No one? I would have thought someone would have replied.

I have had a few landscapers come by and say it can be repaired.

What method do they propose to use?

Only one way other than R&R will get it all: sandblasting, which may or may not use sand, and a possible repointing. Get the rail at the same time. This is really outside the scope of what a landscaper does. Try a stonemason or a general handyman who can rent a machine.

This pic looks cold and wet. If you feel the need to reseal, and many people will be split on that, don't look for bargain stuff. Again, ask a stonemason.

This post was edited by cold_weather_is_evil on Sat, May 10, 14 at 15:30

I'm almost certain your porch is covered with manufactured (fake) stone. The acid wash ruined it. I suggest you live with the color, or rip it out & replace with real stone. Any mason worth the title could confirm what it is & make legitimate recommendations for replacement.

Hi guys - so I bought an expensive sealer stripper and applied this weekend. I have attached a photo of my first pass at applying stripper and power washing it off. There were a ton of layers of sealer which were coming off. This photo does not look so good but I have since done a 2nd pass at applying the stripper and the sealer is almost totally gone. I will post another pic when I have a moment. It's funny stoneguy, you are not the first person to tell me it is fake stone. I really don't know if it is, however, now that most of the white crap is off it looks much better. Also, like you said, most contractors said to demolish and do a new porch. No one was willing to gurantee anything on stripping the sealer. I think I am fairly happy with the result. Don't plan to reseal. By the way, another guy said it was an Indian sandstone, whatever that is??

Exhausted now. Looks nice now when wet but I won't take a chance with sealing for now.

And here it is when fully dry. It looks much better than before but still doesn't look alive. However the wet look is nice.

If someone knows of a perfect sealer for natural stone, please share brands. Thanks.

Very nice job of cleaning! I agree with the material being Indian Sandstone now that you have posted these new photos. I believe you have successfully achieved a restoration that not many folks would even attempt.

Re: sealing. I think you should leave the stone as it is. That is a very high quartz content sandstone that is very durable on it's own, sealer is not needed.

I commend you!

THANK YOU Stoneguy!! It is very nice to know that my hard work paid off. It's great to hear feedback from someone knowledgeable and who is independent of trying to sell me anything. I might try one more time to apply stripper since I have some left over and since it looks like there is still some on. Hopefully no risk to do this.

What stripper did you use? I only know of Peel-Away that works so well on tough sealers.

The product is called deco-stripper by nox-Crete. It is quite amazing but very expensive at like $70 for a gallon. If you google it you will see an amazing youtube clip of a demo. I have not heard of peel-away, would it have cleaned my porch easily?

I'm not familiar with the product you used. Any stripper that really works well, and is environmentally safe, is going to cost big bucks. Peel Away 7 is sold at many commercial paint stores, even Amazon sells it.
Long gone are the days of using Stripeez with it's methylene chloride base. Nasty, nasty stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peel Away 7