Painting mortar landscape edgers (pic)

joeyboy · 08-17-2007, 04:21 PM

Well, I had a ton of extra stucco/mortar from doing a stucco exterior, and decided to make use of the extra through landscape edgers (photos).

Day after pouring I hit them with a 20 grit sanding block to roughen them up a bit and to make the lines more uniform.

I want to paint these with the tan that I'm using for my exterior trim work, but don't know the proper way to prep/prime them.

I have 'lanco liquid bonding agent', regular primers, and 'gripper' primers. I'm not even sure if I need a primer, though my guess is it'll save tons of paint. (oh and I know I shouldn't do it when the sun's on it, so work around the sun

)

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

handypilot · 08-17-2007, 06:28 PM

Any exterior primer you can use on concrete is fine, but I would definitely recommend Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3. This is from the can:

"High pH Resistance – Can be applied to high pH surfaces (up
to 12.5) without bubbling, lifting or degrading due to high
alkalinity making it an ideal primer for concrete..."

But as always, a quality job starts with prep...acid prep. Make sure you acid wash your new curbing with Muriatic Acid. It will clean/etch the new surface, and remove any efflorescence.

joewho · 08-17-2007, 06:29 PM

Easiest would be to stain them after checking the ph.

The machine you guys use to make those is pretty cool. I watched a landscaper do it recently.

joeyboy · 08-17-2007, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by handypilot

Any exterior primer you can use on concrete is fine, but I would definitely recommend Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3. This is from the can:

"High pH Resistance – Can be applied to high pH surfaces (up
to 12.5) without bubbling, lifting or degrading due to high
alkalinity making it an ideal primer for concrete..."

But as always, a quality job starts with prep...acid prep. Make sure you acid wash your new curbing with Muriatic Acid. It will clean/etch the new surface, and remove any efflorescence.

Etching is for better surface area right? If that's the case, it's all set for that, and I have seen *zero* efflorescence anywhere. I do have a bucket of etcher/phosphoric acid based, but would rather not use it if I don't have to (as the landscape edgers are covered on both sides by landscape beds I'm growing, and freshly sown grass on the otherside). If I don't see efflorescence and I know it's gritty enough to not need etching, can I skip the etching?

joeyboy · 08-17-2007, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joewho

Easiest would be to stain them after checking the ph.

The machine you guys use to make those is pretty cool. I watched a landscaper do it recently.

You just made me blush!
mortar poured landscape edgers
I made those myself by hand, I took a thin sheet of aluminum and cut it into spikes, nailed them to boards, and used those as my rough form. I then poured into the form, and used a trowel (custom made by me - I took a 6" edging trowel and made it flat, then bent to my desired shape. After that, a 20grit rubbing block made it uniform and smooth, and I just used a grinder to cut in some control joints).

And about staining, that would be a whole other project. I really want to use the tan exterior paint I've been using for accents, so I want these to look uniform with the accents, so I really want to just prime the edgers and then be able to use my exterior tan accent paint.

joeyboy · 08-19-2007, 03:17 PM

handypilot - given what I told you do you still think I'm going to need to etch? (it's fresh mortar, cured enough that it should be fine, it's been sanded with a 20grit block so it's got enough 'tooth' to grip, and I don't see a hint of efflorescence anywhere on it.)