"gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in Riverside, California (halfway between Los Angeles and Palm
Springs).

My house is 35 years old.

Six or seven times during this period, I've applied UN-DILUTED Muriatic
Acid to clean the concrete slab on my patio. Now the slab is now very
rough (it hurts to walk on with bare feet).

Although I can't pour another thick layer of concrete over the existing
slab, can I apply a thin overlay to cover the old, dirty, stained and
pitted concrete to result in a smoother and good-looking slab?

Can a fairly-knowledgeable homeowner do this project?

What product(s) are needed?

What steps are involved?

How durable is the overlay? (The concrete slab is hosed off several
times a week to remove leaves and dirt. Also, the patio is surrounded
by flower beds, potted plants are on the slab and hanging pots are
above the patio. All get watered several times a week).

How long will the overlay last?

in excess muriatic acid might cause some severe etching resulting in
cracking, hopefully you irrigated the concrete sufficiently with water after
applying the muriatic acid to prevent long term damage

perhaps one of the better overlays you could use would be something like
quickrete concrete resurfacer, which is designed to repair spalled concrete
like yours - it is very durable and should last a long time
http://www.quickrete.com/catalog/Con...esurfacer.html

before going with something as permanent as quickrete concrete resurfacer
(which at $25 a bag it also costs significantly more than concrete which
sells for about $3.50 per bag), you might try something lighter, like mixing
portland cement with water till it is about the consistency of paint, then
brushing it onto the surface - might not last long since the plants are
watered often, making the quickrete concrete resurfacer mentioned above
better in this application - might want to experiment and see which works
best