What's the Difference?

Over the years, we have noticed there is frequently a confusion between Dyes and Stains in the polished concrete community. To save you time, we have done the work for you! 

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Dyes- In the decorative concrete, the newest technique in coloring is to dye the concrete. With a wider variety of colors, easiness, and color intensity dyes have become more popular in recent years. 

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Stains- Stains are the traditional method of coloring concrete. It requires a chemical reaction between the stain and calcium hydroxide to imprint the color into the concrete.

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The largest difference between stains and dyes is that dyes are nonreactive. Dye particles are much smaller than stain particles which allow them to seep in with greater ease. Instead of using calcium hydroxide, dyes can use water or a solvent, such as acetone. What is great about dyes is that you can use them to make both monotone and and translucent, depending on application. Only problem with dyes is that they are not UV stable which means they are in fact susceptible to sunlight so it is recommended to use dyes primarily indoors.