The Steps For Painting Concrete

I am sure more than once you have looked at your basement floor or walls, or maybe even a concrete wall on the outside of your house, and thought that a nice coat of paint would really bring that wall or floor out and make it so much nicer to look at. Perhaps you thought that and then decided that painting concrete is probably too difficult to do on your own and you don't feel like hiring a professional for painting concrete. Besides, who in their right mind considers painting concrete anyways? A lot of people consider it and many of them wind up doing it on their own. It is not difficult and painting concrete can not only add color to your concrete but painting concrete can also help protect it from the elements as well.

Step number one in painting concrete is to clean the area completely. When I say clean I mean clean. Get a power washer and blast all of the excess dirt and any other paint off of the concrete. If you are indoors then be careful if you decide to use a power blaster because they can cause more damage indoors than outdoors. So take the time to make that concrete sparkle and if parts and pieces fly off then that is fine because you are also doing this cleaning to get rid of any loose parts of the concrete so they don't get painted over and then fall out. Once your surface is clean you are almost ready to start painting concrete.

More Prep Work

After the surface is clean and dry that is when you go in and patch up any cracks or holes in the concrete. You don't want any cracks or holes to show and there is no need for them to show if you take the time to do this next step in the prep work. It may take a little while but the results are truly worth it as a nice and smooth concrete surface looks better. If there is any major repair work that needs to be done then this is the time to do it and make sure that your concrete surface is in top working order.

Once your patch work has dried and cured you may want to do one more cleaning to get the excess patch material off. When that dries then apply your primer and sealant coats to the wall. This will make the paint stick and also help seal the wall against the elements and make it last longer. After the primer and sealant is completely dry the next step is just painting concrete with paint specifically designed for painting concrete. Then you are done and it was worth it!