# Restore red color to block retaining wall



## djonesax (Apr 14, 2008)

Hi,

I have about 10,000 (not that many but tons) red blocks all around my newly acquired home. They line every garden and all around the house. Some are still bright red and others are so washed out they dont even look red anymore. I had them pressure washed but that didnt help. I bought some acid to clean them but I would rather not kill my grass. Is there any type or stain or dye that I can spray on them with a pump sprayer or something? I found something called concrete stain at homedepot but that just looks like paint for concrete, I saw something called DyeBrick online too but know nothing about it and cant buy it locally?

Any suggestions?

David


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Most of those manufactured edgings, liners, retaining wall blocks, are just dyed on the surface at the factory, and do fade out over time. 

You might contact a manufacturing company like "PAVESTONE", or some other maker to see if they sell a way to re-tone the block. 

But usually people just re-decorate their landscape every few years, and buy new. 

ED


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

more than likely, the 10K originally came from there,,, they have a liberal return policy but probably won't be agreeable to you showing up w/'em :no:

so if they've faded ( & all color does ), would you think they have a product to restore the color ? hardly but they'll sell it to you nevertheless,,, there's not a financially feasible fix other than painting them

acid diluted 1HCl:8H2 O might clean them,,, then neutralize the residual acid by spraying your lawn w/ammonia : 8 H2 0 - turns everything into nitrogen which's good for grass,,, you should soak the grass 1st, of course


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## djonesax (Apr 14, 2008)

There must be a dye or stain that I can apply to them. Even if it fades again, I'm not against reapplying a dye or stain every few years.


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## Seattle2k (Mar 26, 2012)

http://www.behr.com/consumer/produc.../behr-premium-semi-transparent-concrete-stain

That should do it. You can apply with a pump sprayer.


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## djonesax (Apr 14, 2008)

Seattle2k said:


> http://www.behr.com/consumer/produc.../behr-premium-semi-transparent-concrete-stain
> 
> That should do it. You can apply with a pump sprayer.



Thanks, I saw that too but was a little skeptical because its an acrylic which I thought might peel or flake off like a paint. Have you tried it on anything?

Thanks,

David


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## Seattle2k (Mar 26, 2012)

djonesax said:


> Have you tried it on anything?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> David


Sorry, nope. You might go in to a paint store (not Home Depot or Lowes) and ask their recommendation for staining/tinting concrete.


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

you'll need an opaque coating,,, fwiw, i'd look the other way when walking by them :whistling2: my bride, nagzilla, doesn't like pine cones lying on the lawns however she doesn't want to cut the pines down :huh: this is the 5gal-of-wtr-in-a-4gal-bkt dilemma,,, i ignore the issue here :yes:


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## Tscarborough (Mar 31, 2006)

Box store stains are not really stains. You can acid stain them in a cost effective manner, but not if you have already acid washed them. There is no bright red acid stain, but there are redwood colored ones.

You can buy material to stain brick, but the expense would probably be more than replacing all the blocks.


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## Robpo (Mar 30, 2014)

Where I live the water is heavy with iron sulfide so I filter it. I do not filter my hose water and it turns anything it come in contact with red(maybe more of an orange). I wonder if you mixed iron sulfide with water and sprayed it on block it would work. Just a thought.


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