Exterior House Painting: Make Quick Custom Concrete Colors

Who doesn't shudder when it comes to doing the exterior painting on your house? Since most of us only choose exterior painting colors a few times in our lives, it's not hard to understand why this can be so hard. While paint manufacturer's do a good job of providing exterior house color palettes, houses are all different and being able to visualize from one house color palette on a manufacturer's brochure to your own can be tough.

This can be especially true if you've got concrete areas that need painting. Unfortunately, standard colors for pre-mixed concrete paint aren't a whole lot better than the concrete itself. If you go to a paint store, you'll find a selection of maybe seven colors that go from blah to blaher. Now these work fine if you want the concrete areas you have to paint to blend in or go away visually. But what if you need to match a custom house color to the concrete areas on your property like in the photo below?

You can easily see from the photo above that standard concrete paint colors won't work for the concrete curbs in this driveway. See the clay/peachy color of the higher concrete wall that runs into the curb? Well, that's the color that's needed.

Since I had (help me) previously painted these concrete curbs prior to our house remodeling, I had just used a standard house paint over a concrete primer. AND I got to watch the color deteriorate as the elements eroded the paint. So I needed to do it differently this time to ensure that the paint I used for this concrete adhered well.

I love my contractors because they always share their special tips with me. This one is a beauty and while I know there are other ways to get what I'm looking for, this tip really worked for me because it not only allowed me to get a matching, custom color but it also allowed me to get better concrete paint adhesion and concrete waterproofing.

So what's the special element that allowed me to do all this? Glue. Yep, ProBond concrete bonder adhesion promotor. My contractor told me that he'd poured an entire 32 oz. bottle of the stuff right into his standard house paint color. Then he painted his concrete knowing that it would be sealed against the outdoor elements. Now, being conservative, I just poured a half of the bottle into my standard clay/peachy house paint color but it's done the job for me and I hope it works for you as well.

Painters and Decorators: When NOT to Paint Your Own Ugly Fireplace

Interior Painting: Beautify Your Home With Color and Common Sense

Interior House Painting: Common Sense Supertips

Painters and Decorators: Paint an Ugly Fireplace