DIY question: concrete staining

[Larry Brown #43]

Any handymen, contractors or do-it-yourselfers have experience with staining concrete?

The walkway outside our house--which was already in place when we bought the house--is made up of 20'' x 20'' and 10'' x 20'' concrete pavers. These pavers are pretty old and rough looking, but they are in decent shape.

What we're hoping to do is to pick all the pavers up, clean them, and use an acrylic semi-transparent stain to beautify them. Basically, to give them more of a natural stone look. I figured I'd take what we have and try to beautify it, rather than spending an arm and a leg on new pavers.

Anyway...I've been reading a lot about concrete staining, and have found that the following is essentially the steps one should follow:

1) Clean the pavers using a concrete cleaner/degreaser

2) Etch concrete with etching product

3) Apply concrete primer

4) Apply concrete stain

5) Apply sealant

So, here's my question. Since the concrete pavers we have are old and rough in look and feel, is the etching step necessary? My understanding is the etcher is intended to make newer, smooth concrete rougher and more porous so that the stain can penetrate the concrete.

But if our concrete is already old and rough, can I skip this step? My thought is, I could just clean the pavers thoroughly and let them dry, then apply the primer and let that dry, and then apply the acrylic stain. I'm actually planning to use two colors to create more of a marbled/textured look. Finally, I'd apply a sealer as a top coat to protect the finish.

Any thoughts on my question or on the project in general would be much appreciated! Thanks.

[Titaw]

I thought this was going to be a Norman Bates type thread:

My concrete is stained red, how do I get it out?

I was WAAAAAYYYYY off!

[DeanCollins]

sounds like a lot of work. for $5 per square foot, you can get new interlocking pavers installed. This is the front of your house, you really don't want to go rustic do you?

[Larry Brown #43]

sounds like a lot of work. for $5 per square foot, you can get new interlocking pavers installed. This is the front of your house, you really don't want to go rustic do you?

Actually, the walkway is in front of the house, but also leads around one side of the house and back to the deck. In all, the pavers cover about 200 square feet, and we definitely don't feel like spending $1,000 on the project. We've got other stuff we're working on around the house that's consuming our money, so I'd rather just do this one with what we have.

The good news is I don't think the concrete needs to be etched. From what I'm reading, our concrete is rough enough that it shouldn't need to be etched.

Thing is, our house--at least the front of it--is pretty rustic-looking on its own. So I don't mind the stones having a rustic look. That actually fits the look of our house better than some plain-old concrete looking pavers.

I think all I'll have to do is clean the pavers, apply some concrete primer, and stain. And seal, if I feel like it. Shouldn't be too bad.

In all, the materials shouldn't cost more than $100 or so, and I don't mind doing the work. That's what Memorial weekend is for.

Thanks for the response.