Paint a block garage ?

[Pallet Pete]

This summers major project is to paint my garage inside and out after I tuck point the walls. I have been looking at water sealer paints for the outside due to the block being very very old ( 1908-1913 ) deepending on the historical records I look at. The paints I have found are as follows -

Dry lock ( I have used it in the past with decent results )

Glidden Gripper ( Never used )

Rustoleum Water Seal ( Never Used )

Various store brand knockoffs as well.

These are what I have found while looking here is my fear ! The paint will hold the moister in the block causing it not to breath. This would cause mold I would think as well as paint flaking off. The basements I have helped to paint with drylock are holding up well however they are inside only. My garage I want painted in and out ! Outside to seal and add curb appeal inside to brighten it up and look better.

One other thing Drylock is a real pain to use and my garage is huge if I have to use a brush I will still be painting a year from now and end up in the looney bin. Is there a good alternative that can be sprayed ?

Any thoughts or suggestions ?

Pete

 

[fossil]

I'd paint it with my checkbook, but that's because I'm old and tired.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I am young and broken unfortunatly my gimpy rear has to do it I cant pay lol !

Pete

 

[MasterMech]

This summers major project is to paint my garage inside and out after I tuck point the walls. I have been looking at water sealer paints for the outside due to the block being very very old ( 1908-1913 ) deepending on the historical records I look at. The paints I have found are as follows -

Dry lock ( I have used it in the past with decent results )

Glidden Gripper ( Never used )

Rustoleum Water Seal ( Never Used )

Various store brand knockoffs as well.

These are what I have found while looking here is my fear ! The paint will hold the moister in the block causing it not to breath. This would cause mold I would think as well as paint flaking off. The basements I have helped to paint with drylock are holding up well however they are inside only. My garage I want painted in and out ! Outside to seal and add curb appeal inside to brighten it up and look better.

One other thing Drylock is a real pain to use and my garage is huge if I have to use a brush I will still be painting a year from now and end up in the looney bin. Is there a good alternative that can be sprayed ?

Any thoughts or suggestions ?

Pete

Pete, I can't help you with the specific products you need, but I can relate one tale.

My place of employment decided to re-paint the interior of the plant three years ago. All block walls with miles of electrical conduit, process water piping, and other various pipes attached. They started out with 3 5 gallon buckets of paint, a crew of 3 and some long reach rollers. By the end of Day 1, they had kind of covered the first 30 feet (the walls are 2 stories high) of the back wall.

I suggested an airless sprayer and to my surprise, they listened. Not only was it many, many times faster than 3 guys with rollers, the coverage was much better as well. A scissor lift and 1 guy could cover four times the ground the crew of 3 did in a day. 60 gallons of paint later, we had white walls again.

Is there any reason you couldn't run Drylock through an airless? (I've never used it)

 

[ironpony]

Pete, at this stage I would be more concerned on the tuck pointing. the old mortars are not compatible with new mortars. alot were lime and sand and very soft. this should be your first concern, figure out how the original mortar was mixed.
As far as painting block/concrete I have not seen many people have great success, it seems no matter how great the prep the paint/coating peels.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I am doing the tuck pointing first actually now. The issue with the block is how old it is there is no real choice right now it has to be painted this summer. No amount of motor will seal the old block itself. It is not the same as today's blocks and does soak up water like a sponge even where the mortar is good. The original mortar was so long ago I couldn't figure out the mix if I wanted either. Tuck pointing is actually going much better than I thought and the old mortar is in better shape than I could have hoped too ! I do appreciate the help Ironpony and I don't mean to sound rude so please don't take it that way and keep it coming !

As for paint I like the airless idea MM that may just be the way to go for me. I have some pretty bad injuries from the past so rolling and brushing are really out for me on walls this size.

Thanks guys
Pete

 

[Ashful]

If moisture can get in, it must be able to get out. If you have ground contact with porous block, moisture can get in.

My approach would be to read and research before doing anything. I anticipate that research would lead me toward a plan of sealing one side, and allow the other to breath, such as drylok on interior and vinyl siding on exterior. This will keep moisture venting to outside, and keep your garage space dryer, I think.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I like that idea a lot too. Actually a couple of paints I looked at where breathing paints for block. I will have to look at siding too. Our house was 4000 eight years ago for someone else to do it. Makes me wonder what it is today for siding costs.

Pete

 

[Ashful]

Unless time is a major constraint, you should be able to handle hanging some vinyl on the garage yourself!

 

[Pallet Pete]

Unless time is a major constraint, you should be able to handle hanging some vinyl on the garage yourself!

Yes I can its easy and I am very handy. I hardly ever pay anybody to do work when we purchased the house siding was part of the deal for the house. Those guys did the whole thing in 2 days ! Anyway yes I agree I should still get a price as that is a big factor in whatever gets done.

Thanks Joful
Pete

 

[Pallet Pete]

Well a good friend just called and told me the cost of vinyl siding and that's most certainly out now. Could I use wood siding with strips behind it ? Will it not let air flow correctly and mold ?

Thanks guys
Pete

 

[Ashful]

Well a good friend just called and told me the cost of vinyl siding and that's most certainly out now. Could I use wood siding with strips behind it ? Will it not let air flow correctly and mold ?

All depends on the location and type of drainage plane used. If you look at houses built in the 1950's, they would have framing, then sheathing, then wrap (construction felt), then siding. Similarly, what if you had firring, then sheathing, then wrap, then siding? The drainage plane is the wrap, and there is an air space behind the sheathing.

Then again... one can over-think these things. I suspect there is a standard already defined, which you could find with some research.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I have been researching for some time now and there really isn't much to go by. The county and state set no standards but suggested paint. That's why I am asking for ideas there are a lot of people here hopefully somebody can point me in the general direction lol.

Pete

 

[begreen]

One thing I would look out for is efflorescence. You may want to apply a sealer according to directions before painting. I had a large commercial bldg. with block walls professionally painted and it started efflorescencing in a couple years. One wall had to be redone because of this.

http://concreteefflorescence.com/tag/efflorescence-sealer/

The wall that efflorescenced was on the rainy side of the building. Wind drove the rain right through the exterior paint and the block joints started efflorescencing. Besides the undercoating we used a highly elastomeric paint on the exterior recoat. It stopped the problem.

 

[dave11]

Did I miss whether at some point you said whether any of these block walls are at, or below, grade?

If not, there is def no reason to dry-lok them.

Are they currently painted? If so, what condition is the old paint in?

 

[Ashful]

Another idea... T-nail some wire lathe on the outside and stucco. Then paint the inside with whatever you please, be it drylok or something else.