You seem to have some efflorescence on the walls, indicating water intrusion. Until that is taken care of from the OUTSIDE, most any paint you apply will fail eventually. Painters will be along shortly to give advice regarding any primer you may need to use on the bare block.

 

Yes I noticed that, I believe the area you are talking about shows the efflorescence on the grout lines or joint. That has been present prior to a change I made, this location was a "window well" with a dirt/gravel bottom that was sunken below an attached patio. I since filled the area in. I'm looking to spruce up the look - hopefully to have the floor looking nice for at least a few years. Anything to improve the dark, dingy, and haphazardly painted basement with dark blue and gray sucking all of the light away. Thanks.

 

If you want to do minimal prep work then your project is going to fail before you even begin.

Anytime you go to paint concrete, prep is of the utmost importance. As for efflorescense, (the white mineral on some of your mortar joints) it indicates wet walls with moisture evaporating on the inside. Not really that unusual since the ground is wet. If it's been 50 yrs since it was painted I'd say that looks pretty good.

IMO, the prep would include scrubbing the walls with hot vinegar/water, using a wire brush to remove any loose particles. Once it dries, I'd recommend Sherwin Williams Loxon, followed by any color of paint you want to put on it.

As for the basement floor, a floor epoxy would be more appropriate.

 

Are any of these primers suitable for sticking to existing paint like you see here? I'm looking for a more inexpensive and less troublesome DIY method. I'm not a painter - don't enjoy painting - but need to get rid of that dark blue color. Epoxy is out of my budget, and no way I would want to be doing all of the prepping that a quality epoxy requires - acid washing - concrete grinding - no way. It's just human foot traffic down there for groceries, storage, and laundry primarily.

However - the local realtor association counts "finished" spaces as having PAINTED floors and walls. No ceiling or drywall required, yeah, so I guess it's already considered finished space, somehow

 

You seem to be ignoring the mention of water, so the cheapest concrete paint is what you want because no amount of money will stop that water long term with paint on the inside.

 

Always, there is a correct way and incorrect way to do any task.

You appear to have a plan; what you will not do; that negates certain proprieties.

Follow through with your plan, take pics, and share new successes with us.

 

You seem to be ignoring the mention of water, so the cheapest concrete paint is what you want because no amount of money will stop that water long term with paint on the inside.

Always, there is a correct way and incorrect way to do any task.

You appear to have a plan; what you will not do; that negates certain proprieties.

Follow through with your plan, take pics, and share new successes with us.

I appreciate your concern however my original inquiry strictly related to paintings/primers, not foundation repair to seal miniscule cracks in a 51 year old house. Talk about turning a $1,000 job into a $30,000 job - I never asked for that, sorry!

 

How long would it have taken to state what you said to me.

 

Could have sworn i gave the easiest answer already, along with a product suggestion. You don't need to remove ALL the paint that's already there, only what's loose. If you don't want to epoxy, you'd use the same product, Loxon, on the floor. After the Loxon is applied you can leave it as is, or paint it with any color of paint you want. They can also tint the Loxon if you don't want white and only want to do 1 coat. But you will get the best results with 2 coats of the new color.

 

Could have sworn i gave the easiest answer already, along with a product suggestion. You don't need to remove the paint that's already there. If you don't want to epoxy, you'd use the same product, Loxon, on the floor. You can leave it as is, or paint it with any color of paint you want. They can also tint the Loxon if you ont want white and only want to do 1 coat.

And I thank you for that - I took at look at SW Loxon last night, I see it is a high quality coating for exterior concrete and masonry for high-rise oceanfront condos. I'm sure it can withstand the elements of my basement 😎

I have no problem giving the walls a dry scrub with a deck brush ahead of time and cleaning up the area. There is no way I would be painting anything "loose", I'm not a hack.

Essentially I'm looking for the biggest bang for my buck to brighten the appearance of our dreary basement, that's all. Aren't we all? It's not the main floor so precision and perfection is not essential. As I like to say, any changes would be an improvement over the current state!

 

The point of the vinegar is that it's a mild acid which helps to neutralize the alkalai on the concrete. You also want it to be clean and dry, removing any chalk. If you wipe a black glove on the floor and it comes up white, that is why you need to wash and scrub with vinegar. Otherwise the paint won't adhere to the chalk and it will fail prematurely.

 

Well you see - typically if I "clean" the floor or wipe up a spill, the paper towel comes up BLUE, lol. There really isn't any bare concrete anywhere outside of where you see the paint has worn off from years and years and years of water use. I believe someone used to take a "Tennessee Shower" in the basement over there near the washtubs where the largest area of paint has worn away, decades ago - we never do that though so that will never be a problem ever, ever again. When we bought the home years ago, the previous owners had a garden hose hooked up to the old laundry tub sink faucet. Me thinks they used to shower themselves down there, no idea why they'd do that considering the home has 2 bathrooms on warmer levels than the below grade basement.