I have a 4 yr old stamped concrete patio, structurally sound. It has been sealed every fall (Midwest). I think the color has faded a lot. Also areas of white patches....almost looks like too much / bad sealer. The intergral color is dark tan, and dark brown release over that.

I would like to remove sealer (Xylene??) and darken it. Can I use more release agent, if so, how? OR, can I acid stain it.

It is kind of a flagstone stamp, so color variation within each "stone" would be preferable

Thanks for any suggestions!

Jan

 

If you're sealing it every fall, you're over applying the sealer. When you do this, moisture wicking up into the concrete from underneath cannot evaporate out the top because of the high build of sealer. Therefore, the moisture is trapped under the sealer and the sealer turns white or cloudy. I see it all the time.
You need to strip all the sealer off. Xylene is not the way to go because it evaporates too fast and you'd be at it forever. Google search for Remov-all by Napier. It does the job nicely.
After all the sealer is gone, a simple re-seal with 1 coat of new sealer will bring the patio back to original color/condition. if you liked the original color, you'll be happy. If not and you want to stain individual stones, then do that before the re-seal. Then, only re-apply the sealer when it actually needs it. NOT every year! And only apply one coat at a time.

 

Pecos,

Thanks so much for the advice! I will get to it ASAP. What do you suggest I use if I wanted to stain the individual "stones"?

Thanks again!

 

When I do it, I use acid stain....but that's a whole 'nuther can of worms. If you don't know what you're doing with it, it can turn out very badly. It needs to be heavily diluted for this application, and you'd need to buy several colors which could get expensive. I don't know of a good way other than that. Good luck.