How to Rejuvenate an Old Concrete Driveway with Brickform Antique-It

Summary

This video, presented by John Reynolds from Solomon Colors, covers how to refurbish aged stamped concrete using Brickform Antique-It products. The focus is on a 14-year-old concrete slab, detailing each step of the restoration process. Starting with cleaning and surface preparation, the process involves using a light etching compound and degreaser, followed by applying antiquing powder. The video underscores the significance of proper cleaning to remove impurities that could lead to sealer delamination. Finally, the application of Poly-Seal 400 is demonstrated, highlighting the need for thin, even coats to achieve a lasting finish. Aimed at rejuvenating old concrete surfaces, this process brings life back to weathered slabs.

Highlights

• John Reynolds uses Brickform Antique-It to revamp 14-year-old concrete! 📅
• The video teaches essential steps for cleaning and prepping surface! 🧼
• Learn about Degreasing and etching compounds to prepare slabs! 🧪
• Antiquing powder enhances imperfections for an aged look! 💥
• Proper sealing techniques are crucial for a durable, beautiful finish! 🔒

Key Takeaways

• Revitalize old concrete surfaces easily with Antiquing products! 🏗️
• Proper surface cleaning is crucial for sealer adhesion. Scrub that slab! 🧽
• Apply antiquing powder in thin coats for best results. Precision is key! ✨
• Moist surfaces aid in applying antiquing material — keep it damp, not soaked! 💦
• Thin, even coats of sealer prevent bubbling and ensure a perfect finish! 🎨

Overview

If your concrete driveway looks tired and worn out, there's a way to bring it back to life! With the help of Brickform Antique-It, John Reynolds demonstrates how to rejuvenate a concrete slab that's been subjected to 14 years of wear and tear. Applying the right techniques and products can transform that old surface into a fresh-looking masterpiece.

The process begins with a thorough cleaning of the concrete using a light etching compound and degreaser. John emphasizes the importance of making sure no impurities remain on the surface, as these can lead to issues with sealer adhesion. Whether it's algae or surface grits, getting rid of these is key for a successful restoration.

Once cleaned, it's time to add some pizzazz with antiquing powder. This step brings character and depth to the concrete, reviving its look dramatically. The application concludes with a careful sealing using Poly-Seal 400. John's method for applying the sealer in light, even coats ensures a professional-grade finish that's both durable and visually appealing.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction In this introduction, John Reynolds from Solomon Colors talks about refurbishing stamped concrete that has been in place for 10 to 15 years. He highlights the prevalence of such concrete and the potential to restore it to a 'brand new' appearance. The concrete in question was poured 14 years ago, integrally colored, and used a powdered release. Showing usual signs of wear and tear, the focus is on rejuvenating the slab using specified products.
• 00:30 - 02:30: Preparing the Surface The chapter focuses on the preparation of a surface before applying a sealant. It discusses using a dark gray antiquing effect for the bricks and joints, and emphasizes the importance of having a properly prepared surface before application. The process involves using specific products to ensure the surface is clean and appropriately profiled.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Cleaning Process The 14-year-old concrete has visible fine sands on its surface, exposed over time. There is some surface spalling observed. The process involves cleaning the surface to remove impurities, preparing it for profiling and further cleaning.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Checking Sealer The chapter explains that due to exposure over the years, the sands have naturally etched surfaces, eliminating the need for dramatic etching. The focus shifts from repairing surface balls and rock pops, which are difficult to match and texture, to leveraging antiquing materials to incorporate these imperfections as part of the antique look.
• 04:30 - 07:00: Applying E cleaner In the chapter titled 'Applying E cleaner,' the process of testing a slab for the presence of sealer is explained. The person begins by identifying multiple spots on the slab to verify if the sealer has been removed. To test this, a small amount of 'E cleaner' is applied to a test area. The immediate reaction of the product indicates that there is no sealer on this particular part of the slab. Conversely, if there were no reaction, it would suggest the presence of sealer.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Pressure Washing The chapter titled 'Pressure Washing' involves discussing the process of identifying and dealing with sealed surfaces during pressure washing. The narrator mentions the importance of checking for sealer on concrete surfaces, as finding sealer would require a separate process known as stripping, which is addressed in another video. The current focus is ensuring no sealer is present on the entire concrete slab. The chapter also alludes to a specific 30 by 9 slab and the coverage of cleansing products used in the process.
• 10:00 - 14:30: Applying Antique-It This chapter details the application process of 'Antique-It,' an effective cleaning and etching compound used on antique slabs. It discusses its chemical reaction upon contact with surfaces to dissolve impurities, serving as a light degreaser and cleaner particularly suited for slabs aged 10 to 15 years with normal wear and tear.
• 14:30 - 19:00: Sealing the Surface In the chapter titled 'Sealing the Surface,' the main focus is on the process of cleaning and preparing a surface before sealing. The key steps involve ensuring the E (presumably a cleaning or etching agent) does not dry on the slab by keeping it moist. The speaker describes the actions of rinsing off the suds and then neutralizing the surface with a product called 'neutri clean.' The proper ratio of this neutralizing agent is mentioned as 4 cups for 4 and 1/2 gallons of water. Upon completion of these steps, the surface will be ready for pressure washing.
• 19:00 - 21:00: Conclusion The chapter covers the process of cleaning and neutralizing a slab. The speaker mentions using an effective neutralizing agent along with some soap to remove dirt and debris accumulated over time. The cleaning involves spreading the neutralizing agent over the slab in preparation for applying pressure.

How to Rejuvenate an Old Concrete Driveway with Brickform Antique-It Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi everybody it's John Reynolds with Solomon colors and today I'm going to talk to you about refurbishing some stamped concrete that's been down for between 10 to 15 years there's a lot of this concrete out in the world and there's a lot of opportunities for fixing stuff like this and making it look brand new again this slab was poured 14 years ago it's integrally colored it used a powdered release it's showing normal signs of wear and tear but we're going to come in today and make it look brand new again the products that we're going to use today
• 00:30 - 01:00 or the brick form antiquate and we've got the dark gray which is going to yield a dark uh antiquing effect in the uh joints and also in some of the texture in the concrete we're going to seal everything up with our poly seal 400 and uh during the the process the first thing that we have to do is make sure that our surface is properly prepared to do that we're going to be using our eh and we're going to follow that up with our neutr clean to make sure that we've got a clean and profiled surface
• 01:00 - 01:30 now this is again 14-year-old concrete if we look down at the surface we can see that uh the the fine Sands have been exposed over the years we do have some surface sping here and um you know basically at this point what we're going to do is we're going to clean this surface get rid of any impurities that are on the surface on the slab and then uh we're going to be able to clean the slab once it's been properly profiled
• 01:30 - 02:00 now because the Sands have been exposed over the years we don't need to do a a dramatic etch on the surface simply because uh it's been etched over the years now these surface balls and rock Pops that have taken place these would be very difficult to repair so instead of trying to match and and texture we're going to actually take our antiquing material and help those uh surface imperfections become part of the antique
• 02:00 - 02:30 process one of the things that we want to do is verify in several different locations throughout this slab is whether the sealer is actually gone so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a cap pull of this e just a small amount and we're going to put it in a little test area and you can see the product reacting right away because it's reacting right away that tells me that there's no sealer on the slab if the material did not react and give this uh reaction and it just lay
• 02:30 - 03:00 there on the surface that would mean that we've got sealer on it and then we would have to start talking about stripping the sealer uh which is a whole another process uh that we cover in another video called uh how to remove sealer from uh concrete it's using our stripping product so we know on this part and we'll go throughout the entire slab and make sure that there's no sealer anywhere on the slab okay so we have a 30 by9 slab here each gallon of our e is going to give us
• 03:00 - 03:30 about 150 ft per gallon so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to wet this out and then we're going to spread this e around and let it do its magic basically once this hit the hits the surface it's going to start a chemical reaction that's going to help loosen any impurities that are on the surface it's a light Degreaser cleaner and light etching compound that works really well on slabs like this one you know 10 to 15y Old slabs that have normal wear and tear on it it's important important to
• 03:30 - 04:00 remember during this e process not to let the E dry on the slab okay we want to make sure we keep it nice and moist all I'm doing right now is mixing off the bulk of the uh the uh sudsing action that took place and then we're going to neutralize the surface with our neutr clean and uh once we get that done then we'll be ready for pressure washing okay since I've got about 4 and 1/2 gallons of water in here I'm going to use 4 cups of the neutri to make sure that I uh get
• 04:00 - 04:30 a good effective neutralizing agent on here plus to get a little more soap on here to get rid of any dirt and debris that's uh collected over the years so now all I'm going to do is I'm going to take this I'm going to spread it out over the slab that'll neutralize the slab and uh then we'll be ready for pressure
• 04:30 - 05:00 [Music] watch okay we're getting ready to pressure wash I have a 40° angle tip on this uh this is going to be best for this particular application um because
• 05:00 - 05:30 we're going to uh get a nice general purpose cleaning on this slab now we are going to be right down on the slab about uh 8 to 10 in off of the slab the entire time to make sure that we get a good deep clean pressure washer needs to be a minimum of 3,000 PSI at 4 gallons a minute right now that's going to get the uh the type of clean that we need to get a good Bond uh for a sealer and you get all the impurities out of the pores of the concrete thrown there settled there over the
• 05:30 - 06:00 years these are some of the things that you want to look at when you're cleaning an old slab in here we've got some uh some algae growth that's formed this is going to be stubborn it'll come off with the E and the pressure washing but this is a type of thing that can cause your sealer to delaminate down the road so it's really important that you not that you take uh note of these and that we make uh an extra effort to get this material off the slab uh during the cleaning process
• 06:00 - 06:30 uh with the antiquate we can apply that to a damp surface we just don't want any ponding water so as you look out over the slab we've got some ponding water some areas where it's soaking in we're going to be just fine we're going to let it soak in so that it uh again so we don't have any ponding water but we will end up moistening the slab to facilitate the uh process with the antia the anti comes in a little bucket like this this is a medium gray and uh inside of this bucket
• 06:30 - 07:00 is a 3 lb bag of powder along with a measuring cup that uh will tell you exactly how much to put into a gallon of uh of uh water so I've got about three three gallons of water here because we've got 600 square ft so we're going to use 3 cups of the uh antiquate powder material and then we'll apply it it's a very quick process 1 6 oz cup per gallon of
• 07:00 - 07:30 water you can add more or less to intensify or lessen the strength of the uh color but we're going to use this full strength originally it was a a charcoal gray color installed so we'll keep that going
• 07:30 - 08:00 now we're going to stir this [Applause] up going to be using a soft bristled brush to apply this product and
• 08:00 - 08:30 basically all we're going to do is wash it onto the slab I'm going to mist water down where we've got uh the Water soaking into the surface I've gotten rid of all the ponding water with the blower and uh once I get just a a hint of water on here then we'll be ready to apply the product so you can see we've got a damp surface but it's not no ponding water
• 08:30 - 09:00 this product is going to settle down quickly so it's important to agitate in between every application I always use the dip agitate and then apply method here
• 09:00 - 09:30 want to apply enough material so that it settles down into the uh imprints of the concrete but not too much to the point where you're getting more of a solid color okay so now we've got our slab completely antiqu and now we're just going to wait for it to dry and then we'll get our poly seal on there and uh
• 09:30 - 10:00 because it's a stamped concrete slab we want to get uh light coats of that material on later on today uh or tomorrow depending on how the slab dries out we'll come back and uh we'll spray on two to three light coats of the poly seal 400 everything's pretty much dried out with our antiqua project so what we're going to start with now is applying the the sealer today we're going to use our poly seal 400 the techniques that I'm showing you today with spraying on sealer can be used with
• 10:00 - 10:30 our poly seal 400 poly seal 100 gem seal 400 and Gem seal 100 these spray these um sealers are faster drying sealers because of the vocc content in them the 400 is referring to the vocc content or volatile organic content uh some states require 400 vocc some states require 100 um and some uh are in in the 650 to 700
• 10:30 - 11:00 range So today we're going to use this we're in Illinois Illinois is a 400 G state so that means we've got to use the 400 G sealer it dries very quickly so because it dries very quickly it's difficult to roll so that's why I've got this pump up sprayer and we are going to spray several light coats on because the way these acrylics work they have to be applied in very thin lifts if we apply them thick they'll tend to Bubble and uh
• 11:00 - 11:30 they can white out and they can actually seal moisture into the concrete so it's very important to make sure that you apply these acrylics in thin lifts and at this point what we're doing is just misting on on the sealer we want to be covering at a rate of about 300 to 350 ft per gallon Okay so we've got our first coat of sealer on it's very splotchy at this point and that's normal because we've got uh very small amount of sealer on here and that's the way again these acry like to be uh built in
• 11:30 - 12:00 very thin layers so we're going to do that we'll wait uh we're going to wait probably about 20 minutes as this dries and we'll come back we'll hit it again we'll go in a different direction so that we can cover in all the spots that we didn't fill in uh completely the first time and then the third coat will just be to put a nice uh final layer on it and get a decent Sheen out of the project there's our slab we came in we did our e and uh loosened everything up
• 12:00 - 12:30 from the years of wear and tear on the slab with the eedge uh we then neutralized it with our neutr clean pressure washed it used our antique to re antique the slab and then we just got done spraying three coats of our poly seal 400 over the top and this is the end result uh we've got a basically a brand new looking slab some normal wear and tear but uh it's 100% better than what it did this morning um averaged about 350 360 ft per gallon per coat of
• 12:30 - 13:00 sealer uh this slab was especially porous because of the age drank it up um so there's there's going to be a little extra sealer used on it because of that but uh this is pretty typical for 14 15y old concrete a lot of applications out there for the use of the anti it and uh hope you all learn something