doing it) I'm not trying to bash on epoxy like I said we install them, but we also do a lot of demo work removing epoxy floors a couple of years after they have been installed. I will give epoxy the edge on stain resistance and if you want a more "painted" floor look although you would have to be a complete slob to stain polished concrete, I had a bucket of used oil left in my garage that when picked up had a ring of oil that wiped right up.

Oh sorry and to answer your question, approximately how many sqft are you needing done deep gloss?
 
Actually, that's a good point about Epoxy clearing a stained floor. That would work but most people who stain are looking for a alternate to epoxy due to the multiple steps and time it takes.



However, you still need proper bonding to the concrete outside of the stain if you're epoxying. So the prep would be the same with regards to cleaning, repairs, etching (chemical or mechanical)... not sure how the stain would look like on an etch'd floor. It would literally come to .. do you like the look of stain or painted floor with/without chips..



If you don't etch properly, the epoxy wont have anything to bite into like it would with the base build coats and epoxy attachment to teh painted layers.
 
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