How to prepare concrete patio for repainting?

poppinjmay

Hey team I am looking at doing a paint job on this external concrete. It has been previously painted and has a stamped edging. I know I will need to remove this in order to get a flat finish, but I’m wondering: should I look at hiring the large circular concrete grinder or purchase a handheld device to remove the indents around the edges? There are some area that will be a little tricky to get in/around.. 

JacobZ

Hi @poppinjmay,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

Is the plan to grind back the whole surface or just the stamped sections at the edge?

If you were going to grind it all back, a professional concrete grinding company would use both a large Floor Grinder for the bulk of the area and a smaller handheld grinder like this Full Boar 125mm Concrete Grinder for those tighter spaces.

If you were only going to do the indents on the edges, you could get away with just using the handheld grinder, but it would be a fair bit of work.

It's important to note that these machines are heavy and powerful, and if you're not experienced, it’s easy to lose control, damage the surface, or even injure yourself.

Concrete grinding also creates a lot of fine dust that’s harmful to breathe in, especially silica dust, which can lead to serious lung issues if you’re not wearing proper protection. If you are going to do this work yourself, please read through Safe Work Australia - Crystaline Silica to understand the risks and what you need to do to mitigate them.

If you are not comfortable with this, I would suggest having a concrete grinding professional carry out the work for you.

Jacob