After our crumbling concrete porch was repaired, we had a fully functional porch, but the surface looked unfinished and under construction.
The new concrete was a very light gray; the old concrete was a sandy color and had a different texture. I needed to do something. As I researched, I found out concrete stain accentuates cracks and imperfections while paint hides them. Makes sense since that’s exactly what they do for wood grain. Since I wanted to unify the new and the old, I chose paint.
I wanted a neutral gray “normal” concrete color, but didn’t want that off-the-shelf basement floor gray. You know the one I’m talking about? The one that almost looks purple under a certain light? I also didn’t want it to be slick, so I avoided that shiny epoxy paint and chose a non-skid concrete paint from Valspar in a shade called Mossy Aura (the middle one). It’s gray with a slight greenish tinge, and it goes well with our red brick.
At first I was leaning toward the darker swatch, but since this porch is in direct sun most of the day, I thought a lighter color would keep it moderately cooler.
Before
I don’t really want to be doing this again too soon, so I needed to do it right the first time. No cutting corners. So before jumping in and painting, I needed to prepare the concrete. Our porch was very dirty as you can see in the above photo. See how black it is on the left? Yuck.
I bought this cleaning/etching product and scrubbed and scrubbed the porch with a stiff brush. This product is biodegradable and safe for plants, which I figured would be safer for me as well, though I did wear gloves.
And my high school chemsitry goggles.
After drying overnight (and then drying out from a light rain the next morning), I was ready to paint.
I painted the sides with a brush and the surface with a special roller for masonry and textured surfaces.
After two coats 24 hours apart (as per instructed by the paint can), things were looking so much better.
As you can see, the paint didn’t completely camouflage the imperfections, but your eye does not go to them immediately either. And from the street, you can’t see them at all. Now all that’s left is to replace the railing. We’re almost done!
Before
After
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Previous posts in the porch process
- Crumbling concrete porch — repaired!
- Replacing our crumbling concrete porch steps
- Porch progress?
- My crumbling concrete porch
Update: See more curb appeal projects!
