Advice for painting existing concrete patio and garage

[sseb86]

Hello all,

I need some advice for repainting the concrete patio and driveway in my unit (circa 1970's). The concrete patio(16m2) is at the rear of the house and is connected to the garage(21m2) by a door. I would like to have a good finish on the patio but don't mind cutting corners in the garage or even just leaving it red. The existing paint colour is a Dark Red in both areas and appears to be waterbased as the colour rubbed off onto a rag using methylated spirits. I want to paint both areas in a grey similar to woodland grey or lighter. The fence will be painted in Monument.

Patio Area:

I have pressure washed the old flakey paint off and found there has been multiple coats of red over the years and a final primer/sealer on the concrete. Unfortunately now I am left with an uneven finish if i was too paint over the top at this point. I tried poly paint stripper but quickly realised i would need to buy a lot more of the product to cover the area. I've attached a picture after pressure washing, you can see where i've tried paint stripper (its only bright red because its wet!). My next step will be to use a belt sander and sand back the existing paint (with a good P2 respirator) to and then prep and paint (any recommendations?)

Patio after pressure washing and a few patches of paint stripper

Garage Area:

I haven't started works in the garage yet but i do not want to have to sand back an even bigger area in an enclosed space. Its worth noting the paint isn't built up from multiple coats of paint. The existing paint has been removed by car tyres where the vehicle has been parked but this doesn't really concern me.

My questions are:

1. If i sand the patio area to concrete and then only pressure wash the garage area (to only remove the flaky bits), is there a paint that will do both areas? I was looking at Berger JetDry but read using an oil based paint over an existing water-based paint might not last (its also  expensive and has been slated in reviews)

2. Or will I need to buy separate paints for the bare concrete patio and painted garage area noting that the paint may not last long in the garage if it is a waterbased paint. If i did this option what paints would you recommend? 

3. Is there any other options i've missed?

This is a DIY project and I would like to keep costs and labor reasonably low. In writing this i've probably talked myself into leaving the garage as is and completing the patio, but if there is an easy option i have missed I would love to hear about it.

Regards

Sean

[FrankC]

G'day Sean,  I am about to embark on a similar project. I habe a verandah along  the front of the house13.78 ,metres long by 2.1m. It was previously paibnted a yellowish colour, and had  hardwearing ribbed carpet stuck on to it from the front door to the opposite edge, 2.1 m x 1.9. When I ripped this up, it pulled quite a bit of paint and left a swirl of previous glue under the carpet, which being hard , I removed with a belt sander and a Gerni high pressure  washer, I have sanded a lot and feathered most areas. What I am goingt to do is prime the areas  of visible concrete that have been left after  sanding, with White Knight paint with 20% water added. I haven't done this yet waiting for warmer weather. 16 degrees C in latrobe, (Tassie) today.(Christmas Day) When this has dried >2 hours, I shall paint the 1st coat of White Knight Dura pave water based paint, then wait >2 hours and repeat.. There is a vid

 

eo for painting old painted patio on You tube, plus a separate one for a bare concrete garage floor. White knigh also do a paint for garage, but it also is oil based. I was going to ask anyone if they have done this and atre there any tips available.  This paint has coverage of 10 m2/litre ! and is $88.70 from Bunnings. for 4 litres.  Frank C

 

[sseb86]

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your reply. The carpet outside sounded interesting!

I had a look at the White Knight Ultra Pave Quick Dry paint and it looks quite similar to the Berger JetDry option in that you don't require a primer when applying to bare concrete (unless used as a driveway). Any reason or advantage to using a primer before the White Knight paint?

Is White Knight a better product in comparison to Berger?

[Jason · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @sseb86. We're really pleased to have you join us and trust that you'll get plenty of helpful advice from our amazing community members.

I would encourage you to have a good look at this recent discussion - Concrete repair and paint

 - as @MitchellMc has shared plenty of information that should be useful to your project.

Hope that helps,

Jason

[FrankC]

Hi @sseb86 

The only reason I used White Knight is because I recently used their Laminate Paint  on my kitchen  cupboards and drawers, and was very impressed with the finish and the hardness of the product against knocks that will occur, so I just chose  W K on that basis. I’ve never used Berger so I can’t  compare. I am typing this while waiting for my primer coat to dry, (1 in 5 dilution with water. Paint 800 ml plus water 200 ml ) and it has dried beautifully,. I used a UniPro 10 mm nap roller, and the finish is very smooth, no lines at all.  2 hours is up at 1.20pm  so first coat goes on.

[FrankC]

Hi sseb86.

I have never used berger paint before, so I can't compare, but I have just painted the verandah with the first coat to prinme the bare patches of concrete using a dilution of 1 in 5 with water,(200 mkl water to 800 ml paint.)  using a Unipro 10 mm nap roller4, and it has dried beautifully, no lines and very smooth, and uniform in clour . The onl;y reason I used W.K. is because I recently changed the colour of  our kitchen cupboards and drawer fronts, using their Laminate paint and primer,  and was  very impressed with the finish (using a microfibre 100ml 4mm nap roller)  giving a perfectly swmooth finish and it is very hard against knocks, which will occur in a kitchen. Hope this is helpful to you

[TedBear]

I wish you luck with this. The only success I had with a similar problem, after wasting weeks on many unsuccessful attempts, was to get back to the base concrete by acid etching. After that process, new coats went on trouble free.

[sseb86]

Thanks for referring me to that post @Jason. And you past experiences @TedBear.

I have decided to:

1) Grind / Sand back the existing paint in the patio and then paint bare concrete.

2) Leave the garage as is / possible pressure wash and paint straight over with a waterbed paint if it really annoys me in the future.

Do you have any recommendations on paints/products to use for the concrete patio? E.g. Berger or White Knight? 

[Jason]

Normally I would ask the ever-helpful @MitchellMc to recommend some products for you @sseb86 but he's taking a well-earned break at the moment. Let me see if @redracer01, @Adam_W or @Peggers might be able to assist in the meantime.

Thanks for your patience,

Jason

[Peggers]

@Jason Thanks for the mention. @sseb86 this looks a really interesting project. I've never prepped and painted a concrete floor like this and I'm interested to see how it turns out. My painting is normally limited to wood and metal as part of projects. Because I'm a fan of retro projects I looked at the red floor with patches of concrete showing through and really liked that distressed look as it is - I guess it's just hard to match with a more modern look around it. As for paint brands, I'm a big fan of all British Paint products, but I've used White Knight products too and rate those as well. Good luck with the job!