I believe I got a good answer to this problem....
and also believe I might have a solution for it
if I were to run into it again....
the jury is still out...and I"m still open for other possibilities.
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I need to know why the concrete is not absorbing the color at the cuts.
All floors were first cleaned and washed before being carefully washed with CHO,
I used a scrub brush, neutralized with BakingSoda...
nothing dried, and then rinsed twice with clean water...all wet was vaccuumed up.
My cleaning methods are the same for each floor.
I've one that had NO problems at all.
The Bathroom floor had only slight issues.
I have been working from the west end of the building to the east end,
and am watching the concrete resistance to the colors at the cuts increasing.
The concrete resists as though oil was involved.
I was not present when they cut the floors..
so I don't know what was necessary to keep the blades going.
I have never added any water resistant product to the floors.
The cut lines above with the bee hive were not bad....
but the mechanical room at the east end of the house as seen below
shows this problem the most.
It was not given the respect of the other rooms,
so solder, flux and other drips and drops have been spilled...
I don't care about that...
I DO care about WHY this is happening around these cuts.
It LOOKS like the cuts were wet...but they were not.
With the heat IN the floor, warm concrete doesn't tend to stay wet.
I've purposely WET sections of another floor to get a delicate wash,
and was able to work other colors into it.
The areas around these cuts will not accept color anywhere near as readily as the rest of the floor....
and that's what I want to understand.
I really need to find out what's going on...
so I've posted these pics here with the hope of making it easy for those really experienced in this floor staining can tell me what I'm trying to deal with here.
I'm using Butterfield Color's Elements waterbased stains....
on concrete that is just waiting for me.
Thanks for looking.
