Keeping Broom Finished Concrete Vibrant

There’s lots of broom finished concrete in the world. Some of it is decoratively stained, and much of what’s decoratively stained is dull looking.

What causes that dullness, and how can it be avoided?

Chris Mirabal, Senior Tech Advisor for Engrave-A-Crete has some helpful tips to keep broom finished concrete bright and save you some call-backs.

First, take a close look at broom finished concrete. See all those little ridges? As people walk on, drive over and shovel across them, tiny pieces break away from the peaks.

If the concrete has been decoratively stained, each one of those tiny particles carries stain away with it as it breaks free. Now that the fragment of stain is gone, the bare concrete is left showing. If only one particle was missing, it wouldn’t be noticeable. But as time goes on, there will be many missing particles and the surface will take on a faded look.

Think of the way pixels are put together to form pictures. One or two missing pixels aren’t a problem. If several are missing, the image loses its resolution and looks dull, blurry and faded. The same is true for broom finished concrete.

The solution? Chris suggests these steps to eliminate the problem.

  1. Thoroughly prep the surface with a power washer and any chemicals needed to remove contaminants.
  2. Use a 14″ metal scraper to scrape the entire surface. You’re scraping off all those particles from the peaks before they cause trouble, so don’t miss any areas!
  3. Use a powerful leaf blower to blow the scraped particles off the surface to be stained. Be thorough and blow it ALL away.
  4. Apply stain as directed.
  5. Apply sealer. Since you have taken away the ridges that provide traction and are about to fill the valleys with sealer, an anti-slip additive should be used to restore the traction once given by the broom finish.

Getting rid of all those tiny particles BEFORE you stain means ALL the stain will remain right where you put it and the job will stay bright much longer.

Thanks, Chris!