Paint stripper for concreate

I have a large 20x20 pad that i wish too re paint. Some of it is peeling off but most is stuck quite well. I notoice the local HD has stripper at $50 a gallon and should do about 70 sq/ft. A little pricey i thought so i was wondering if there may be a better cheaper solution. Or if anyone has used the Bear product before

Thanks

 

This means you'll need $300 of paint stripper for your pad. Stripping paint off concrete is problematic, mostly because what really works also contaminates the concrete so you can't get anything else to stick. Additionally, paint tends to soak into concrete, making getting all of it off, a pain in the butt.

TSP is a good choice to loosen things up and there are several organic strippers that actually work now. Once it's softened with the TSP, use a paint appropriate stripper (oil, acrylic, etc.) and let this soak in good. Next pull out the pressure washer and blast away the now peeling goo. There's no zen about this kind of job. Renting a grinder (like a floor buffer on diamond blade steroids) will seem more desirable, if there's several layers of paint, oils stains, etc. Citristrip, Safest Stripper and SoyGreen are the usual reasonably safe strippers to use. There are many others that will work too, with lots of VOC's and other nasties.

 

PAR is 100% correct. Consider mechanical methods first. Don't use anything oil-based. Look at water/sand blasting, Acetone is only thing that will be ok for clean that is oil based, but one side effect is that it will spread the crap around, not removing it.

 

Ill try 2500 psi pressure washer first and see,priming the areas that are bare sounds a lot easier then the chemical stripper.
Hopefully most comes up with the washer.
thanks

 

Wash the floor with toluene first if the paint is acrylic. This will soften the paint. If you can scrub it in the better. In reality, the organic strippers are fairly benign, so use these, scrub like hell and hope you don't need to grind much when you're done.

 

Lye and water makes a pretty good paint stripper. It used to be and maybe it still is, commercial furniture strippers just had a big vat of lye and would dunk the whole piece of furniture in there, brush it a little and rinse it off with water. If you use a wet-dry vac to suck up the mess on your concrete pad, it will help to keep from scrubbing it all back in. I don't know how a vac will handle strippers, but I imagine if they're diluted enough from rinsing off the concrete and the vac is dumped and rinsed fairly quickly, it will be alright.

Water based porch and floor enamel works well on concrete and doesn't mind a little humidity in the cement when applied. Sometimes when painting concrete or masonary with a latex it can be too dry and needs to be misted/wetted first. Same with wood.

http://www.oldhousejournal.com/Homespun_Paint_Stripper/magazine/1048

 

Well so far TSP and 2600 psi has been working,slow going but its removing 95% of the old paint.

 

Toss the TSP down, and use a stiff scrub brush, working it, then let it sit, before the pressure washer. If you're getting 95%, that's about as good as it gets, unless you're willing to start up rotary power tools, to physically abate and grind the remaining paint off.

 

the only dissapointing thing is the bare concrete doesnt look as good as i hoped. Some parts have chucks missing.may have to fill them a little. The paint that remains are little 1/2" x 1/2" spots.wont even notice them on e it gets re coated.

 

Oil and grease are the enemy when painting concrete floors.

 

so next is paint,the local cloverdale paint store sells tennis court paint.Cheap enough at 40 a gallon.Porch paint will work also i assume?Its a covered deck so no rain hits it.
The so called epoxy concrete paint is just too much $, i dont know if its worth it?
I like the idea of the multi colored confetti mixed in, sure hides all the dirt,dog hair etc.

 

That also helps hide imperfections like uneven dips or mounds or even chips and holes in the slab.

You can mimic the confetti using splatter paint methods.

https://www.howdididoit.com/home-garden/spatter-paint-a-floor/