"Jim Elbrecht" wrote in message
...
"SteveB" wrote:

18 yd. stamped concrete patio pour is complete. Weeks to prepare, and
less
than six hours to pour and finish.

And years of satisfaction. . .

Now, 30 days to cure, and stain and
seal. Looks good. Be happy when it's all done. Lots of Windsor wall and
tile work and planter stuff left to do.

Did you stamp/stain it, or hire it out? I just saw you said it
gets stained in 30 days. Is that better than the color they add at
time of pour?

Jim

I hired it out for 1/3 of the cost it would have cost in this area a year
ago during busy construction times. The man came highly recommended from a
custom housing tract we did a real estate survey for. They used a roller
for a stamp. It all looks nice.

If you add colorant to wet concrete, the color is consistent throughout.
But if you stain it later, you can come up with variant colors. He has done
two new Maverick gas stations in our area, which we went and looked at. The
floors are concrete, but slick as polished wood gymnasium floors. Not my
choice, but theirs. The colorations are very varied. They are also going
to stain some concrete that was done earlier, and claim to be able to match
it all "pretty close". If they get it close at all, I'll be impressed, as
the current color is somewhere between pink and purple. Then the seal,
which will have to be redone every five years or so, at $30 a gallon. But
an easy spray job a DIYer can do.

Steve