[Mel6626]

I stenciled my patio concrete with exterior flat Ben Moore paint. It came out amazing after many hours of blood, sweat, and tears. I went to Lowes's to purchase a sealer to protect my artwork. They sold me H&C Concrete and Driveway Protector and some shark sand to give it some grit to prevent slips. I was looking for something more matte than glossy. Well I applied this product and it is not the result I wanted. After 3 days it is greasy, tacky, and slick. This is clearly not right. I called H&C and they advised me to mop with a degreaser or Simple Green. They also emailed me and told me my best hope is to strip it with Soy Gel . I refuse to strip it and lose my stenciling! I mopped it several times tonight with Simple Green and so far nothing.........except some spots of lost paint. Please advise me how to get this protector off enough so that I can seal it properly. And what product should I use to seal it? I have faith it can be fixed! (Photo pre-sealant)

 

[joecaption]

Exactly which type of paint did you use?
Reguler house paint is just never going to hold up on concrete.

 

[Mel6626]

It was Benjamin Moore Ben exterior flat. I was limited to what paints I could use for the stenciling. It's precisely why I want to seal it to protect it.

The concrete was painted when it was built about 1 year ago and didn't have any issues with the paint not holding up yet.

 

[jeasy]

I'm thinking isn't anything that will strip the sealer but not the paint.

what about just going over everything with a different product that has a matte finish?

 

[oh'mike]

Wow---that looks great------It's to late now, but the Benjamin Moore dealer would have had a better chance of advising you correctly------

Fine looking work----just wonderful----

 

[Mel6626]

Is there a proper sealant out there that I could just apply over this? I really am very angry at Lowe's for selecting the wrong product. I would rather a salesperson say " I'm not sure" than ruin all my hard work.

 

[oh'mike]

I suggest you go to the Benjamin Moore dealer and ask ---those folks have saved my hide on several occasions----bring pictures---and a sample board if you have one---you may want to brush on some of the bad sealer,too.

this way they can experiment--

 

[sam floor]

Lowes gave you bad advice?....you and a million other people.:whistling2:

 

[TarheelTerp]

Is there a proper sealant out there that I could just apply over this?

Polyurethane will help but NOTHING will do what you want.

 

[Msradell]

The problem is that concrete sealers are designed to soak into the concrete. You paint has already sealed the concrete service, so the sealer cannot penetrate. That's the reason the sealer is not drying. I'm afraid it's going to have to be removed. You are probably going to end up using something other than concrete sealer because of the paint.

 

[bigchaz]

Putting more sealer on top is going to increase risk of product failure, you don't have any concrete for it to bond to anymore or soak into. If the previous sealer isnt cured the new sealer will be basically filmed on top which is not how it is meant to work

 

[Mel6626]

I'm going to try to keep mopping it in hopes that it returns to the previous state after I painted it. Looks like I will return to Ace Hardware to find something that I could possibly seal it with to protect it, barring the tackiness comes off. H&C claim the protector is just (semi)dried on top since the paint prevented it from absorbing (so they say) and this gives me hope with some elbow grease I can get it off.

 

[joecaption]

Whatever you do do not use poly as suggested!

 

[jeasy]

Whatever you do do not use poly as suggested!

yea polyurethane would get yellowed by the sun.

maybe polycrylic though?

 

[joecaption]

The UV will cause any poly to fail.

 

[Dorado]

It's flat paint with shark sand...it may be absorbent enough for sealer. The paint label should have said what to use over it. Anyway, I would have let the paint dry a good long time, then seal it if appropriate, then let the sealant dry a good long time before trying to fix it. Some adhesives and probably some coatings could take months to harden under poor conditions. I'd leave it alone for a while. Just keep it clean and dry if possible...but I'm not a pro and I'm out numbered here.

 

[chrisn]

If and I said IF, you can get the crap off without ruining the paint job, this should work

http://www.rainguard.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=101:clear-seal-urethane&Itemid=79

 

[Davejss]

You asked an $8 an hour clerk for advice......

 

[r0ckstarr]

What does the sealer say the dry time is supposed to be? Maybe you're not waiting long enough?

Also, the paint work looks great! Got any pictures with the failed sealer on it?

 

[Mel6626]

Thanks for all the advice. I have been mopping it every night with Simple Green and Dawn. So far it is slowly removing the stickiness. I have scoured a bunch of paint off, but that I can fix easily. The manufacturer H&C responded back again and confirmed that degreaser and elbow grease should eventually remove it. They further suggested these products to seal it:



H&C Concrete Sealer Wet Look
http://www.hcconcrete.com/products/clear-sealers/concrete-wet-look/index.jsp

H&C Concrete Stain Solid Color Water-based
http://www.hcconcrete.com/products/solid-color-stains/water-based-stain/index.jsp


Any thoughts if this is appropriate?:sweatdrop: