Decorative Concrete Forums and Decorative Concrete Contractor Locator

Home > Forums > Polished Concrete Forums > dyes

dyes
MC	05-11-2008 18:04:13
Member Posts: 723 Joined: 05-20-2007	Anyone using water based dyes from Dia-tech or Consolideck? Are they as good as the acetone based dyes? Someone tried telling me that the acetone dyes will penetrate 1/4" into the concrete lol. Id be willing to bet that both penetrate about the same as an acid stain if not less which is about 1/32" at the most

consci	05-12-2008 13:44:57
Member Posts: 63 Joined: 04-02-2008	not sure about 1/4", but acetone has the best chance of getting there. Water based dyes, pigments, and acid stain all rely on water which is a huge molecule compaired to acetone and other solvent. With the right agents to slow down evaporation, acetone is the key to deep staining

MC	05-12-2008 14:39:00
Member Posts: 723 Joined: 05-20-2007	Ive heard alot of guys complaining about acetone based dyes lately that the color never comes out right, flashes off too soon and the color doesnt penetrate that well..etc Also Im just kinda worried about fuming the place out with acetone. How come no one uses acid stains for polished concrete? Ive used them for years on regular stain/seal jobs but I dont see why they wouldnt work for polished concrete.

ims polished concrete	05-12-2008 16:18:04
Member Posts: 162 Joined: 09-17-2007	MC, Im a soycrete fan myself, but I would tend to think that acid stains compromise a little of the surface and depletes. Polished concrete is all about the surface integrity. Although I dont really think that it hurts the structual enough not to use it on polished, just me personally I dont want to mess with the acid because of the hazardous ingredients + the added step of neutralizing it. But will admit acid comes out beautiful. I would summarize it as making a deal with the devil so to speak. My view on soycrete is its green and comes close to an acid stain look, I threw a seminar and laid some of that stuff down and the guys attending thought it looked just as good. Dont have to wworry about fumes, hazardous ingredients, neutralizing + a selling point that its green. Then again its all a craft so whatever works best for you - go with it. As far as penetration I will say this, every stain I have ever worked with could be honed off with the highest grit abrasive or the color was so faint after wordds it really did not matter if it was stained or not.

morgispop	05-12-2008 20:23:09
Member Posts: 75 Joined: --	It is not the carrier of the color(acetone, water, silicate, etc, but the size of the iron oxide particulate that dictates the penetration of the dye/stain. The more micronized it is, the farther it will penetrate. Many, most are not that micronized. The common problem with the acetone based products is that when the acetone evaporates(nearly instantly), all that is left is basic iron oxide powder just resting on or barely into the surface and it abrades off very easy since the acetone carrier has very little in the way of bonding type agents. You really need to seal them very soon after application to hold it down. The acrylic based stains(i.e.water based) at least have the acrylic to aid on bonding the iron oxide(or similar color agent) to the surface or slightly into the surface. Acid stains is a whole different ballgame and they due offer a better penetration per se depending on the c ondition of the substrate. My nickels worth.

MC	05-12-2008 20:35:07
Member Posts: 723 Joined: 05-20-2007	Im talking about stains for polished concrete. You cant use an acrylic stain, it will just grind right off or gum up on the diamonds. There is no topical sealer used with polished concrete. Im going to give the water based dyes a try from Consolideck and see how they are.

Site Sponsors