Concrete Surface Preparation Tips For Coating

A lot of people don't realize that the surface they are coating needs to be prepared before they start. Apparently, preparing the concrete is a must if you are planning on coating them anytime soon. This is crucial if you want to ensure a longer-lasting coating.

However, we understand that it is not easy to do concrete surface prep if you have no idea how a professional does proper surface preparation in the first place. Some might think that surface preparation can be done quickly and easily. However, for proper surface preparation to work, you need to take your time to understand how to execute it properly for the coating bonds to adhere and ensure a successful coating application properly.

So, to help you in the preparation process, here's a step-by-step guide plus some tips that you need to know for better results.

Preparing Your Concrete Surfaces For Coating

You might not be a contractor yourself, but definitely, you'll still be able to do proper concrete surface preparation as long as you follow these steps for a properly prepared surface, whether you're working on a home improvement project for polished concrete floor coatings or any other concrete surface.

1. Safety Equipment Is Your Friend

Learn how to use and wear proper safety equipment like masks and gloves when handling coating materials. Depending on the coating job, some projects may require added protection. Since you must remove all dust, dirt, and residue from the concrete surface, it is important to use proper protective gear, especially because concrete can cause irritation if inhaled or absorbed by the skin, so don't forget this step before beginning any coating job!

On the other hand, if your concrete surfaces are rusty, be sure to sand them down first before washing away any dust or debris that might be on them as rust stains could stay behind on the surface, giving it an unsightly appearance once the paint is applied.

2. Clean The Surface First

Before you start concrete surface preparation, you would want to start by cleaning the concrete or removing any dirt and debris on your concrete floors. You can do this by using a pressure washer and cleaning solution and rinsing it afterward with water. This will ensure that your top surface is free from any contaminants and will help ensure a better bonding of the coating.

Note that you need to know how to properly use pressure washers as they can be very dangerous if used without proper training or knowledge on how to handle them.

Depending on how dirty the concrete surface is, you can pressure wash it using low or high-pressure spray heads to clean your concrete. Another thing you need to remember is never to leave any electrical equipment near wet surfaces or let water pool around them so it doesn't accidentally cause electrical shock, which may lead to fatal accidents.

Moreover, it is also highly advised to rinse your surface with a garden hose before using the pressure washer, as this will help remove loose debris and dirt. But if you don't have a pressure washer, but your surface is still really dirty and has lots of debris stuck on it, you will need to remove that debris before you can proceed with concrete surface preparation. To do so, use a broom and brush away as much of the concrete dust.

3. Let It Dry

Now that you're done with surface cleaning, you need to let it dry before you do further preparations. Concrete needs time to breathe and "cure" itself after being wet from pressure washing or rinsing, so allow it to dry first. You can speed up the drying process by using fans and dehumidifiers.

However, if you pressure washed the surface too early before it had dried completely and there is still moisture on your concrete floor or surface, solidifying the concrete coating will become challenging, if not impossible. Since concrete absorbs water easily, experts recommend that these areas be left for a few hours so water can dry out completely after cleaning it. This will set up your surface for a better curing process and make it more resistant to damage caused by chemicals used in coating products. Concrete surfaces are naturally soft, so keeping them damp can cause small cracks if insufficient drying time is given.

4. Start Preparing The Ground With A Brush

Next, you should start preparing the ground surrounding the area with a broom using a stiff-bristled brush. This will remove any loose particles that may have been stripped during the cleaning process. You can then sweep up these particles and throw them away in a disposal bin before doing further prep work.

5. Check Areas For Cracks And Cockles And Repair Any Unsound Concrete

Now that your surface is free from surface contaminants, it's time to check the exterior surface for cockles or small cracks you need to fill in using a concrete filler or patching material, so they don't leak out when you apply coating products over it.

Unsound concrete should be removed and any surface defects, such as holes, spalls, cracks, and other surface flaws, filled with a commercial cement-based grout, epoxy compound, or other proprietary patching materials. The best way to know what kind of material would work well with your concrete surface is to do some testing first. Apply small amounts on your test area underneath your concrete pavers or blocks before going all-out.

6. Do Some Clean-Up Using A Wire Brush, Then Cure For 24 Hours

Use a wire brush to remove small chips left on your surface after applying the concrete filler. By brushing it, you can ensure that the patching compound is smooth and even with the rest of the surface so you can apply coating products better onto them later on.

Now that all preparations are done, you need to let it cure for 24 hours using a curing compound or product to protect your new fresh coating from damage due to moisture.

Make sure to use painter's tape for proper masking when preparing the edges surrounding the area you're coating. Then, you can remove the tape once your concrete is thoroughly dried and hardened before cleaning up any excess compound with a vacuum cleaner.

7. Surface Profile Your Concrete By Roughening The Slick Surfaces As Much As Possible

In addition to removing all dirt, dust, and grime from the surface, you should also roughen up those slick surfaces as much as possible too so that they can bond more effectively with the floor coating. Shot blasting, acid etching, sandblasting, scarifying, and grinding are the most common techniques to profile concrete surfaces properly.

Acid Etching

Acid etching is a more gentle method of roughening up your concrete surface since it uses a diluted acid solution to eat away at the top layer. It works best for sealing and preparing new or old poured surfaces that have been stained or deteriorated by chemical exposure or those with no bond coat on them, to begin with.

Shot Blasting

On the other hand, shot blasting uses a shot blasting machine or hard steel balls to blast away your concrete's top layers. This is effective for removing paint and rust from old surfaces or large surface cracks because it can easily reach them through its aggressive abrasion power. However, this method might cause damage around the edges of your concrete pavers, so you need to handle them with care.

Sand Blasting

If you want to use a more advanced and controlled method, sandblasting is your best option. This is more versatile and can be done on a large scale than other methods because of its air blasting power. It works by using pressurized sand to blast away the concrete's top layers without damaging it or stripping off too much material in one go. Still, you need a constant water supply nearby since this method generates a lot of heat from friction.

Grinding/Scarifying

If you're working with large areas, grinding and scarifying are the best methods to use for surface profiling. Grinding is usually done with a vertical grinder, which can be as wide as your floor, and works best for removing paint from large surfaces. Scarifying also uses abrasive power, but it does so through rotating blades or disks instead of blowing dust particles at the surface like sandblasting does to cut away from its top layers.

Once you are finished, rinse off the entire surface to remove any remaining dust or particles before applying your coating product evenly.

Use Tsp For Better Results

TSP or trisodium phosphate is a powerful cleaner that breaks up grease and grime. Still, it has a strong chemical smell, so you should only use it outdoors with plenty of ventilation going on to keep fumes from being harmful to anyone working around them.

If you don't own a pressure washer, you may want to use a wire brush or steel wool pad to scrub the surface. People have also used sandpaper for this purpose. Still, many prefer using steel wool because it does a better job of scuffing up their surfaces without scratching or harming any part of them under normal circumstances.

8. Check The Surface And Ensure That It's Dry

Make sure that the concrete surface is dry before applying any coating product over it. If you're going to apply multiple layers, make sure that there's enough drying time between each layer. Leave it for at least 24 hours after finishing your final coat before doing anything else with the newly-coated concrete floor.

Make sure to remove all wires and lines from the area, as painting over them can be difficult due to how thick coating products tend to be. To remove such things, you'll need putty or a knife for this purpose so you can cut those objects out of your area before covering them up with paint later on.

9. Always Use A Primer First Before Painting Your Concrete Surface

You may want to use a primer first before applying any paint onto your concrete surfaces if they're particularly porous and rough because primers usually work well for various types of surfaces, including concrete.

Use only one thin coat, though, as applying too much primer will result in drips and runs, which can ruin an otherwise professional-looking painted surface that you could've saved yourself by using less primer in the first place. Most people don't like using primer anyway. Still, surface preparation matters because inadequate surface preparation would show on concrete floors or any concrete slab if surface cleaning is not done beforehand. From air pockets to a poorly profiled surface, the finished product will never look as polished as it should be if not adequate surface cleaning is done.

Final Thoughts

Every square inch of your concrete surface is very important. Whether it is your garage floor, a concrete porch, or a patio, you want to ensure that your surface is properly prepared before applying anything over it. While there are many methods, you can apply to have a flawless concrete floor coating and an aesthetically pleasing finished product. These tips should help you achieve the best results possible.

Details to Remember When Building a New Home

A home is a place that works as a sanctuary. When planning to build a new home, thinking of the budget and plan is a welcomed guideline to ensure that everything goes as planned and the house passes all inspections. Unfortunately, there’re other details to remember when building a home that comes in handy.

Lighting and Sound

Consider the lighting carefully when building a new home. As with the proper lighting, a house seems more inviting and desirable. Light fixtures also play a significant aspect, especially at night, as they decide on the home's warmth and beauty. However, before installing, get in touch with sound engineers to help with advice on entertainment rooms sound to the lighting to ensure movie time is perfect without glare and sound issues. With technological advancement, a home with smart system lighting will go a long way to make it comfortable and easy to control from a safe distance.

Unique Needs

Use a checklist when making the home's plan to ensure that every important aspect is included in the build. The age of all family members plays a factor in the end building plan the architect will come up with. Elderly individuals might want easily accessible and safe spaces compared to a newly married couple with dogs. A family with small children may also enjoy a home where the bedroom is the same wing as the parents for easy accessibility. Still, personal needs play a significant role and get everyone's input beforehand.

Invest in Fixtures

Allocation of funds when building a home to completion and move-in ready is a complex task. Fortunately, you only have to remember buying and installing fixtures used daily to get value for money. Forgo the small decorative pieces such as wall art or pillows and go for high-quality permanent fixtures such as lighting, showerheads, and the likes. When repairs eventually are needed. Refreshing the space is accessible without needing to budget for a lot.

Storage Space

Take time and consider the family traditions and plan accordingly when considering storage. Family dynamics change daily, and it's necessary to get storage for more unique items. Plan for storage for clothing, especially with teenagers, to avoid avalanches of clothes everywhere in the home. Consider lifestyle and hobbies and keep it at the forefront when building a home as all that gear needs a safe and hidden space when not in use.

Plan and buy quality materials to ensure the home, after finishing, is well constructed and sturdy and lasts for decades. The overall environment will also play a factor as you cannot use some materials in all environments. Only use professionals to avoid costly mistakes.

How to Turn Your Unfinished Basement into a Home Gym

Thanks to our perennially sedentary lifestyle, more and more of us are out of shape than at any time in history. Unfortunately, this trend does not seem to be ending anytime soon. This is why it is absolutely imperative that we take steps to get back in shape. The alternative consists of the evils of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure leading to heart attacks and strokes to quote but a few drawbacks of being out of shape. However, it does not have to be this way at all. Not if we make exercise an important part of our day-to-day regimen. 

The best and easiest way of doing so is to build our very own gym, right in the comfort of our own home. Here, many people have unfinished basements that they plan on turning into dens or home cinemas, or even game rooms. You might consider turning your unfinished basement into a home gym so that everyone in the family can use it to exercise and thereby regain their fitness. Here is how you can go about doing that: 

• Declutter your basement

Unfinished basements have a habit of gathering clutter that doesn’t seem to belong anywhere else. Broken furniture, baseball, bats, and all the other assorted flotsam and jetsam end up in the basement. Decluttering it and getting rid of years of accumulated junk will help you to actually see what you are supposed to do and how you can go about doing it. 

• Paint the walls

Walls can provide that extra bit of inspiration for your workouts. You can paint the world "GYM" in big bold letters and throw in lots of inspirational quotes that will help you to keep going long after you are tired. Finally, bold and light colors also help to create the right ambiance to get you into the mood. In a nutshell, your walls should be painted in such a way that once you enter the gym you would not want to leave, till you are done with a grueling workout. 

• Ceiling and floor

Many people don’t give proper attention to the ceiling. But considering the time you will spend pumping iron while lying flat on your back, it is a good idea to treat the ceiling in much the same way you would treat your walls. Similarly, it won’t do to exercise on a hard and cold concrete floor. If you accidentally drop any weights, it might damage the floor or any flooring you might have installed. It is a good idea to use thick rugs and old carpets or even a wall-to-wall carpeting solution. This way, you will be able to exercise on the floor in all kinds of weather. Moreover, dropping weights will not be an issue nor would it be very noisy. However, it is advisable to find out if your basement is leak and damp-proof lest the floor coverings are ruined every time it rains. 

• Lighting fixtures 

Lighting is of paramount importance in any home basement gym. If you can’t see what you are doing you might be liable to injure yourself. At the same time, gloomy lights can demotivate you and you might not feel like working out at all. Instead of fluorescent lighting or bare bulbs hanging all over the place, consider your basement every bit as important as every other room in your house. Moreover, you have to take into consideration what kind of light inspires you the most.  If you work best in white light go for that. Alternately, if warm lights are your thing, then make sure that your basement gym has a lot of those. You can also use string lights to attract you to certain calorie-burning machines.   

• Equipment list 

Make a list of the essential equipment to include in the basement gym. For example, you will need weight plates, running machines, exercise bikes, elliptical machines, and so on and so forth. 

• Conclusion

Your unfinished home basement does not need to remain that way for long. You can paint it over, get fresh flooring and adequate lights, and fill it up with gym equipment to create your very own home gym. Good Luck! 

How To Minimize and Organize Your Beauty Collection

If you're a beauty enthusiast, it's fun to collect different beauty products and try new ones out. But if your collection is getting out of control, it can become a real burden on your space. As such, it's important that you have the right storage system in place so that you don't end up with an overflowing cosmetics case. Knowing which products to keep also helps with minimizing clutter. Here are some tips for organizing your beauty collection:

1. Use Dividers

Dividers are one of the most effective ways to organize your beauty collection. You can use them to separate your makeup by brand, color, or other categories. Placing your products in dividers will make everything look more neat and pleasing to the eye. It can also help you find what you need faster as well.

There are cheap plastic dividers available in stores or online, and you can even create your own dividers if you want to do so. Some dividers are even stackable, making it a great space saver for beauty enthusiasts who have limited space.

2. Create Categories

A great way to organize your beauty products is by creating categories and labeling them. This allows you to group similar items together and makes finding things easier. For example, you could create categories like foundation, concealer, lip gloss, eyeshadow, and blush. Beauty enthusiasts who have an extensive collection can go further and even categorize their products into colors or shades. 

Remember that keeping all of your products in one big container isn't going to work and will likely cause you more stress. They'll get lost among each other and it'll be hard to see what you have and look for them when you need them. Instead, break down your collection into smaller containers and categorize them to your liking. 

3. Declutter Regularly

Decluttering regularly is another good way to keep your beauty collection organized. Go through your collection every few months and remove anything that doesn't belong there anymore. When decluttering, make sure to throw away expired products or any products that won't be used again.

It's also helpful to know what kind of beauty products expire faster. For example, mascaras tend to dry out quickly, while pencil items like eyeliners or lip liners can be used for a year. To make decluttering easier, you can use a tracker app to note when certain products were bought so that you know when they’re already expired and should be thrown away. 

4. Clean Up After Yourself

Remembering to clean up after yourself is a great way to keep everything organized at all times. When using products from your beauty collection, always remember to put them back where they came from. This way, when it’s time to declutter your beauty collection, there’s no need to clean up huge amounts of mess. Everything is already right where you left it.

5. Make Sure You Have Enough Space

Knowing whether you actually have enough space for new beauty products can help keep your collection organized. If you’re planning on adding a lot of new products to your collection, you may want to consider decluttering some of your existing products first. This will ensure that you don’t run out of room for storing new additions and won't make your beauty collection feel too cluttered.

Another tip to remember when shopping is that if you don't think that you'll love the product, then don't buy it. It's a great way to help you only buy things that you'll actually use. So for example, if you already have a favorite facial cleanser, then don't go out and purchase another one unless it truly meets your needs. And if you're looking to add a new color cosmetics brand to your collection, try to find samples before purchasing full-size items.

6. Get Creative With Storage Solutions

There are so many ways to store different kinds of beauty products. Whether you prefer plastic bins or glass jars, these storage solutions can help keep your collection well organized and easy to find. You can opt for DIY options as well. Many people recycle old glass jars and bottles to store their makeup brushes. Others turn ice trays into lipstick trays. Either way, finding creative ways to store your beauty products can help keep everything neat and tidy.

7. Ask Advice From the Pros

If you’re really having trouble organizing your beauty collection, take advantage of online reviews and ask friends for their advice. The beauty community has been known to share tips and tricks about how to organize and store beauty products. You can join groups where people share their own beauty collections and ask questions. Or, you could even start your very own group by inviting others who have similar interests in mind. 

The Bottom Line

Having a beauty collection brings a lot of joy to many beauty enthusiasts around the world. However, it can be a chore to organize your current collection and keep it organized as well. By following this guide above, you can get started on making sure your beauty collection stays organized and clutter-free.