FAQ

Browse our Kemiko Neutra Clean™ FAQs for answers to common questions about cleaning stained concrete and how to neutralize acid stain:

To clean concrete floors or neutralize Kemiko Stone Tone Concrete Acid Stain, dilute Kemiko Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser with water before use according to the instructions on the bottle.

Lightly soiled floors at 10:1 – for floors lightly soiled with dirt, dust and small amounts of grease, use 10 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean™.

Moderately soiled floors at 5:1 – for floors with a little more dirt, oil, grease or sticky messes like a light overspray of drywall mud, use 5 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean™.

Heavily soiled floors at 2:1 or 1:1 – for floors covered in lots of grease, oil, grime or difficult cleaning jobs like latex paint overspray, use 1 to 2 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean™.

Neutralization at 8:1 to 10:1 – for neutralizing Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain after application on a concrete floor. To neutralize and remove residue and excess colorant, use 8 to 10 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean™.

Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser was especially developed to prepare concrete for staining using Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain. Then, Neutra Clean™ neutralizes Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain and removes residue when staining is complete. For the best stained concrete results, it is highly recommended that you use Neutra Clean™, as directed, to prepare floors and neutralize Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain.

Applying Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain to floors without properly cleaning and degreasing causes uneven color. Using Neutra Clean™ before staining concrete floors removes dirt and residue that make staining less effective; follow dilution and use instructions to achieve the Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain color you want.

Neutralizing Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain with Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) and baking soda leaves behind additional residue that must be cleaned away. Neutra Clean™ is liquid and will not leave behind more residue when neutralizing stain.

While Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser is biodegradable and most likely will not harm vegetation, we recommend that you try to keep residue off of your landscape and lawn as a precaution. Like other detergents, the best practice is to try to remove the solution from the surface of your slab without introducing too much of it into the ground.

Yes. Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser is a metasilicate cleaner formulated for cleaning stained concrete. It removes grease, grime, soil and other construction byproducts. Our customers swear by Neutra Clean for use in commercial kitchens, grocery stores, restaurants, showrooms floors, walkways, and other heavy duty jobs.

Coverage depends on dilution. Typically, Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser covers 500 – 2000 square feet per gallon, at recommended dilution ratios.

Yes. It’s important to know how to neutralize acid stain. Neutralizing the acid reaction with Neutra Clean™ locks in the color that has been achieved and stops Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain’s chemical reaction with the concrete. Neutra Clean™ also removes the powder residue left behind from the reaction of Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain with the concrete. Plus, Neutra Clean™ removes any additional Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain colorant that did not absorb.

If you’re planning on sealing your concrete, this is the most important step. If you do not neutralize and clean the floor with Neutra Clean™, your Kemiko sealer cannot bond correctly.

Knowing how to neutralize acid stain and thoroughly cleaning the floor with Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser is an important step in the concrete staining process. The floor can never be too clean before applying a Kemiko sealer.

After neutralizing the Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain with Neutra Clean™, some powdery residue is left behind. Without a thorough cleaning, the Kemiko sealer coating will eventually lift off the floor. It’s like putting tape on a dusty table – the tape might stick for a little while, but it will eventually fall off.

To determine if the floor is clean enough for sealing, test by wiping (not scrubbing) a damp rag or towel across the surface. If the rag or towel comes away with color, there is still residue and cleaning the stained concrete again with Neutra Clean™ is necessary. If the rag or towel is mostly clean and you are confident that all of the residue is removed, you are ready to apply a Kemiko sealer.

Concrete acid stains work by penetrating concrete and reacting with the lime to produce color. If cleaning stained concrete with Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser removed most of the color, the application of Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain wasn’t able to penetrate the surface of the concrete and react with the lime.

If the surface of your concrete is smooth and slick, it’s likely that the concrete has been power troweled or coated with a curing compound, preventing the acid from penetrating. In this case, dry sanding the surface with 150 grit sandpaper will solve the problem. This opens the pores of the concrete and allows Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain to penetrate the surface of the concrete and react with the lime.

Fly ash will also prevent Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain from reacting. Fly ash is an additive that is sometimes used to help cure cement. Fly ash and other additives reduce the proportion of lime in your concrete, which means that acid staining isn’t an option for these types of slabs. You might consider using Kemiko Buildable Overlay to provide a cementitious surface that will react with Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain.

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Browse our Kemiko Stone Tone Buff-On Wax FAQs for answers to common questions about stained concrete paste wax floor sealer:

The solvent base Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax has a higher VOC content compared to the water base version of Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax. The water base version of Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax is a LEED compliant product, while the solvent base version of Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax is not LEED compliant. Both versions offer the same finish when applied and similar coverage rates.

Solvent-based Kemiko Buff-On Wax takes a little longer to set up and you are able to work a larger area, usually about 8 feet square. Solvent-based waxes are a little more forgiving in that you are able to blend the edges more easily, while water-based wax edges need to be scraped. Water-based wax gets harder and sets up faster, so it needs to be worked in a smaller area, about 5 feet square.

More about Kemiko Products LEED Compliance

Lightly soiled floors at 10:1 – for floors lightly soiled with dirt, dust and small amounts of grease, use 10 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean.

Moderately soiled floors at 5:1 – for floors with a little more dirt, oil, grease or sticky messes like a light overspray of drywall mud, use 5 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean.

Heavily soiled floors at 2:1 or 1:1 – for floors covered in lots of grease, oil, grime or difficult cleaning jobs like latex paint overspray, use 1 to 2 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean.

Neutralization at 8:1 to 10:1 – for neutralizing Stone Tone Concrete Acid Stain after application on a concrete floor. To neutralize and remove residue and excess colorant, use 8 to 10 parts water to 1 part Neutra Clean.

Yes, you can apply water base Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax over a floor previously coated with solvent based Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax. However, you CANNOT apply solvent base Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax on top of  a floor previously coated with water base Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax. The solvent base version does not bond well when applied over the water base version.

No, most likely you did not apply Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax too thin. Every concrete floor is different, and the porosity of your floor determines coverage. It is not unusual to get 600 – 800 square feet of coverage per gallon of Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax concrete paste wax.

We recommend that the floor be neutralized with Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser, because it is specially designed to neutralize the acid reaction and remove residue left behind after applying Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain.

Do not use vinegar to neutralize Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain. Vinegar is highly acidic, and is, therefore, unable to neutralize an acid reaction. If you used vinegar to try to neutralize your floor, the Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain residue will react with the Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax. This reaction prevents the Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax from curing. To correct this, clean thoroughly with Kemiko Neutra Clean™ Neutralizer and Degreaser to remove the uncured Stone Tone™ Buff-On Wax and remove any Kemiko Stone Tone™ Concrete Acid Stain residue from the floor.

Browse our Kemiko FAQs for answers to common questions about how to stain concrete:

NEVER wash the concrete surface with muriatic acid if you plan on applying acid stain. Muriatic acid roughens the concrete surface and depletes the lime in the concrete. Because the stain works by reacting with lime, cleaning with muriatic acid will prevent the stain from working.

Kemiko stain is concentrated and will usually achieve colors close to our acid stain color chart when mixed at 1:1 (water: stain). However, all concrete surfaces are different, and yours may react differently. To achieve a lighter color, you may add more water to dilute the stain, and to achieve a darker color, add less water to the stain. Always color test stain in an inconspicuous area, especially if you plan to alter the dilution ratio.

If your stain color isn’t taking, it’s either because it can’t penetrate your concrete, or it can’t react once it penetrates. Here’s how to diagnose and fix the problem:

You can determine if there’s a penetration problem by spraying water on your concrete. If the water beads, instead of soaking in, there is a penetration problem. To fix this, sand the surface of your concrete with a sanding screen, black pad, or 100 to 120 grit sandpaper and re-apply stain. We recommend sanding a small section by hand to see if the pores open up and accept the stain before you sand the entire floor. Do this in an inconspicuous area, because it will be hard to blend that test spot in with the rest of the stain application.

If the stain can penetrate the concrete but doesn’t react and create color, your concrete might contain additives like fly ash or slag. Additives reduce the ratio of lime in the concrete, which prevents the stain from reacting. It’s not possible to use acid stain on concrete containing fly ash or slag. You might consider using Kemiko Buildable Overlay to provide a cementitious surface that will react with the stain.

At the recommended 1:1 dilution ratio (water:stain), a gallon of stain will cover approximately 400 square feet of floor area with two applications or 800 square feet with one application. We recommend using two applications to achieve the best stain color.

If your floor isn’t completely clean before applying stain, residue can prevent the stain from penetrating and cause spots where the color doesn’t develop. To fix it, try brushing your diluted stain into the area with a nylon or a chip paint brush. If the diluted stain still doesn’t color your concrete, try using the stain at full strength without dilution. If your color still won’t take in that area, sand the floor with 100 grit sandpaper to open up the pores of the concrete and re-apply the stain.

Browse our Kemiko Stone Tone Sealer II FAQs for answers to common questions about how to apply concrete sealer:

There are many Kemiko single component sealer options, and your choice will depend on the finish you’d like and the conditions to which your floor will be subjected.

For interior residential floors, we recommend Kemiko Stone Tone™ Sealer II for its ease of use, low odor and fast cure time.

Kemiko Stone Tone™ Sealer II is a water base acrylic sealer available in a gloss finish. This single component sealer is very user friendly to apply and is ready for light foot traffic within 8 – 10 hours. We recommended applying Kemiko Easy Shine™ Mop On Wax over floors sealed with Kemiko Stone Tone™ Sealer II. This will protect the sealer and extend its life.

Commercial and industrial floors are subject higher traffic and/or harsh use conditions. So, an epoxy or polyurethane coating is a better choice to protect those types of floor surfaces. Both epoxies and polyurethanes have higher scratch and chemical resistance. To achieve the best results and performance, we recommend that you hire a professional with experience applying two-component epoxy and polyurethane systems.

Depending on coat thickness and floor texture, Kemiko Stone Tone™ Sealer will cover 300 – 500 square feet per gallon with 1 coat. Rough surfaces take more sealer to fill in pores and smooth surfaces use less.

How to apply concrete sealer: Spray application of Kemiko Stone Tone™ Sealer II produces the best results. Use a commercial sprayer with a gun tip size between .013 and .015 inches with pressure adjusted for proper atomization. Avoid using a pump sprayer with water base sealers, because they can’t produce the consistent pressure needed for uniform application.