Floor paint outside

[Tim Watts]

Any reason why not?

I have some tiled[1] window cills outside and some tile-red floor paint (ordinary, not epoxy).

A small test shows it dries to a nice dull matt and the colour is good. Any reason not to? Frost/sun?

I don't really want to buy a massive tub of masonry paint and the latter tends to be a bit too "matt".

Cheers

Tim

[1] Mostly clay roof tiles, but one set was added later and done with concrete roof tiles, then painted white which soaked in. Hence the need to paint it - and the others for consistency...

[stuart noble]

I used an iron oxide primer on some concrete sills. Lasted a good few years

[Tim Watts]

Interesting...

Back to floor paint for a mo - does floor paint really take a week to cure? The Leyland Contract stuff I put a couple of test patches on with has dried but is nowhere near hard after 3 days - I can scratch it off with my finder nail.

Crap paint or is this normal?

[Dave Liquorice]

Leyland is not known as rubbish. What do the instructions say, you have of course read those. B-) Ask Leyland.

[stuart noble]

A glazed surface is not ideal. Even stuff marketed as "tile paint" doesn't hold that well IME

[Tim Watts]

The instructions did say upto a week - I was just surprised it is so soft after 3 days? I assumed a week was to become really really hard to cope with cars driving over it...

[Tim Watts]

These aren't glazed - they are roof tiles (with a surface similar to quarry tiles).

[Dave Liquorice]

So why not believe them? Is it tough enough to walk on?

Do they use the word "cure"? That implies some form of chemical reaction and if not a two part paint, presumably reacting with something in the atmosphere. That will take time to propagate through the full paint thickness.

[Tim Watts]

Dunno - I can't really walk on my window cills ;->

I thought it a reasonable question - never used floor paint of this type before[1]. I don't know if I have a bad tin, or the conditions were wrong (hot sun) or if this is completely usual for this type.

[1] I put an epoxy paint-on DPM down once and that was hard as rock in under an hour, but then you'd probably expect that of epoxy.

I guess it must be -

I remember oil based gloss and varnish can take quite a while to get hard enough to walk on if applied to floorboards.

[stuart noble]

The quarry tiles I've used are exceptionally porous. This typically results in essential parts of the paint being sucked in before a film has formed. Try the paint on something non-porous, like glass, and see if it dries

[Tim Watts]

Interesting theory - perhaps you're right. OTOH screed and concrete is porous too, but the floorpaint suggests 2 coats which may have a reason beyond coverage?

[stuart noble]

At least it would rule out a dodgy batch of paint

[GMM]

I painted the (enclosed/covered) concrete sideway of our place with Leyland floor paint a while ago, in two halves (so we could use it in case it took a while to dry). The first half took an age (multiple days) to dry. Then I read the tin that said it 'could' be thinned for the first coat. Did that for the other half and it dried in a few hours. The second coat on both halves dried overnight like the the thinned coat. The suggestion that the porous surface sucked the solvent in and disrupted its drying(/setting) is consistent with this.

[Tim Watts]

That's massively useful info. I tested in direct sun - perhaps that also messed it up by drying it too fast.

Add some solvent to the 1st coat and paint on a cloudy day seems to be an idea :)

[stuart noble]

Sounds like trapped solvents where the film skins over before they've evaporated. Either the paint is too thick or too much has been applied in one coat. I'd brush the first coat on "sparingly" i.e. pretend you're down to your last spoonful. Don't worry about coverage

[GMM]

Sounds like a good plan.

I think the guidance was 10% white spirit (don't have the can any more unfortunately), which didn't sound like it would make much difference but it certainly did, and it made the paint flow much more easily as well. Looking at the area today, the first (ie unthinned) area has worn much worse than the second, but it may be that it gets more traffic (as it's the route to the garage). It hasn't lifted, but seems to take scrapes and knocks less well. That may not really be a great concern in your application, of course.

[Tim Watts]

This is exactly why I ask seemingly "dumb assed" questions here :)

Yes - I dabbed it on with a bit of kitchen roll (didn't want to kill a brush for a test patch).

Didn't seem *that* thick but likely thicker than if brushed on.

So thin is the key? I think I ought to have a dry run on a couple of old bricks with a brush - clearly I'm not used to the way this stuff handles...

Thanks Stuart!

[stuart noble]

IME two thin coats will often dry faster than one thick, but "one coat" is what we're told we need.

[Tim Watts]

The thinning seems to have been the correct answer! Thank you.

5% white spirit (max according to the can's instructions).

Brushed out as thinly as I could manage. Flowed well and brush marks went.

Most of it seems as hard as iron after 12 hours. One corner is a little bit soft - on the clay tile - maybe I didn't brush it out as thinly.

That's one coat (and one coat Sadolin Classic on the wood, which turns out to be mahogany and despite insane abuse and lack of care, turned out not too bad.

I raked out a couple of small areas of rot, injected Wood Hardener into the gaps with a syringe and filled the rot-holes with Ronsons wood filler.

I have deliberately not filled the joins in the wood sections as they will move with the seasons (seen that already) - I will seal those afterwards with Geocel "The Works" on the advice of a carpenter I know who recommends it as the best sealant for the job. Only downside is Geocel does not like being overcoated with solvent based paints which is why it's going in after.

I might be better changing from brown to black sealant, looking at the colour of the wood...