Customer Reviews for Eagle 1 Gal. Graphite Interior/Exterior Acid Stain

This is easy to use. I used a small nap roller and applied three coats. Then I applied a fourth coat. While the fourth coat was semi-dry, I used a hand sander and sanded away the surface to give it a marble look with veins. I also took a wet rag and smeared the coat a bit. If you just remove the excess you'll get the finish in the product photo. I used H&C Concrete Sealer, Gloss, which was easy to use and gave the floor a shiny look. I tried others and was disappointed.

Easy to use, beautiful results. You will get an amazing floor for a fraction of the cost of any other type of floor.

Loved the outcome and color of this stain. Was everything we'd hoped for and more.

This is a great product and works as advertised. Very easy to use for the beginner. I will be using more of this on other projects

Very easy to use! Turned out beautifully. We used this for concrete countertops and it came out just awesome! Just follow the directions on the bottle.

Purchased 3 gallons but used 2. Sprayed the first gallon as 50/50. Sprayed the second as full strength. After I neutralized, I liked the look when wet and thought it would be that dark with the sealer. Unfortunately, it was much lighter. If I had to do it again, I would place more product on the concrete. (Also, the concrete was NEW and had only cured 7 days)

I ordered the color Patina. Product states Patina but according to color chart this is not Patina but maybe Bronze. I tried the stain on 3 different concretes (3 different ages and types) with the same results, bright orange. I have used acid stain on concrete before (manufactured by a different company) and loved the results. I do not know if what was sent to me was not labeled correctly or just a bad product.

I recently used Eagle Acid stain for concrete in olive color. The concrete slab is going to be used for an outdoor pavilion and was only floated a couple of times with a hand made wooden float. I never touched the cement after the float but when it got firm enough to walk on I sprayed it with water and covered the whole job with plastic. Leaving it covered for 7 days. I waited 28 days for the cement to cure before using the stain. . It took 1.3 gallons for 360 sq. ft. First I misted water over the entire slab to make it damp. I used a garden style sprayer and went to work spraying the slab. As I went I would stop spraying and broom in the acid with a shop broom working it into the cement evenly. I highly recommend a damp slab to start and brooming the acid in as you go for even coverage. They recommend a sprayer for acid stain but mine was not and I think the brass tip and tube of the sprayer effects the stain somewhat if you stop and it sits- reacting to the brass. In hindsight I recommend using a plastic garden sprinkler watering can. Have a helper do this as you work the acid around with the broom. The next day I rinsed the slab several times and broomed it with lots of water. Then I mixed 16 OZ. of ammonia with 5 gallons of water, flooding the area and brooming the neutralizer mix in. I did this twice then I rinsed the slab thoroughly again. I waited a week to seal it and I used Behr Premium Low-Luster Sealer, $28. This produced the look I wanted and took the curse off the olive color. If you want a darker wet look- use the Behr Wet-Look Sealer. Eagle makes a good sealer which I have used in the past also. I was very pleased with the Eagle Acid stain and the Behr Premium Low-Luster Sealer.

I found this like the last solution for my patio. But it was the best one.

The Eagle Acid Stain performed very well on both new and 30 year old concrete. The custom precast concrete post bases were complimented nicely by the Rustic Stain and gave the "Pop" factor I wanted. Use a stiff plastic bush to massage the acid onto the concrete sides to prevent flow lines. Use same brush on top surface as well. Will use product again.

This step was the simplest to apply. I did this in my basement and the only thing I didn't anticipate was how much water you are putting down and taking up during the whole process. All in all, a good result and the pride of a job well done. When you first put it down, it looks orange, but let it cure and you'll be alright (see pictures)

My yard has a concrete retaining wall that was unsightly and stained by mud. Also, when the afternoon and evening sun directly hit the wall, it was almost blinding. After using Eagle Amber Concrete Acid Stain, the wall blends in nicely with the house and rock surroundings. The product has a natural look and was easy to apply and clean up.

Power washing took the longest, over an hour. Spraying the stain was fast and easy. neutralizing and scrubbing was by far the hardest and longest step. The gloss sealer I used didn't come out of the sprayer in a fine enough mist to use by itself so I had my brother use a roller as I sprayed the concrete sealer/gloss. Overall I am happy with the project.

We used this for our new stamped concrete and came out great. We spayed it in a circular motion without brushing it in like some videos say. We wanted a two tone effect We did two coats. On the borders we rolled it on to have a more consistent color. We also did afront porch that has old concrete and came out good. We powered washed it a few times and used stripper to remove old paint. We also painted over two pieces of integral colored concrete and the results of the colors were the same as the stamped concrete. It was a light integral color so I'm sure it will vary by color. We thought it would be cheaper than integral color but after we finished we probably spent more than integral color but the results I think are better and look high end. The color variation you get look great Overall we are happy with the results.

Pictures do the talking, A progression of the stain reacting with the concrete and pictures of the finished result!

After watching few videos on how to stain (it looks so easy ) i bought this product. First its not all that easy as it sounds and looks. You will need a lot of time cause takes time to prep etch dry neutralize wash off dry again betwen coats etc... Product does do the job. You will need 2 gallons for 400sqft garage. In HD store they sold me Muriatric acid for etching saying that i need this before i stain ( while i was waiting order to come in mail i cleaned and etch with acid , next day order came on and first thing it said DO NOT USE ACID TO ETCH) Went to store with instructions to ask them why they said Acid etch is must. Wanted to be sure that i didnt screw something up(and i did). The guy who sold me the Acid made excuse that he ment for Behr stainer you need to use Acid :(. Its to late now. It did good job but would be much better if i didnt kill all crystals in concrete with Acid etching process. For first coat dont soak it wet it takes forever to clean neutralize. Lost of Amonnia water and washing off. It came out pretty cool. Im happy over all. Just wish i didnt used that Acid to etch.

It was a ton of work....but i am happy with the results. I loved the bronze as the first initial color. I also used a darker color( valspar concrete"stain" more like a paint) to help hide concrete blemishes by spraying a splatter pattern(it was not an acid based...more like a very thin concrete paint). Do NOT skimp on the concrete prep. We cleaned the heck out of the concrete. Do NOT skimp on the neutralizing part either. I used ammonia and water to neutralize...no need for any special stuff. overall i love the color that came out of the bottle. we got away with using one bottle for just a bit under 400 square feet. If i could have ordered another one and have it get here in time... i would recommend it... it was just barely enough for our porous concrete. We left it on over night because we barely had enough for full coverage.

I had a new walkway poured in April and then my driveway and patio poured in May. I prepped and applied the stain to all of them on a mild day in November. The stain reacted completely differently on the walk than it did on the driveway and patio due to different batches of concrete. However, I love the results on both. I used the rustic on the borders and the taupe on the main areas(though Home Depot did not have taupe on the website at the time, I called Eagle products and they swapped out the wheat for the taupe on my order) I also used the Eagle Armor Seal which works well but makes it a bit slippery when wet even with a rough textured float finish.

We have 30 year old concrete walks driveway and patio. They look like new now! Several cracks and some raised toe stub edges existed at expansion joints. Raised edges were ground down. I disguised the edges and cracks with darker stain of COCOA color solution. (see below) Masking house stucco and walls to be the hardest chore. Spraying the stain was fun and easy. Waiting for it to react takes patience. Most of ours reacted within 4 hours in 80 degree temperature. I found baking soda solution stopped the reaction better than ammonia. With ammonia it continued to darken somewhat even though it was a strong solution. Started by using a home grade pressure washer. Found using TSP was unnecessary. Wife likes the darker colored areas. That is the COCOA color solution. I added more COCOA in a random fashion here and there. The main areas are RUSTIC diluted 2:1 and 1:1.(for blending and interest) COCOA was diluted with 2 parts water and 1 part RUSTIC. Otherwise, it turned out black instead of chocolate. We liked it so much we went on to do every bit of concrete. The garage is next and last.

This was my first time using any type of acid stain but it turned out gorgeous. It is the first thing people comment on when they come over. This product does have prep work to it but well worth the time I put in. I used it in new concrete for our pavilion and I do not think I would try it on old concrete with grease stains etc. Like every one says don't freak out during the steps the final color is not know until you put the clear coat down, it turned out almost like a piece of granite !!

We are new to home projects (first home) and decided to acid etch our outdoor screened in patio using Eagle. Your success with this product is based on accurately following instructions and going in with reasonable expectations. We did a TON of research on youtube and online forums. Color is all based on the weather conditions, age of concrete and make up of concrete. Long story short after we were unable to remove old paint and carpet glue from our outdoor screened patio (yes don't ask why ugly boat carpet was outside), we ended up applying a layer of self leveling concrete. We let that cure 45 days. We applied acid with a sprayer on a 12X14 area and used almost 2 bottles of acid, wheat color. Probably after the 4th spray application it started to change to the "wheat" color. It was more cooper color tones than wheat. We are assuming it was due to new concrete that the color didn't pop until 4th application. After application, we neutralized with ammonia vs the Eagle product (cheaper) and we read that baking soda mix can be difficult to remove. After a few rinses, the color really showed up well. We did notice that well the rinse water was clear but when we used a rag, residue would come up. After lengthy debate, we assumed it was due to the fresh concrete. The fresh concrete was so porous it would suck up any water. After letting dry for several days, we applied Beher acrylic concrete sealer and very pleased with the results. We had some pouring issues with the new cement so this added some texture. Overall very pleased...overall do your research and following instructions.

Day 1 I used this product on a avg. 6' x 50' Stamped stone block concrete retaining wall. I did not etch as recommended, but did spend several hours pressure washing the day before. Day 2 I used the bronze acid as a base coat, and used the rustic color acid to accent individual stones. I put the first coat on early in the morning about 6 AM, then accented individual stones about 5 hours later. I used a everyday pump sprayer and had no problems at all... I used a scotch brite pad to accent the individual ones pouring the acid on the pad and rubbing each stone (took forever...) As I was about an hour into, I went back and checked to see how it was looking (the wall is curved), and I kinda got nervous, as I couldn't see what I had done after it dried... I was going to give up at that point, but went back and kept going as I wasn't sure if it was soaking in or not. I'm glad I did... (It wasn't til the VERY end of the process before I could see the results...) Now comes the fun part... I pressure washed the entire wall at 6 PM, and was getting a fair amount of excess off.. After I spent 2 hours washing, I went back to the start, and it was like I didn't get any of it off at all... Day 3 I started early again, washed the whole wall, this time taking a angle broom, and scrubbing the whole wall and in between each stone and pressure washed again... 4 hours later... same effect... the next time I used a 2 foot push broom and repeated... 4 hours later... better, but was still getting residual on a rag... I did this one more time with even more effort on the scrubbing part...I had finally had it clean.... I pressured washed it one last time, and called it a weekend. Day 4/5 I applied two coats of wet look sealer to the wall the following weekend, and it turned out great... It was an EXTREME amount of work to get it done, but was worth the outcome... I did it all myself ( I was 300 miles from home at a cabin) but would definitely find some help on the cleanup part if I had to ever do it again...

Not the easiest home improvement project for sure but if you follow the directions it turns out in the end. The one thing I will say is that the stain took much longer to dry than the instructions said. We had to leave it overnight before neutralizing. Also, the cleaning after neutralizing takes forever - 2 days for us. We tried all different methods of cleaning and what worked the best was mopping with water and using a shopvac to suck up the water immediately. It takes a long time for the water to be clear - wanted to quit multiple times and were worried that the stain did not take as it looked like too much came up. I even emailed Eagle with concerns and Rich called me back and said it was looking how it was supposed to. Once we applied the sealer it looked beautiful (see picture).

Overall this is a pretty good product. If you are a meticulous person it will drive you crazy trying to perfect it. We originally started with Amber. The wife hated it so i bought rustic to go over it. It worked well at covering the amber. This photo was done with two coats of rustic. The first coat was done with 1:1 over a wetted surface. The second was 1:4 with a dry surface. For the second coat I went back over areas that did not take the stain well the first time. Overall it tuned out good. I do think it gets slightly darker over time. And water makes it WAY darker. This has not yet been sealed, but I think I am going to use the water based sealer that does not darken it. For the pool deck it already has made it considerably hotter. Another think to consider is that this stuff will wear off if you brush it hard enough or abuse it. before I seal, I have some spots to touch up again. But if you dont look close, it looks good. Everyone else loves it. It just drives me nuts personally. One thing to note: if you have plastic insert dividers in your concrete as I do, just spray over them. No need to mask with tape. You can go back later and scrub the stain off pretty easy. It does not damage them. DO NOT scrub them with a stiff bristly broom by rubbing side to side. That is very aggressive and removes color all around the strip. I just got on my hands and knees and scrubbed them with a dish washing sponge and some 409.

this was very easy to use on my pool deck. However, we did not like the color all that much. Well, I did, but the wife didnt so it had to be changed. It is easy to apply with a sprayer. I mixed it 1:1 with water to dilute it to keep the color lighter. If you want darker color and want it to go farther, skip the step where you wet the concrete first. It really sizzles if you do that. But it is not as even. This photo was shows product applied to wetted concrete. Keep in mind that it looks terrible before you clean it. A lot of the color comes off when it is cleaned and neutralized, so it doesnt look near as wild.

I used Eagle products exactly as Eagle recommended. I did go with the Wheat color, which was lighter than I really wanted, based on reviews. I think the color of my slab is darker and has more rust than indicated on the Eagle example. But it is exactly what I wanted. My 20' X 28' slab turned into a huge work of art. The process was complicated and took some time, but the results were worth the effort.

At $60.00 a gallon, I'm glad I had enough to complete my porch floor without having to order another gallon. We have a screened-in porch at the back of the house. It has a Plain-Jane unfinished 7' x 17' concrete floor and we were looking at different ways to add some class to an otherwise boring floor. I've read a ton of reviews for all sorts of concrete floor finishes, and decided that this product would be the best application for what we were looking for. Home Depot stores do not carry the Eagle products, they have to be ordered off their web site. Both this stain, and the top coat arrived within a week. Application: First off, make no mistake about it. Using this product, and it's top coat properly to get the desired results takes a LOT of labor. If you don't do it right, the results will be horrible upon applying the top coat. If you short change the effort involved in both neutralizing, and ensuring you can no longer pick up stain color with a cloth, your finish will turn whitish in those areas you didn't pay attention to. I’m not an expert, or Pro at staining/finishing concrete floors…Although after doing it, I certainly feel that I now am however, the key is the prep work involved. If you do it right, you will be thrilled at the results of all your hard work. I absolutely love the results I achieved, and was totally worth all the hard work that went into it. Below, are the steps I used to achieve fantastic results…It may not work out for you, for whatever numerous reasons, but this is what worked for me. We have vinyl siding on our house as well as inside the screened in porch. The first thing I had to do was pressure wash the floor using a concrete cleaner. If you don’t have a pressure washer, the same results can be achieved by using a concrete cleaner and scrub brush. Once dry, I taped about a 3 foot plastic sheet alongside the siding from the floor, up the wall. Going off of the numerous reviews, I elected to NOT use any Etch & Clean product. All the prep I did was pressure wash with the cleaner. Following the directions to apply the stain, I sprayed down the floor using a garden hose, being careful to just wet it down and not puddle it. I had a small 1-gallon pump sprayer, and poured the stain in that. Once the initial stain was applied by just spraying it down, overlapping it as I went along, I waited 4-hours, then applied a second coat of stain, right on top of the first coat. I then would need to let it sit for 6-hours but elected to just let it sit overnight. The Not So Much Fun Part: The next day I neutralized the acid stain on the floor using ammonia mixed 1 part ammonia to 4 parts water in a bucket with a scrub brush. Reading through all the reviews, I elected to NOT use the Cleaner Degreaser & Neutralizer product, and instead used the ammonia/water solution. My concrete floor was already clean using the concrete cleaner earlier, so I didn’t see the need to be using a Cleaner Degreaser product. All I really needed to do at this point was neutralize the acid stain. Using the ammonia solution was way cheaper, and probably more effective. Once I scrubbed down the floor, I rinsed it off with a garden hose and let it dry. I scrubbed it all down again using the ammonia/water mix, letting it dry, then hosing it off and letting it dry again. According to the directions and reviews, I had to scrub it down with clean water until a clean, lint free white cloth stopped picking up the stains color. Let me tell you, this procedure took the better part of a day and a half to finish. I must have used at least 10 buckets of clean water. I think for about the initial 6 cleanings, I was using a scrub brush followed by moping. The last 4 or 5 buckets I was just using a mop. I was using 2 buckets. One with clean water and the other to ring out the mop with the picked up stain. Towards the end of the second day, I was at the point where I wasn’t picking up any more stain color. I let it sit overnight. The next day, I was ready to apply the top coat. I used the Eagle Gloss Coat Clear Wet Look Solvent-Based Acrylic Concrete Sealer in a paint tray with a 3/8” nap roller. I went alongside the edges and expansion joints with a paint brush, and used the roller for the floor. I worked in small areas at a time, cross rolling to achieve an even application, being careful to not run the roller too fast which would product bubbles. When I finished the first coat, there were small bubbles on the entire floor however, when it’s drying, the bubbles even themselves out and the surface was smooth by the time it dryed. You can wait as little as 2-hours before putting a second coat on, but I didn’t want anything to screw up, and waited about 4-hours. The second coat went down easier than the first, and filled in all the remaining voids. This sealer produces very strong fumes. Using a respirator is highly recommended, even in an outdoor area. Conclusion: As I’ve mentioned, with all the labor intensive prep work involved in this process, I’m 100% thrilled with the results I achieved. Now that I’m done, there is nothing I would have done differently. This stain, and it’s associated sealer is highly recommended.

The acid stain it self was very easy to apply. I bought the sprayer, but was able to apply it (I don't recommend this way, but it worked great) with a painting edger. The edger was originally just to do the edges, but then I realized that I could just pour the stain on the concrete and spread it with the edger. It worked for me. I will probably stain the outside concrete slab next, but will make sure to have the correct sprayer to make it easier. The cleaning was a bit more difficult than I thought, but not too horrible. Just very time consuming.

I am returning the unused 2 gallons. The instructions say to try on a small spot but it doesn't say what is normal behavior and what to look for. So I thought it was supposed to turn black and then it wash away leaving a nicely stained floor. That didn't happen. See attached photos. Now, let's do some math. 1 galling of stain $60, acid resistant sprayer $70, 1 gallon of cleaner $13. All together just to test whether this product will work with your concrete will cost you a minimum of $143 plus tax. When it fails you will be $$ poorer and very much irritated. Needless to say I am sorely disappointed and now I have to make a fairly long trip to home depot in another city to return the remainder. Not to mention the major cleaning to remove the failed product. Good luck with your project.

Really brought out the pattern in the stamped concrete!...highly recommend!