Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Concrete Stain - third try

I'm stripping the concrete stain from my interior floor because of water/effervescence stains. The floor was originally stained with a soy-based stain and sealed with a soy-based sealer. The slab had been poured last november but was covered with building paper and plywood during construction. When we pulled off the building paper there was still water trapped beneath however the concrete contractor went ahead and etched then stained the concrete. We waited a week for the stain to dry and even then it was slightly still sticky to touch. The contractor went ahead and sealed the stain only to find 'ghosting', whitish coloring appear beneath the sealer. So he stripped off the sealer and stain (although he used an etching product rather than a stripper), waited a day for the floor to dry then re-applied a very light coat of stain then a couple of coats of sealer.

Weeks later, effervescence began to show up again, particularly in places where stuff was left on the floor, e.g., beneath boxes, paint tarps, etc. It seems incredible that the slab, now 10 months old, could still be releasing water vapor!

Anyway, I decided to strip (rather than grind) off the sealer and stain again, this time with a stripping product, and start over. For the water vapor issue another concrete contractor suggested waterproofing the floor with a Sinak sealer which can be applied prior to staining. With regards to staining, I'm wary of using the same soy-based product again. I'd appreciate any suggestions regarding acid or other types of stains. Has anyone had any experience with Bromanite?

Thanks,
Doug

First off, Bomanite is a franchise so you couldn't get their stuff if you tried. However there are a lot of other acid stains on the market available to homeowners. Probably the most common (for homeowners) is Kemiko.
I've always been wary of soy based stain, because if you think about it, what do we get from soybeans?...oil! I can't see how soy stain could be anything other than oily. And oil will repel just about any type of sealer you try to put on it. If it's a soy based sealer, it may be little more than an oil as well.
Acid stain is a possible DIY project, but you'll need to study up on it. There's a lot of helpful info on the internet. It's NOT AT ALL like paint, so truly do your homework before attempting anything. Good luck.

Pecos

Thanks Pecos,

I've been doing a lot of research on the web and I'm thinking of the following:

I just finished stripping the old sealer and most of the old stain off, I'm going to try and strip particularly noticeable spots of old stains again then,

Rent a floor polisher with a stiff pad and clean the floor with TSP/water mix, then rinse with clean water and wet vacuum.

For stain, the local concrete supplier carries Scofield Lithochrome Tintura, a non-acidic, waterbased stain. Then seal with the Scofield sealer.

Anyone have experience with Scofield?

/Doug

I had a large (18,000 sq ft) job last year that I tried Sim Stain on. I usually use acid stain but the Sim Stain info sounded good. It sounded almost too easy to be true. I did three apartment floors with the Sim Stain. It all looked good the next day (similar to acid stain) until we inadvertantly dripped some water on the floor. I wiped it up with a rag and the stain came off! It did not "stain" anything. If I had tried to seal over it and the sealer peeled up at a later date, the stain would have come off with it. I used plain water and a scrubber and took all the sim stain up from the 3 apartments in a couple of hours. I then completed the job using acid stain and have had no issues to date.
The Sim Stain folks told me that the concrete was trowelled too tightly to take the stain. I didn't buy it so I put the sim stain on some rough, broomed concrete. In a couple of days I washed it and all the color came off that too. In my opinion, Sim Stain is not a good option. To me, a "stain" is something relatively permanent, not something that comes up easily with plain water.