Painting Outdoor Cinder Block Fences

[Numbers Man]

They say good fences make good neighbors. But I need to make my fence more visually appealing to me. This is my first time with a house that has a cinder block fence. I have a previously painted Cinder Block fence (I'm guessing the builder painted it) that is pitted due to water damage and just looks ugly. What is the proper preparation, patching and type of paint necessary to make my fence the envy of the neighborhood? I am in Arizona if that makes a difference.

[GeorgiaCPA]

I'm not familiar with AZ market, but if you want your fence to be the envy of the neighborhood, paint isn't going to cut it.

A nice stucco job will look much better than paint (hides the joints and can be color matched to the house).

[Numbers Man]

I'm not interested in over improving my property by putting stucco on the fence. I just want to spruce up the fence with some paint.

[math-ya]

A good pressure washer will make the prep work easy. Hopefully that will get all the loose material off.  Then before the paint I would clean it with mineral spirits or something similar.The cinder block should hold up very well with an oil based paint.
So many places are unfortunately phasing out oil based paints, but if you look hard you can find someone to make the tint you're looking for. Home Depot still carries one by glidden that is for porches and floors that I use a lot, but it only comes in a high gloss finish.

[paddedhat]

A good pressure washer will make the prep work easy. Hopefully that will get all the loose material off.  Then before the paint I would clean it with mineral spirits or something similar.The cinder block should hold up very well with an oil based paint.
So many places are unfortunately phasing out oil based paints, but if you look hard you can find someone to make the tint you're looking for. Home Depot still carries one by glidden that is for porches and floors that I use a lot, but it only comes in a high gloss finish.

If I read the OP correctly, the fence is currently painted. Therefore painting over unknown, and most likely latex based paint, with oil, doesn't sound like a great idea?

[math-ya]

thats why you have to prep it properly first. painting is 90% prep work. oil based paint will stick as long as you prep it properly.  what is your better idea? paint it with latex? i know its dry in az, but not that dry. oil and water dont mix, which makes it much harder for moisture to get under oil paint. thats why a water based paint would never hold up outside.

[Numbers Man]

Thanks for the replies. I found the paint that the previous owner's contractor used (There were at least 20 other cans left behind). Acri-Flat paint for masonry surfaces.

[paddedhat]

thats why you have to prep it properly first. painting is 90% prep work. oil based paint will stick as long as you prep it properly.  what is your better idea? paint it with latex? i know its dry in az, but not that dry. oil and water dont mix, which makes it much harder for moisture to get under oil paint. thats why a water based paint would never hold up outside.

Not sure what you base your opinions on, but reality isn't doing much to back your claims. First, the generally accepted practice, as noted by many paint manufacturers is, latex over oil is fine,  oil over latex is generally is not recommended. Second, the vast majority of coatings in the market today are latex. Due to federal clean air regs, VOC reductions in particular, oils have become a minuscule percentage of available product  Most pros. will confirm that do not perform even close to oil paints from  "back in the day"  before the EPA started regulating them. Finally, the "water based paints will never hold up outside" claim, is simply ridiculous. There are decades of evidence to the contrary.

[math-ya]

Lol. I don't have to ask a pro painter cuz I am one. What's your experience? I can tell exactly what holds up the best cuz all i have to do is look at the work I did 15 years ago and see what is holding up. Oil does and latex does not- I don't care what you read on the internet. Oil won't stick to weathered latex, it's gotta be roughed up first.

[paddedhat]

Lol. I don't have to ask a pro painter cuz I am one. What's your experience? I can tell exactly what holds up the best cuz all i have to do is look at the work I did 15 years ago and see what is holding up. Oil does and latex does not- I don't care what you read on the internet. Oil won't stick to weathered latex, it's gotta be roughed up first.

Doesn't matter to me if you claim to have invented paint, if manufacturers tell you to not use oil over latex, I'll go with what they have to say. As for your ridiculous statements about latex not holding up, bullshit. I live in an area where we have thousands of single family homes with plywood siding that has latex paint on it, and it holds up just fine. I employ several skilled, experienced painters, and most of them can't remember the last time they used an oil exterior product on anything but steel doors. Might be time to join the last century, and find out what the rest of your trade has been doing since the 1990s.

[Numbers Man]

I guess I'll just scrape the loose paint, patch the damaged or pitted part of the cinder block and paint with the Acri-flat masonry paint. Do I need to prime before I paint? And does my process make sense?

[paddedhat]

yep, scrape and wire brush any loose areas. Pressure washing is a good idea, if you have access to one.  Priming bare spots is recommended. I like Sherwin-Williams, and they have a product, LOXON, specifically for this application, if not Lowes should have something from Valspar.  Good luck.

[math-ya]

Be careful what you read here. Padded hat is not a painter and has no real experience. Having hired a few pros doesn't mean shit. I have painted hundreds of structures over the past 15 years- on my home, my rental properties, and at my customers homes( I'm an exterior painter). I live in a climate that gets very cold in winter and hot n humid in summer. So our exteriors take a beating. I take pride in my paint jobs lasting, while others have to repaint over and over.
The level of hassle involved with oil is huge- it's so messy and difficult to clean-and your tools get wrecked quickly but the results are unbeatable.

[paddedhat]

Your are correct. I'm not a painter AND have no experience, LOL. Tens of millions worth of remodeling and new construction output from both of my privately held companies, and three decades in the business. Nope, wouldn't know my ass from a sash brush. Jobs with everything from dry fall industrial coatings to epoxies, rubbed oil finishes to alcohol based stains and lacquer finishes, yep....... totally clueless, indeed. 

 You keep on doing what you do, using best practices of thirty years ago, and making asinine claims like "water based paints will never hold up outside".  If it wasn't so ridiculous, it would actually be funny.   

[ADV_CJ]

At the end of the day, its simple... It doesn't matter if you use the best bucket of paint on the job, if your base coat fails everything fails.  Power wash, scrape any loose paint down to a sound/tight surface, prime with a masonry primer (there is a difference), and topcoat with a good acrylic finish.

Oil primers are fantastic, they penetrate deep into the surface and hold.  If your painting over a previous coating, then the benefits of oil are not as great.  Plenty of companies have a masonry coatings line.  I personally don't care for flat finish paints as they tend to allow dirt to cling easier to the finish.  A satin finish is more subtle and allows rain to clean it.

From a painters perspective, my system for bare block (not your case) is block fill, primer, finish.  Acrylic topcoats are my choice, but then again thats all thats available in my VOC state.  Oil products also chalk and fade badly on exterior surfaces.

[TomTX]

thats why you have to prep it properly first. painting is 90% prep work. oil based paint will stick as long as you prep it properly.  what is your better idea? paint it with latex? i know its dry in az, but not that dry. oil and water dont mix, which makes it much harder for moisture to get under oil paint. thats why a water based paint would never hold up outside.

I agree on the prep work.

You are absolutely, 100% wrong about the alkyds. Or at least 40 years out of date. Take your pick. The premium outdoor house paints for decades have been waterbased made with 100% acrylic latex resin. They last better than the alkyds, which get brittle and crack over time.

I agree that the cheap waterbased vinyl latexes and blends can be crap. Buying cheap paint is a complete waste of time and money for house painting - unless you intend a coverup and flee like builders do. That stuff is trash.


Alkyds are a not a good choice over masonry in particular - the alkalinity from the masonry can saponify the resin and cause disbonding. On an old wall the risk is pretty low. New masonry and the risk is high.

Paint chemist here. Formulations I've done are being sold today. I've done hundreds of failure analyses for many, many different companies including the multibillion dollar paint companies, oil&gas companies and theme parks.

[Numbers Man]

Just catching up. I've been busy patching. I don't intend to scrape off the current paint or powerwash. This has been a lot of work. I hope all that sweat rolling down my forehead was sweat equity. I hope to prime next weekend. Home Depot told me to use Kilz.

[paddedhat]

They told you to use Kilz because they have it, and it can be used to prime just about anything. Doesn't mean however that it's the best tool for the job. Stop by a real paint store and ask for a masonary primer. I already listed my choice, but every manufacturer will have an application specific primer.

[Numbers Man]

They told you to use Kilz because they have it, and it can be used to prime just about anything. Doesn't mean however that it's the best tool for the job. Stop by a real paint store and ask for a masonary primer. I already listed my choice, but every manufacturer will have an application specific primer.

Thanks for the tip.