Dye for concrete: additives and coatings

What dye for concrete gives the most resistant color? How to mix colored concrete? How to paint the concrete floor of the garage or the walls of the home workshop? Let's try to answer these and some other questions.

Functionality

First of all, it is worth deciding why it is in our case that concrete color is needed.

What options are possible?

• The most typical situation is when the goal of the work is to combat mechanical wear of the floor and, accordingly, dust. A huge amount of dust on all surfaces is probably the main problem of unprotected concrete screed on the floor of the garage or home workshop.
• Concrete and plastered walls are often painted to reduce water absorption. Absorbing rainwater, the material deteriorates its insulating properties.

In addition: the water freezing in the pores dramatically accelerates the destruction of the building envelope.

• Finally, the purely decorative features of the painting should not be forgotten either: the dull-gray surface will not definitely add appeal to any room.. Here, however, it is worthwhile to divide the surfaces for painting according to the degree of wear: for the steps of the staircase with high traffic and for the walls different solutions are suitable.

Types of dyes

Impregnation

Strictly speaking, this class of materials is difficult to attribute to paints: they often do not contain pigments. The purpose of the application of impregnations for concrete is solely the improvement of its operational properties (wear and frost resistance, mechanical strength and crack resistance).

Most of the most effective impregnations are epoxy resin and polyurethane dispersions in organic solvents or water. Preparation for application consists only in dust removal of a floor or other surface; In addition, manufacturers recommend removing oil and grease stains, traces of paint and other contaminants with a solvent.

Pigments

Impregnation выгодно отличаются от поверхностных покрытий (в том числе большинства красок) тем, что не образуют тонкий защитный или декоративный слой на поверхности, а меняют физические свойства основания в достаточно толстом слое.

Pigmenting agents in concrete do, in general, the same thing; however, they limit their action to purely decorative changes: the color of the material varies throughout the volume of the array.

How is this better than traditional coloring?

Exceptional color fastness. The notorious steps of the stairs, the floors in high-traffic areas wear out with time. A thin layer of paint, no matter how durable it is, will last no more than a couple of years; in the case of pigmented concrete, areas with a high degree of wear will not stand out in color against the general background.

Here are recommendations for the use of concrete-dyeing pigments from one of the domestic manufacturers:

• The dosage is 3-5% by weight of the binder (that is, a bag of pigment in 25-30 bags of cement).

Tip: the dosage can be significantly reduced if white cement is used. Otherwise, the resulting color will be the result of mixing the color of pigment and gray, which will make the color more dull.

• Before use, the pigmenting powder is mixed with water to the consistency of sour cream and aged for one hour.
• The concrete mixer is loaded in the following sequence: sand; pigment; cement; water. Cement is loaded after mixing the pigment additive with sand for 100-150 seconds.
• Do not exceed the recommended pigment concentration. The resulting concrete strength in overdose will decrease.

How expensive are dyes for concrete? The price depends on the color and, accordingly, the composition of the pigment:

Acid Dyes

What are acid dyes for concrete?

In simple terms, it is a painting impregnation resembling wood stain. Without forming a surface film, the dye penetrates the material to a depth of about a millimeter and stains it. The coloring mechanism, however, is somewhat unusual: the color change is not achieved by the introduction of the finished pigment, but by the chemical reaction of the composition with calcium salts in the cement stone.

Since lime compounds are unevenly distributed in the thickness of the concrete, the surface acquires a complex pattern as a result of the action of dyes.

Is it difficult to apply acid dyes for concrete with your own hands?

Here are instructions for using this class of materials.

• Coloring is possible at least 14 days after casting the monolith.
• The surface is thoroughly cleaned from dust, paints and oils; if necessary, the concrete is ground.
• Coloring is made by a thin layer by means of a brush or a spray. After absorbing the first layer, if necessary, apply the second.
• After aging for 8 hours, the acid residues are neutralized with an aqueous solution of soda (250 g per 10 liters) or ammonia (200 g per 20 l).

The surface of the floor after painting can be protected by wear-resistant varnish.

Protective paint

How to paint a concrete floor, if the goal is not only to get rid of dust and increase wear resistance, but also to decorate the room?

Here are some types of popular paints with their key properties and average prices.

Decorative paints

How to paint concrete walls?

As a rule, they are not subject to severe mechanical stress; If so, decorative properties of coatings come out on top.

• Alkyd enamels (the same universal enamel PF-115) will be a relatively inexpensive solution for rooms with a high level of contamination. The film formed after drying the paint is easy to clean and has a fairly high wear resistance.

• Acrylic waterborne paints are less wear-resistant, but much cheaper. The lack of odors is also worth writing in the list of advantages.
• The rubber paints already mentioned compare favorably with acrylics in that they are easy to wash using household chemicals.

In addition: a rubber-like coating provides effective waterproofing, which makes these paints an ideal choice for repairs in bathrooms, bathrooms and for exterior painting of the facade.

Useful stuff

How to remove paint from concrete?

Remove oil paint or alkyd enamel can be a steel trowel and a hairdryer. The preheated coating is easily peeled off from a smooth surface. The alternative is the use of chemical washes.

How to clean the concrete wall of paint, if we are talking about resistant to heating silicone dye or surface too rough for a spatula?

Only mechanically. A coarse sweep can be done with a metal brush attachment for the drill; fair - an emery circle for the Bulgarian.

Can I put concrete contact on the paint?

If we are talking about a dense enamel coating on a solid foundation, which does not exfoliate under load - concrete contact on the paint can be applied safely. But chalk or lime whitewash needs to be removed.

Conclusion

We hope that we were able to answer questions of interest to the reader. As always, the video in this article will offer him additional subject matter. Successes in repair and construction!