Refinishing concrete counters

[Papa bear]

Was hoping that someone here had some insight. I made and installed concrete counters on a rental 6 years ago, and they are starting to look like they could use some work.

Has anyone refinished a concrete counter?  I would love to take the color darker (same color as before but it looks like it’s faded in some areas) sand out some imperfections, and then reseal. 

Would love to hear if anyone else has done something similar.


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[lthenderson]

Has anyone refinished a concrete counter?  I would love to take the color darker (same color as before but it looks like it’s faded in some areas) sand out some imperfections, and then reseal.

Are you sure the color is faded or the sealer on top has just lost it's luster. I'm guessing if you just rebuff the top of your countertop, the color will return to normal in those faded areas unless you have worn through the previous sealer. In that case, you need to wet polish the top again to remove any scratches and reapply sealer. The color should definitely return to what it looked like initially that way. I have never tried to color concrete with a stain after it has set up but I'm assuming it might be possible after polishing and before you put on the new sealer. I would try someplace not very noticeable first to test out color and uniformity of the stain.

[Papa bear]

I would imagine that if the sealer is removed / gone with age, the concrete could be porous enough to take more stain?  Again, I’m not an expert here on this.

As for wet sanding, could I get away with diamond sandpaper with an orbital sander? Or do I need to go heavier duty.


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[lthenderson]

I rented a wet stone polisher from a rental center because I have just it once. It worked well and without a lot of time and effort. They retail new starting at around $175 on up. You attach your water hose to them and can get an assortment of "grits" of polishing pads. I suppose one could wet polish it by hand but it could be a lot of work depending on the number of scratches and how deep they are. If there really aren't any imperfections and you are just trying to restore the luster, I would try using the polishing pads by hand for a while and see how it goes. You can always rent the very messy stone polisher later.