A great tool that you have at your disposal to help you fix up the outside or garage area is with concrete paint. One of the best ways to clean up old and cracked concrete that may be oil stained is with exterior concrete paint. One thing that is important is that you know the difference between floor paint and concrete paint. Plain and simple floor paint is more for the home use for garages and more for a residential use that takes advantage of epoxy as one of its main ingredients.
You can read more about floor paint here.
Concrete floor paint on the other hand is more for industrial use and has way more options that you can take advantage of as far as durability and overall benefits. The huge drawback is that they use harsh chemicals in this kind of concrete paint and because of the industrial use and lifetime warrantee the cost is almost two to three times what regular residential floor paint is. Other than that it is a great tool to use for many design ideas so let’s see what you can use concrete paint for and how to apply it.
Interior Use
The number one use is in studio apartments. Many large studios do not have flooring that is wood they tend to have concrete slab and use concrete paint to make it more inviting giving it more of a home feel. This is a great design tool to use especially to get long life out of the concrete paint.
The next popular use is in garages. This is mainly for people that have a large garage and want it to be designed with more of an industrial feel. This is a great application that will last a lifetime. Most people really will prefer to use concrete paint over floor paint due to the fact that it can have a high glossy finish that really makes the look of your garage amazing.
Benefits From Additives
With many benefits of concrete paint there are additives that also help you depending on what you need the pain of the floor to cover. The first benefit is the fact that you have a complete water seal. This means if you take a hose and spry out your garage or floor no water will penetrate the concrete all thanks to a water tight additive that is put in the paint. The next benefit is that you can still have the high gloss look without having the floor be slippery. This really makes painting concrete floors a beneficial factor that adds value to your home with a simple glaze that can be applied to the top of your concrete. Finally one of the biggest additives that concrete paint has inside is the fact that they have a chip proof additive. This helps with dropping heavy loads directly on the concrete to make sure no concrete paint will ever come off.
How To Paint Concrete Floors
Step #1: Prep
- You need to wash your concrete down with water. I used a pressure washer and it worked great. In the kit you will also receive an acid wash to help clean and give your concrete some kind of abrasions for the concrete paint to adhere to.DO the acid was and rise with clean fresh water and let dry for 12-18 hours.
Step #2: Filling Cracks
- Fill all cracks and holes you may have with concrete putty. They will sell this as an option and all you have to do is slap it on and make sure its flat and let dry.
Step #3: Painting Time
- Now it’s time to paint just roll the concrete paint on and cover evenly. Depending on your individual needs you may need to put a sealant on top, or a gloss finish. Let the concrete paint dry and cure then add those finished touches if necessary. Cure time is normally 18 hours depending on the additives and finish that your concrete paint has. Other than that let dry it dry and you’re ready to drive on it.
One of the top companies you may want to check out is:
http://www.armorpoxy.com/
They do industrial applications and have always been a pleasure to work with when I had any questions about my personalized kit I bought online. If you want more information about creating a great outdoor space you might want to look into a pop up gazebo. That is what I used to create my relaxing space and used concrete paint to really give it a great finish.
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