I was hoping to plan out a molded colored concrete walkway, but through thinking it out, I ran into a problem. The gravel in the concrete I would assume will not get dyed to the extent of the cement. Would it be better to add a colored surface to the top of the concrete, perhaps an inch. I've have zero experience with concrete coloring but I might be able to dig up some more information. Thanks in advance!

 

We could use some more information, such as how large a pour (dimensions, etc.), and whether you plan to buy ready-mix or batch your own. My own concrete-coloring experience is limited, but a few other posters should be along soon to lend their expertise.

 

Google "concrete staining".
Willing to pay a pro to do it for you it can be just colored or stamped and made to look like stone, tile, brick, ECT.

 

its easier if you use white cement in a ' roll your own ' mix - just color mix water 1st ! batching mix is critical ! you can use any latex-based pigment - we use sher-wms'

that being said to address your 1st question, the 2nd answer's a much easier method - apply a colored surface after curing - apron/box stores are now selling a pre-mixed white polymer-modified mtl in the masonry section,,, we tried it 2mos ago - worked ok !

good luck !
1 of the 'other' posters :-)

 

The molds are (I don't own them) only 1'x1' maybe an extra half per dimension. I was hoping to use a ready mix standard concrete, then again that's my primary question, is what sort of concrete would I need to use? I really like the staining idea, but not sure how to fill in the cracks, with a natural color tone.

 

I misunderstood your initial post, mistaking "molded" for conventional forms most people use. How do you plan to expose the aggregate, since you were concerned about "the gravel in the concrete would not get dyed to the extent of the cement"? I would think flipping molds to access the walking surface (since they are cast upside-down) before final set could risk cracking the concrete.

 

I think I was overly worried about it, I happened to come across some videos on youtube, and they seemed to reassure me that the dye is designed to work with aggregates. Projects scare me, I'll be honest. I like to be able to jump in and know what I'm doing so that when problems arise, I can make adjustments on the fly.
The molds I was looking at are 2x2, and are open on each end, so flipping it made little sense to me.

Next step, buy the materials, and perhaps if the forums allow it, I'll be around to post pictures of the outcome!

Thanks for the advice, and support!

 

I do not know of a single pigment that will really "tint" a quality aggregate.

When you tint a concrete material, you only can affect the cement matrix the holds the aggregate in place. Even the strongest and most costly pigments (synthetic iron oxides) and only affect the paste in the mix. Change of color happens only when the "paste" cement and fine, fines are weathered away by weather and abrasion. We usually used about 6 to 8 semi loads of pigment a year making concrete products and some of the pigments were over $3.00/pound. We had to make sure the colored products were "color-fast" and reproducible since we had a big inventory and had a lot of samples and advertising brochures. We even had a alarm to tell the man in the plant to add the pigment at the correct time in the mixing cycle (automated batching).

For poured concrete, make sure the mix has a high strength and as little fly ash as possible, since this will reduce fading.

Dick

 

i'm still a little confused - do you want exposed aggregate OR just the 'stained' look ? if the former, stain after you wash off cement paste into which you have seeded aggregate (apron/vest bagg'd stuff),,, otherwise finishing conc brings the 'cream' to the surface which then is easily stained/colored.

dick's right about not all pigments being uv-resistant but nothing is fail-safe against fading