Concrete Painting – How to Paint a Concrete Floor

Painting concrete is a great way to help protect your concrete floors while making them look good! Below we outline the steps you should follow to make sure your concrete painting project turns out great!

Evaluate Your Concrete Floor for Painting

A concrete floor must be in decent shape to allow the paint to adhere to the surface. We recommend that you remove any old paint before applying the new epoxy paint product. We also recommend that you fix and patch any areas that are uneven. If the concrete floor presents any wet spots, use waterproofing techniques to fix water seepage. We do not recommend that you paint over wet areas to hide water spots. We also recommend that you remove any grease residue with a de-greasing solutions. It may take several treatments, but the floor must be free from all grease and debris. If your floor is cracked, then we recommend that you use a concrete patch compound to smooth out any rough surfaces. Make sure that the floor is completely dry before starting. We highly recommend that you give it several days to dry before continuing to the next step.

 

Primer

Once the concrete floor has been judged to be in good condition and is completely dry, you can begin painting the concrete with a primer.

Start at the perimeter of the project and “cut in” with brushes. Once the perimeter has received the appropriate amount of paint, you will want to use a  paint roller to finish the project. We recommend that you apply two coats of primer. Be sure to let each primer coat dry completely before applying another coat of paint.

Epoxy Paint

When the primer paint has sufficiently dried, then you will want to apply the epoxy paint. It also requires at least two coats. Epoxy paint works really well for concrete painting as it was designed for the wear and tear of concrete systems. It also has a resistance to chemicals that can spill and seep into concrete. Be sure to let the floor once again dry completely between coatings.

Sealer

When the epoxy paint coating has finished drying, you will need to seal the floor to protect from damage. You will need to apply multiple coats of masonry sealer, letting the floor dry into between coatings.

 

For concrete painting to be a success, we recommend the following all-in-one system.

Patching and Skimcoating Compounds	Mapecem ® Quickpatch, Tilt Finish™
Self-Leveling Toppings	Ultratop ®, Ultraplan ® M20 Plus
Moisture Reduction	Planiseal™ EMB, Planiseal VS
Sealants and Joint Fillers	Mapeflex™ P1, Mapeflex P1 SL, Planiseal RapidJoint 15, Planibond ® JF
Primers for Self-Leveling	Primer L™, Primer WE™, Primer T™, Primer CE™, Primer E™
Concrete Repair Mortars	Planitop ® X, Planitop XS, Planitop 12, Planitop 15, Planitop 18, Planitop 21, Planitop 23, Planitop 25, Planitop FD
Coatings and Sealers	Mapefinish™ Wet Look, Planiseal HG, Planiseal LVB, Planiseal LVB 1168, Planiseal Traffic Coat