Are You Considering Staining A Garage Floor With Quikrete Concrete Stain?
Quikrete is, by far, the most popular of all garage floor coatings. Maybe this is due to the catchy name, or maybe they’ve just built a good reputation based on good products, but no one else even comes close. I suppose it just makes sense, then, that Quikrete Concrete Stain would often be looked at as the premier garage floor stain available.
There Are Two Different Quikrete Concrete Stains, And Neither Use That Name
There is no product called “Quikrete Concrete Stain”, per se. This can cause some confusion because, if one searches for Quikrete Concrete Stain, they may get one of two different results: Quikrete Etching Stain, and Quikrete Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain. These two different products will give you very different looks, so be careful that you know which one you actually want. For now, we’ll concentrate on Quikrete Etching Stain. I’ll probably give my take on the Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain a bit later. Hey, stop complaining, I’ll get to it eventually. And also, eat your vegetables.
Quikrete Says To Use Etching Stain For Your Garage Floor
Actually, to be more exact, Quikrete doesn’t recommend you use anything other than etching stain in your garage, and for good reason. Etching involves nothing short of melting the top layer of your concrete garage floor with acid so that you can scrape texture into it while, in this case, adding the stain as well. The result is garage flooring with improved grip for both car tires and human shoes or feet, as well as an old world, classic stone look.
OMIGAH! Etching Sounds Complicated!
Don’t worry, etching concrete is easy. In fact, Quikrete advertises a one-coat application with their etching stain. Ironically, they also make it extremely clear that you must use a sealant as well, which pretty much takes that one coat thing and throws it right out the window. The total install is still a heck of a lot easier than epoxy garage floor paint, though, and after the sealant is applied, you will have a modicum of protection as well, which is something that etching stain alone cannot provide. Oh, and you also have to clean the heck out of your garage floors, and should probably use some sort of stain remover before you even start with the etching. Yeah, one coat my butt…wait, never mind, get away from me.
Staining Is Cheaper Than An Epoxy Garage Floor Coating, Right?
Generally, yes, but not here. I guess it’s because of the acids that are used for the etching, but Quikrete Etching Stain runs a bit over $300 before you add cleaner and sealant. That’s pretty expensive for stain, which is generally a lot cheaper than garage floor tiles. But garage floor tile can’t give concrete a marble look. Is the additional cost worth it? I suppose that depends on you. I would say that it’s not if protecting the concrete is priority number one, even though, once it is sealed, the concrete will be protected to a degree. If the goal, though, is to make the concrete look quite different than other garage floor finishes, this will definitely do it.
For more information on Quikrete Concrete Stain, check out Sweet Garage Floor.
