Followed directions to a T???
We are homeowners who HAVE acid stained concrete in the past (sidewalk and front porch). WE recently started building a poolhouse... let the concrete cure, scrubbed with black pad and floor machine using TSP, rinsed, vacuumed (twice). Let completely dry, applied two coats of Klear Koat sealer, backrolling, etc.... BEAUTIFUL!! Let that dry, applied 3 coats of wax. Still gorgeous...
THEN we went to be that night, my husband went out the next morning and told me the floor looked awful. I thought he was kidding.... (I will try to post before and after photos). It had turned cloudy, whitish, overnight. The man who sold it to us has tried to help per email, but frankly we aren't getting anywhere! Today we buffed the floor with a white pad and the wax turned into a powder and we rised and vacuumed that up. I resealed a small spot and that looks great. We would LIKE to just reseal, but we know you are never supposed to seal OVER wax. (There really doesn't seem to be any wax on the floor, as it looks dry and porous). The vendor says it should have a shine if the wax is gone (which makes sense .. the sealer should be there??)The spot I resealed is gorgeous again and is dry.. seemingly perfect. We don't want to have it peel later. How should we proceed to do it right? We still do not know what could have gone wrong as we took NO shortcuts, and went the extra mile on everything (letting it dry, etc.) We are not sure what the "cloudy" is... ?? Did the wax turn cloudy? Did the sealer fail completely.. If so why? We tend to think it is the wax which seems not to "wax" at all. Please give any advice you think will help. Thanks in advance!
At this point we are planning to go out and strip any remaining wax, let dry and then reseal. (Although the Vendor insists the shine will still be there and we will not need to reseal!)
First, NEVER appy wax on exterior surfaces. There are various sealer formulations for exterior surfaces (which may or may not have been the case with the sealer you applied, read tech/data specifications or call the manufacturer). Some having substantially higher resistance to UV rays, freeze-thaw cycling, elements of nature, wear/abrasion resistance, and other environmentally challenged conditions or types of end use the surface' will be subjected to that do not require sacrifical coats of wax ... but, again, DON'T wax exterior decorative concrete surfaces.
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The sealer you applied is vapor permeable (I assume, due to it being an acrylic based one), allowing moisture/vapor rising up through the concrete (which is nothing more than a hard/porous sponge) a pathway to escape and evaporate. If you apply wax over exterior concrete (as well as the interior area that is open to nature as you photos show); that would be compounded if there was no properly placed vapor installed piror to concrete being poured/finished; the rising vapor/moisture migration will be blocked... vapor/moisture will rise through he vapor permeable sealer you applied, then become blocked by the wax (ergo: the wax turning white/blothcy/foggy). If the ground is cold and the air is warm this sets up conditions for an even greater degree of vapor/moisture migration up through the slab (moisture always rises from the negative colder underside of the concrete towards the warmer positive side (being the decorative concrete surface of your concrete) ... long periods of rain, where ground has become saturated (the moisture wicking from the saturated ground into the concrete slab), will rise up through the porous concrete slab, pass through the vapor permeable sealer, but then AGAIN get trapped by the wax (whiting/fogging out of the wax clearly evidencing that this took place). Just sealer your surface, reseal if/when deemed necessary, but NEVER apply wax on an exteior decorative concrete surface (or one that is open to exterior elements on onging basis, situation compouned depending on the lay of the land that restricts the flow of water away from a slab and/or moisture barrier placement).!
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Lindy
We stripped the wax, rinsed, vacuumed, and when the floor dried it was gorgeous again. Still gorgeous about 12 hours later.... I think our wax got down into the pores of the concrete. We are going to let it dry real well and seal again (did two coats but it must need more)! I hope maybe this helps someone else. Acid staining/sealing is hard work and anyone who does it deserves all the help they can get! :)