How to Paint Concrete Walls

Tap to Read ➤ Rutuja Jathar

The best thing that you can do to change the entire look of a building is to paint the concrete walls. Here are some ideas for you to do so for your dwelling.

Many home owners find it depressing to have concrete walls in their dwellings. Those gray concrete walls are often found to be pretty boring, pale, and inappropriate.

When a person moves into a new house that has concrete blocks, he may find it hard to match his existing furniture with the dull gray color of those walls. Solution? Paint them! You can learn to paint them and make them more appealing and soothing to both, your lifestyle and your soul.

Ideas

Many people advocate that concrete walls must be decorated with various attractive faux painting techniques. You can use faux granite, stencils or sponge stamps. If you are unhappy and confused about your basement concrete walls and concrete block walls, here are some tips. Painting the concrete walls is totally different than painting the concrete floors.

Painting Basement Concrete Walls

Painting a concrete basement floor is different than painting concrete walls. Basement is one of the most common places of the house to be furnished with concrete walls. No matter what the utilization (study, bar, or home theater), you must make sure that the furniture used for the basement suits to the interior decorating theme and color of the walls.

You need to use a special vapor barrier paint color, as well as special basement waterproofing techniques for basement walls, in order to make them durable. Here are a few instructions:

Once you decide the color scheme for the basement, prepare the wall for the primer. To do that, remove all the paint peeling with a color scraper. If there is any wooden object on the walls, then the color on it must be cleaned with an abrasive paper/heat gun.

Then apply mortar or a thin layer of paint to make the surface smooth. Remember, it is a patch up work and perform it only when, and where, it is needed. If you do the mortar patchwork, make sure the wall is completely dry before you start interior painting.

Mix the primer, as per the directions on the label, then apply an even layer of a good quality primer on the wall. You may need approximately 1 gallon primer for 200 sq ft of wall surface. Once it gets completely cured, go ahead with painting.

You may need 1 gallon of special vapor barrier paint for 100 sq ft of walls. Make sure you apply it in a continuous pattern with help of a roller or a paint brush. After the first coat is dried, apply the second coat, and let it dry. Then rearrange all the furniture.

Painting Concrete Block Walls

A nicely decorated concrete block wall is much more appealing than the poured concrete wall. This is why people like to have it in their dwelling.

Painting concrete walls is the best thing to do to reduce the upkeep which is needed for them. When it comes to concrete block walls, they can be made even more appealing with the right kind of room color schemes.

You can try the sponge paint technique as a unique decoration theme. This idea works well and hence, you can decorate the one behind the fireplace, or the master bed as well. Here are the instructions:

If your wall is already painted in a light color, then you don't need to repaint it. Even though white and beige are the ideal colors for this design, it can be performed with any other light color shade as well. At first, measure the width of your wall and find out its mid point.

Place a painter's tape on the mid point, and measure its distance from the ceiling, as well as the floor. Now, mark the width of the blocks by placing the painter's tape at the same length throughout the wall.

Now, dip the sponge in the color that you desire to use, and move the sponge on the wall in a random pattern. Don't forget to tap the sponge in between so that it touches all the edges of the block. Make sure the sponge patterns that you make are not uniform. To make the design more contemporary, make the color drippings visible on the wall blocks.

Once you are done with this initial coat, wash and dry the sponge, and then repeat the same procedure with two light shades of the same color. However, it is important to not cover the entire initial paint with this second coat. You also need to make this second coat quite thin to get the exact sponge patterned wall.

If the color schemes and designs are clear in your head, then projects like painting concrete steps and patios can be really easy and fun for all.