jamesrwrightiii

I am going to paint my mother's porch/steps. The porch was painted many years ago..like 25-30..it was then carpeted.but the carpeting got raggity and so she wanted to just have it painted instead of recarpeting it. There was a lot of paint still underneath. Some of it wore away..but there are many large patches that are still solid. There is enough paint that if I tried to scrape it would take me forever..and even when I did try to scrape..it was going to be very long and tedious..Some of it would not come off even with a scraper..that cost me 15 bucks.

I rented a 2500 PSI power washer today from a rental company. I asked the guy if he thought it would be powerful enough..he said yes...I got it to my mother's house and tried for two hours to get loose paint off..sometimes having the nozzle right up next to the concrete and in many areas it would simply not come off...


I called them back and asked them if I switched it to a 4000 PSI..would it work better..they said a 4000 PSI would totally mess up the concrete..is that true?

I am not sure what to do. If I start using solvents, I will have to use a ton of them and that is not something I really want to do..having chemicals all over the front porch. I also don't have much time to do this.and my mother doesn't have the money to pay a professional..

Can I paint over the old paint if it is indeed pretty solid? Would a 4000 PSI power washer do me any good? I am sort of at a loss..

Jm

skymaster

try a belt sander with a 20 or 30 grit belt. Might use a few of em but that should do it

slickshift

Although PWing can remove badly adhering paint, PWers are by no means paint removal tools

If it's not coming off by scraping, it's considered "firmly adhering" and, depending on what's on there and what you want to put on there, can be painted over

mark942

The 4k @ that close of range is just going to create a problem. As stated,the paint you have there now is firmly attached.I would just sand down the edges smooth,prime and paint.............= A MOM.

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sirwired

Agree with the other posters. If the pressure washer isn't taking it off, you don't need to remove it. Just clean up the edges, and prime and paint right on top of it.

SirWired