Guide to Driveway Stamping, Coloring and Staining

Most people don't know how important their driveway is to their home's appearance until it's in a pretty pitiful state. And you're trying to sell your house. And the realtor's shaking her head as she stumbles over the cracks and inclines of your driveway, muttering about reducing the asking price because clearly you don't care enough about your property to keep it presentable. Or at least that was the case with my husband and I. After talking with several contractors however, we realized that we would be much better off talking the job ourselves: paying a professional came pretty close to offsetting our anticipated boost in asking price. So we rolled up our sleeves and decided to tackle a simple repaving job. But after doing a little research into the types of driveway finishes we could apply with little more effort, we decided to go beyond functionality. In the end we ended up with several thousand above our asking price and some experience under our belts, which I thought we'd share with you. Here's a basic guide to driveway stamping, staining and coloring:

1. Staining and Coloring

Staining or coloring your driveway is a great way to add a touch of personality to your home. The coloring that we added to our driveway gave it the look of stone and gave our home a more elegant look, and set it apart from our neighbors'.

If you're starting from scratch, coloring your driveway is a quick and easy process. Purchase the color that you want (most people opt for a stone-like look, or some variation of gray. Be sure to check with your home owners association to see if any other colors are acceptable) and just dump (according to the package) it into the concrete mix before you add water.

If you are working with the existing concrete then you want to go with a stain, and the steps are a bit more complicated. First, be sure to pressure wash and then scour the driveway to remove any oil or debris that will affect the consistency of the color. Next, purchase an acidic wash from the local hardware store that is especially designed for this purpose. Concrete must be treated or else it will not absorb the stain. Now you're ready to apply your coloring agent.

We recommend beginning by applying 2/3 of the colorant evenly over the area, floating the surface (Hand floats are simple tools that look like trowels and can be purchased at any hardware store. "Floating" just means dragging this tool over the colorant to ensure that its applied evenly) and then applying the other third and floating again.

2. Stamping

Concrete enhancements are always easier when you're starting with fresh concrete. The toughest part about this job was finding a stamper to rent (and that I liked). I decided to go for a flagstone pattern. Not because it was what I was originally looking for, but because that's what they had (it worked out great anyway). Then, my husband stamped the concrete according to a sketch I had drawn for him.

If you are looking to add a stone finish to your existing driveway you will have to cover it with a thin layer of new (polymer-enhanced) concrete and stamp that. Another option is to engrave or cut patterns but this takes much more sophisticated tools and more time than most are willing to commit.