Concrete Paint – Decorate Your Concrete

Concrete painting introduced and thought of as a passing fad, but with the industry booming today like never before, the fad remains popular among many homeowners.  Concrete painting is becoming increasingly popular due to the trendy look it offers to plain and boring shades of concrete; hence it’s the fastest developing and most profitable segment of the concrete industry as a whole.

Concrete painting can provide a new and stylish look to both your interior and exterior surfaces. Concrete painting allows you to remodel entire flooring, garages, driveways and porches. Concrete painting can also beautifully restore ruined or ugly concrete surfaces, eliminating the need to tear out and completely replace the damaged surfaces.

There are multiple types of concrete painting products available, and most do a marvelous job of enhancing your existing concrete surfaces. These concrete paints include architectural concrete finishes, decorative concrete overlays and coatings, concrete acid staining, seamless custom concrete flooring, thin concrete restoration and many more.

When decorating your concrete surfaces, taking special care to follow directions while painting will ensure your concrete paint job will last longer. If you fail to read the instructions thoroughly, the concrete paints may fade quicker, form a film, or begin to peel and crack soon after application. This is common when painting foundation slabs, garage floors, basement floors and walls, and driveways, because paint applied in these areas are exposed to moisture from the ground.  It’s recommended to paint your concrete without covering it with a surface film, preventing moisture from being trapped.

The following are common reason why concrete paints fail:

1) Capillary water seepage.
2) Concrete paint is removed due to water vapor pressure.
3) Presence of dissolved minerals in the water.
4) Saponification due to trapped water.
5) The surface being too smooth.

Concrete Acid Stains

Concrete acid staining is one of the most beautifying methods of decorating your floorings. Acid staining complements the surface texture very well. The acid used in the acid stains works by opening up the surface and metallic salts, which creates the alluring colors. However, before deciding on a concrete acid-staining technique, be aware that is more expensive, and also requires a great amount of maintenance.

Over the years concrete painting has given a completely new look to numerous homes, restaurants, schools, airports, and other buildings. The method is truly an award-winning one!

Concrete Epoxy Paint

Concrete epoxy’s are two-part blends, with 50% solvent and 50% VOC (volitile organic coumpound, the technical term for the paint!) Most of the epoxy concrete paint you see in the retail stores, like Home Improvement or Lowe’s, are water-based, for easier cleanup and low odors. One thing to keep in mind if you are coating a concrete floor like this is that they can be very slippery when wet. Most of the commercial concrete paints come with an abrasive, like sand, that can be mixed with the paint to help reduce the slipperyness.