The slab I did in Phoenix last summer looked totally different after 3 months in the sun

I poured a 20x30 patio back in June with a light gray mix and a broom finish. By September, the whole thing had lightened up almost two shades, like the sun bleached out the pigment. Turns out the UV out here in Arizona just eats certain color additives over time. Next time I'm using a darker mix to compensate for the fade. Anybody else deal with this in hot climates?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim_mason553d ago

Read somewhere that the UV down there basically cooks the top layer of the concrete and breaks down the color... heard some guys in Texas using a sealer with UV blockers to slow it down some.

mason_murray83d ago

Heard a buddy in Vegas talking about the same thing with his colored concrete out there, said the sun literally baked the color right out of it within a couple months. He started going with a darker pigment too and it seemed to even out the fading over time, even if it still lightened up a bit. A UV-blocking sealer might help but I figure the darker mix is the smarter play long term since you don't have to reapply it every year.

sam_cooper3d ago

Whoa, slow down. Is the sun really that brutal on colored concrete? I mean, sure, Vegas gets hot. But "baked the color right out of it in a couple months" sounds like an exaggeration to me. @kim_mason55 mentioned some Texas guys using a UV blocker sealer. That makes more sense than just throwing darker pigment at the problem and hoping for the best. A good sealer is way less work than tearing out and replacing a whole slab because you picked the wrong shade. I bet most fading is just from people using cheap pigments or not curing the concrete right in the first place.