Fast, Easy Color for Concrete Floors

Here is the complete video showing you step by step how to apply Concrete Dye and use a Tinted Sealer to bring out the design and color to a beautiful finished product that you can completely make your own

First we have Justin applying a coat of sealer, we used our own DCI Water-Based Concrete Sealer, to a concrete overlay-ed hardy backer board we use for demonstrations this will work the same as your concrete floor mind you.

We have a couple of tips for first timers concerned about surface prep.

1. remove carpet glue, drywall mud, and paint over-spray
2. check to make sure the concrete is absorbent (if not sanding will be required)
3. use a concrete cleaner and de-greaser, scrub and, rinse clean
4. Allow concrete to completely dry before sealer application

Now that our first coat of sealer has dried we move on to the fun part of spraying out our concrete dye.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind about Concrete Dye

1. Our Concrete Dye is a powdered pigment that you mix with Acetone
2. Acetone can be purchased locally at most hardware stores
3. To mix pour the dye into the acetone
4. tighten the lid and shake vigorously for at least 1 minute
5. Let the mixture sit for 1 hour
6. pour the mixture into a Acetone rated sprayer and your ready
7. Allow 4-6hrs for dry time once you are finished this allows the acrylic from the first sealer to set up after being exposed to acetone

Safety while applying dye is important. Remember to extinguish all pilot lights before use and do not smoke during the application. Use goggles and gloves while working with the concrete dye.

Here are some essentials to remember when applying the dye

1. Pump up your sprayer to the highest point possible
2. The dye should spray as a mist not in droplets
3. If droplets start stop spraying and pump the sprayer again
4. Shake the sprayer side to side frequently during application
5. Do Not spray on thick to where the acetone pools
6. The dye will dry almost instantly
7. Use as thin of coats as possible till you are satisfied with the color

Tinted Concrete Sealers must be vigorously shaken and thoroughly combined before attempting to apply. For best results, shake to combine in the container, pour the contents into a 5 gallon bucket and mix using a paint paddle and drill motor on low speed to keep the pigment in suspension.

A couple of pointers for our Tinted Sealers

• Water-based sealers should be rolled on with a 3/8" defuzzed roller
• Solvent-based sealers should be sprayed on with a pump up fence sprayer using a red tip.
• Sealer bubbles should they occur can be removed with a blow dryer/heat gun set to cool/low
• The thinner you make your coats the stronger and more durable they will become
• Allow Water-based sealers 24hrs between coats
• Allow Solvent sealers 4-6 hours between coats
• If you must walk on a wet sealer take off shoes and wear plastic bags to protect your floors finish during application

Finally after all the dry time and effort you have your new beautiful one-of-a-kind concrete floor! As you can see the top layer is just tinted to add a flat even color to enhance your work with the concrete dye. And you sealed your concrete so the color and work you put in will last you years to come. If you wanted to protect your sealer we also recommend using our acrylic wax that you would just apply with a mop or whatever applicator you choose every 6 months depending on the amount of foot traffic you expect in that area.

Keep in mind we have over 40 colors of concrete dye and over 30 colors of tinted sealer so you can make whatever design idea you have come to life!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask them here on Hometalk, our website www.directcolors.com or call us at (405) 275-6657 if you have any more questions!