Painting poured concrete basement walls can be a challenging task, but it can also improve the look of your home and protect your foundation from water damage and moisture. It is recommended to wait at least 30 days before painting to ensure proper adhesion and durability of the paint. To prevent mold growth, it is essential to have the concrete sprayed with a concrete sealer as soon as the forms are removed.
To prepare and paint a 6×8-foot wall, expect to spend about an hour preparing and painting the wall. While community rules may vary, in general, you do not need a permit to seal or paint the concrete basement walls. If you plan to build new walls inside the existing concrete, you will not need a permit just to seal or paint the concrete basement walls.
Painting your concrete basement walls can not only improve the look of your home but also protect your foundation from water damage and moisture. It is important for the concrete to cure properly and dry out before applying any additional surface treatments on the surface. A general rule of thumb is to allow 1 month per inch of thickness for this process to complete.
After preparing the concrete surface and selecting your desired color, apply the first coat of paint and allow it to dry thoroughly, which takes about 4 hours. Once the basement is water-tight, it is time to paint. The mortar might burn some of the wall, so it is crucial to remove debris, cement, paint, and the final coat of paint.
📹 Priming Drywall – What You Need to Know
This video explains why using a primer sealer on fresh drywall is more cost-effective than using paint and primer in one product. The speaker, Paul, explains that primer sealers contain polyvinyl acrylics which soak into the pores of the drywall, creating a smooth surface for paint to adhere to. This results in fewer coats of paint being needed, ultimately saving money.
Will paint stick to new concrete?
Concrete can be painted to give it a new lease of life and reduce dust. However, it is not the easiest surface to paint due to its porous nature. For best results, use specialist concrete paints like epoxy paints for a smooth and durable finish. For walls, use quality masonry paint. Spraying concrete can be done using a single pack floor paint, but hard-wearing epoxy coatings should be applied using a brush or roller. For walls, use a quality masonry paint. For best results, use a single pack floor paint and avoid using hard-wearing epoxy coatings.
Is it OK to paint concrete foundation walls?
Modern paint products can cover concrete for up to ten years without peeling, making it look prettier than drab gray or white. Concrete is susceptible to water and UV light, which can cause cracks or crumble over time. Typically, foundations have protective coatings like tar or parging, which are waterproofing layers applied by the original builder. Painting over these coatings requires different steps depending on the layer. Modern paint products can help protect concrete from water and UV light, ensuring its longevity and aesthetic appeal.
How to tell if concrete is dry enough to paint?
To check for trapped moisture, secure a 12″ x 12″ piece of 3″ mil plastic or aluminum foil to the surface and wait 24 hours before removing it. If the floor side is damp, allow additional time to dry before testing again. Use a dehumidifier or fan to speed up the drying process. When choosing paint, choose one specifically formulated for concrete, such as DRYLOK ® Latex Concrete Floor Paint, which eliminates the need for a separate primer coat. DRYLOK ® E1 Latex 1‑Part Epoxy Concrete Floor Paint is ideal for showroom-quality interior or exterior finishes.
Can I paint poured concrete basement walls?
For the first time painting a concrete basement wall, choose an elastomeric masonry paint or epoxy paint with a high alkali-resistant rating (AR) to prevent efflorescence. Basement walls are the foundation of your interior home and require proper care to ensure a healthy and sustainable living environment. Home Painters Toronto uses top-quality paint brands, and waterproof coating is essential for basement walls due to leakage. If you’re confident enough, you can attempt to paint concrete walls in a basement, but it’s crucial to follow all necessary steps for a professional and lasting job.
How do you know when concrete is ready to paint?
Before painting a new concrete floor, ensure it is dry by testing the surface with a 2×2 piece of 4 mil plastic and sealing the edges with duct tape. If no condensation appears after 48 hours, the floor is likely dry enough. Grade and below grade floors without proper vapor barriers may not hold paint properly. An electronic moisture meter can provide more accurate indications. Wear rubber gloves and goggles when handling acid.
What happens if you paint wet concrete?
Before painting a concrete patio, it is crucial to check the moisture levels of the concrete using a moisture reader. If moisture levels are above 10, the concrete is too wet, causing paint failure. If a moisture reader is unavailable, put metal or plastic on the concrete overnight. If moisture is present in the morning, it indicates a large moisture content. The required materials include Rust-Oleum 7200 Floorcoat, floor degreaser, exterior filler, sandpaper, a long pile paint roller and extension pole, a paint tray or kettle, and a stiff brush.
To clean the surface, clear the patio of furniture and sweep it with a garden brush to remove large amounts of leaves and dirt. Scrub any dirt or grease from the concrete using warm soapy water and a stiff brush. For a deep clean, use an anti-fungal cleaner like Emperor Masonry Cleaner to kill any fungus that can bloom underneath the paint film, ensuring long-term results.
How long does it take for concrete to dry before painting?
Concrete can take up to 28 days to fully cure, and should not be painted before this time unless Resene Limelock is used. Before painting, curing and release agents must be removed from concrete using Resene Paint Prep and Housewash, or a stronger product like Resene Emulsifiable Solvent Cleaner. Plasters, masonry finishes, and cement sheets collect dust and air-blown contaminants, so a thorough wash and hose down should be sufficient to remove these contaminants.
How long after rain can you paint concrete?
When painting in less-than-ideal conditions, it is essential to avoid painting when the surface is currently wet, within the last 4 hours, or ideally, a whole day. Interior painting is usually fine, and humidity isn’t affected unless condensation forms on the surface. Low temperatures below 10° or above 35° will stall the paint drying process.
When it rains, it is not recommended to paint the exterior of your house, from unpainted dry surfaces to fully cured painted ones. The surface should be dry in around 4 hours, but it is recommended to wait until 12 hours if possible. This time period varies based on the humidity of the weather and the type of day. If it is a particularly humid day, ensure there is no condensation and paint only after the surface is fully dry.
How long after you pour concrete can you paint it?
The curing period for new concrete is a minimum of 30 days. In the event that moisture is present after a period of 24 hours, it can be concluded that the floor is sufficiently dry to accept the application of paint. Prior to the application of paint, it is essential to ensure that the floor has been meticulously cleaned and acid-etched. In the absence of darkening or condensation, the floor is deemed suitable for further treatment.
How do I know if my concrete wall is dry enough to paint?
To check for trapped moisture, secure a 12″ x 12″ piece of 3″ mil plastic or aluminum foil to the surface and wait 24 hours before removing it. If the floor side is damp, allow additional time to dry before testing again. Use a dehumidifier or fan to speed up the drying process. When choosing paint, choose one specifically formulated for concrete, such as DRYLOK ® Latex Concrete Floor Paint, which eliminates the need for a separate primer coat. DRYLOK ® E1 Latex 1‑Part Epoxy Concrete Floor Paint is ideal for showroom-quality interior or exterior finishes.
📹 Don’t paint your basement.
Why not to paint your basement walls. Frustrations with paint-on waterproofing products. Signs original waterproofing has failed.
I don’t mind regular maintenance. I want to make my basement space usable. I’m not a fan of a layer of drywall though because it would be harder for me to see leaks if they appeared and harder to get to them to repair them. That’s why I liked the idea of simply smoothing down my wall and painting it, as I can get to it easily if need be and it would still look finished. What maintenance am I looking at? Sanding it down every year and repainting? Can it last a few years? What paint would be the best for that?
I painted my basement floor and walls for a small office space. I went all out and then used Thompsons Watersealer after that. Now the floor has been sticky for a week. Ugh! What would you recommend in this instance to best preserve the paint and remove the stickiness? Two fans have been running the whole time too. Help!
So is there a paint/sealer that would work? I don’t know anyone that has the money to waterproof the exterior of their foundation if it’s failing. My basement is already humid and the humidifier runs a lot, but we also had gutters that didn’t drain properly. Looking for options to help seal it from the inside.
You are misleading the viewers. Drylok has to be used on dry bare cement so that it’s seals the surface of the cement…. that will prevent surface moisture from emitting through the wall, but cinderblock walls are not intended to keep 100% water out. Running your downspout water away from your home, regrading the Earth around your house so that water runs away solves the issue, but an interior trench at the base of your foundation all the way around then hanging a 1 mil plastic moisture barrier trapped at the top of the wall and that the base in front of the trench before framing is the standard. Drylok first, then any paint you want will only help. Just do it in the summer when it can dry thoroughly.
I’ve converted and remodeled, idk, hundreds of? basements, two things: A basement will ALWAYS feel different atmosphereicly than your house, unless you run a dehumidifier constantly and have air conditioning running, and even then, you’ll notice a slight difference, and second, paint will only improve the basement. This article is ridiculous
OR, one could do what the previous owners of our house did more than 30 years ago on the cinder block basement walls of a foundation that sits in clay soil in Ohio. They painted with a slightly thinned out coat of FLAT paint, (application specifics unknown) which has never failed and still looks like it is new! It allowed the walls to breathe. Additionally, this was with three vertical, meandering cracks in various locations which were excavated from the outside and properly sealed at various times over that 30 year period. All without any extra drainage system other than the completely ineffective system installed inside the footer upon construction of the home. AND, we JUST had the basement completely waterproofed, inside and out, which includes a sump system that will alleviate most moisture infiltration that was starting to become an issue in two corners. We are re-painting those basement walls when sufficiently dry weather arrives merely because we hate the light green color that is there now. And we will not have to sand and remove the previous paint. SO, with some knowledge and proper materials you CAN paint your basement walls. What you should NOT do is waltz in to the big box store and buy anything with any sheen or alleged sealers in it thinking that it will seal out moisture just because the manufacturer says it will. It won’t! It will just trap moisture behind and it will bubble up, flake off, and fail.
Not a real solutions oriented article, I’ll add to this my experience. A coat of Heatlok soya spray insulation, then a Monokote Z 3306, to lock out moisture, and acts a fireproof and added thermal barrier, can reduce your heating cost by 40 % if installed right, and hire a pro, makes things, smell and feel dry, makes a basement, cozy and protects you’re investment and healthier environment, so take that Brittney, and Mr don’t do nuttin guy 👍😍
Hey this is great advice. I agree. For folks discrediting this article due to the question “What’s the alternative?!” 1)you can still paint the floors with epoxy. This is a slab, and not hollow like cinderblock walls. 2) address exterior gutters and dirt grading deficiencies before considering any wall paint. Water tight paint is not good on basements because it typically locks water within cinderblocks and causes efflorescence to deteriorate mortar more rapidly than it typically would without trapping the moisture with paint. Address water intrusion on the outside 100% of the time before considering any interior dewatering attempts
So I need to spend thousands of dollars dig out around my house. Clean and dry the block and reseal it on the outside. I think I’ll spend $100.00 and paint it even if I have to do it every year or two. I don’t have a money tree. Oh and I forgot to say I’m in bed rock and my basement was hammered out to about 4-5 foot before they said screw it good enough. Built in 1950.
I’ve seen lazy folks ruin their basements because they try to add paint before selling their house to make the basement look fresh. They usually do it incorrectly, don’t clean anything, and don’t use the right paint. If drylok is installed correctly, it does the job fairly well for a number of years. Most people who complain about it probably dont do it correctly. For an older home with poor/damaged paint on the basement walls, you first need to grind all that off down to the bare block again using a grinder with a diamond cup wheel. Thoroughly clean every surface of dust using a sop vac with a brush attachment. Next, fill every little crack you can find with hydraulic cement and let dry. Then, thoroughly clean the walls of any remaining dust/cobwebs/efflorecense by scrubbing with a muriatic acid/water solution and let that dry. If your blocks are damp at all, place a space heater in front of each wall for a few hours to dry it out before painting. Then, paint thick globs of drylok into all the nooks and crannies of every block. If you put in the time and elbow grease to do it right, it’ll look good and work for a number of years. If you are trying to buy a house where it looks like the owners put a sloppy layer of paint on the blocks in the basement to try and make the house looks fresher, literally try to negotiate 10K off the price because of all the work you will need to do to fix the mess they created.
I waterproofed my basement wall, from the inside using dry lock. It worked, because, the water pressure built up outside so much, it blew our a basement wall. Yup. The basement wall failed, (which was old stack stone, and lightly covered in concrete), and the rocks were thrown about 8 feet across the basement.
If your basement has a humidifier at the dampest corner, set to 50% that only automatically turns on mid spring to mid fall, has a radon mitigation system AND a sliding glass double door at one end that lets in plenty of light, could we get by painting some of the walls in our gym area just to make it look nicer? Area in question is actually near the door but still has efflorescence on them. Basement definitely smells different than other floors in the house but does not have that classic muggy basementy smell. Thanks!
“A waterproofing chemical for masonry walls and floors, DRYLOK is ideal for basement walls and areas where water is seeping in through the concrete. You can also use DRYLOK on any interior masonry surface CONTAINING PAINT that has similar waterproofing qualities as DRYLOK.” You CAN use Drylok if there is already paint on the walls in the basement. Do your research before you start talking.
@Frontier Basements Systems If my basement is “healthy”, 20-year-old home, perfectly dry – never any water or moisture issues, I run a dehumidifier just for comfort and to insure a healthy humidity level. The current basement walls are bare concrete in perfect condition – could I safely paint them for aesthetic purposes? Would I use a dry-lock/concrete paint?
Here’s how you know not to trust this article: in the comments they keep referring to EFFLORESCENCE as “effervescence”. Lmao, are you kidding me? Imagine getting scammed into the system they are trying to sell (that’s why they don’t give any other advice) by someone who does not know the simple vocabulary of their own profession. Yikes.
I don’t need to do “the test” to see if there is moisture in our basement. It exists spring through fall and we have to run a de-humidifier every day throughout those seasons. Would love to be able to use the space for more than just laundry, but metal rusts and wood mildews while sheetrock does end up with some mold. Why anyone would put sheetrock down there I have no clue other than as an “insulator”. Another issue we have is that the epoxy coating is coming up off of the floor and the floor is coming up in places so we are seeing dirt.
When we built our home we just put the tar on the outside basement walls, then used the waterproofing membrane as well before backfilling. The footer also had a French drain that runs to a sump pump and takes all that water down into the woods behind our home. Inside we painted the cement block and have had no issue. I run a dehumidifier down there on auto mode to keep it at around 40%.