Steps
Step 1
While renovating the front door and door screen I realised what a bad state the whole patio was in. It really needed some attention applied to it other then just walking over the flaky concrete. The repair of the concrete edge is in a differant project Concrete patio repair The handrails will also be a differant project one day 🙂
I was given an Aldi High pressure water blaster that was missing a couple of nozzels 🙂 Must say it worked a dream. Tho very very messy with plasticised paint bits everwhere.
You can see how it "cleaned" but didnt really remove too much the first time using the whole round base attachment.
Lots of going over the same area and back and then repeating.
Slowly working my way along the concrete
At this point I did consider paint stripper but thought of the cost in dollars and envirmentaly what the paint stripper would do to plants. Looking back I think paint stripper and hosing would be better for the enviroment mostly due to paint flakes spreading all over that area of the yard. Plasticised paint, other paint all through the garden.
So much paint to remove....
After the first water blast I went over the patio with a paint scraper to remove any flaky pieces I could get.
Spent four weekend afternoons removing the old paint all up
The paint came away easiest where people would normally walk
The steps were the hardest to remove until you managed to get under the edge of the paint with the high pressure blaster
Step 2
Onto getting fed up with the water blaster as I had hit an impass with removing more paint. I tried a straight wire brush and paint scrapper but it didnt make a great impact. So next step was Wire disks for drills.
Before the wire disks
The wire disks I used
After the first time over the paint.
Flattened two batteries for the Ozito drill
So decided to use my old Makita drill. Hammer function is broken (had it since my apprenticeship in 1990) but still going strong drill wise. Wooo that makes the drill thirty plus years old!
The difference between powered and battery...
Before wire brush and after
Much closer but getting fed up removing paint...
The state the wire disk ended in. It really wore down.
NOTE! Do not have the powered drill spinning near clothes with the lock button on the drill going...Nasty graze/sanding of stomach 😲 will result.
Step 3
Last stage of removing the paint.
Decided I had removed enough as the stuff that was left was truly bonded to the concrete. Nothing was shifting it.
Working on the steps was time consuming and also my oomph was dying lol I was fed up with paint removing and just wanted it done!
I think I counted 4 distinct layers of paint as I was removing it, majority of paint flecks ended up ???? In the garden 😕
Was reasonably happy with the paint being removed
The white you can see around the base of the posts for the handrail is a rustproof style paint. I should have left it until all the old paint was removed but didnt want the chance of the poles starting to rust as I had replaced two of them and they were not rust proofed.
I did a bunch of research and standing in the Bunnings aisles (Chatting to the paint crew about the concrete paint) plus asking work mates about what they have used and what has worked. Looking at the types of paints at Bunnings that were generally two parts or more and costing around the $200 mark for 4L and the paint that was suggested by work mates at $180 for 10L The one type won me over. It has held up for the past year nicely.
Prepping for painting
Taped up the edges to prevent bleed through
Waited for the temp to rise and started early as the drying time was long.
Step 4
At first I couldnt decide if I wanted to paint those tiles I had just removed the paint from under the door... In the end it was conforminality that swayed me.
Looking back I still had a large amount of paint on the patio, firmly fixed paint but still lots really.
I was cheering as I saw the colour change 😀 It felt so good to finally get to paint.
Previous owners hadnt been too careful with painting the edges, I tried to stick to exactly what they had done so it would "look" ok (note the base of the bricks)
And just remembered why I started early, The paint had to be applied under 40deg and it was HOT when I did it (September 2023) I think I was starting to get close to that temp when I finished the first coat as the concrete was absorbing heat like crazy.
Was a pleasure doing the steps!
Feeling pretty happy tho noted a few issues I would have to fix before the next coat.
Much nicer look after the first coat.
Step 5
Ok, this is what can happen if you dont remove all the old paint. The new paint reacted with some parts of the old paint and actually lifted the old paint underneath. Was dissapointed to say the least as I hadnt expected that could happen.
Examples of the issues, Most was around the steps and who knows what paint previous owners had used.
It looks huge but was only in 3 smallish areas
Was still disappointing to see.
Solution was to sand back the flaky areas with a cork block and sandpaper.
I figured the new paint acted like a paint remover (whatever chemicals were in it) and had "removed" whatever was going to react plus by me sanding the area it would create enough of a rough surface for the paint to bond.
Some areas were tiny
Lazyness on my part removing old paint is what it came down to.
Ugh but fixable.
Second coat
Second coat
Second coat
After it had rained! And still beeds a year later
Damaged area that had been sanded and painted again.
No issues 🙂 And there hasnt been in a year.
Things I have learnt form this project
-Prep work.
-Follow instructions of the paint especoially what temperture to apply the paint at.
-remove as much as possible of the old paint first then remove some more.
-worth it tho, even with all the issues paint stripping and prep work.
