LESLIE: Elaine in New Jersey needs some help with a patio project. What can we do for you today?
ELAINE: Hi, my name’s Elaine. I have a concrete flat patio in the back of my house that I want to paint a big picture of sunflowers on.
LESLIE: Beautiful.
ELAINE: However, the concrete needs preparing before I do it. It’s got some old paint stuck to it where I had put paint on it before and a lot of it’s worn off but there’s still a lot that’s down into the crevices and I don’t know how to get that out without using acid.
TOM: Well, is the old paint loose and peely or is it fairly well adhered?
ELAINE: It’s pretty well adhered.
TOM: Yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I would get all the loose stuff off I can and then I would prime right over that.
LESLIE: This is a good opportunity for you to repair any cracks with a flowable urethane or a silicone caulk just to give you a nice, smooth, even surface.
ELAINE: OK.
LESLIE: Then go ahead and prime the entire surface of the patio …
TOM: And I’d use an oil-based primer, too.
LESLIE: … to really adhere.
ELAINE: Oh, really?
TOM and LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
ELAINE: I have some paint that I bought that’s – what do they – it’s an epoxy-based paint; like porch …
TOM: Well that’s probably OK as well.
LESLIE: Yeah, but the epoxy-based paint, don’t you think that’s going to give it sort of – especially if you’re using that as a base, won’t it give it some sort of like a sheen almost to it that might not have the topcoat or the decorative layer of the paint stick?
TOM: Well, and the other, too, is if you stay with the same line of paint – say you choose the same brand of primer and then topcoat – it’s more likely to stick well together.
ELAINE: Mm-hmm, OK.
TOM: So I don’t know how well the traditional paints – you know, water-based paints – are going to adhere to the epoxy as the base because the epoxy is not designed to be a primer. The epoxy is designed to be a topcoat. And you want to paint over that with something that’s going to enable you to paint those flowers on it.
