Painting

2007.07.20

Before painting, I scrubbed down the walls with bleach anywhere that looked like there might still be some mold.  Then I got started with the first coat of Kilz primer.

South wall of back basement room before priming and painting
South wall of back basement room with one coat of primer
West wall of back basement room with one coat of primer
West and north walls of back basement room with one coat of primer

2007.07.23

A full day of priming and painting.  I rolled on a second coat of primer.  Rolling and brushing onto the plumbing pipes didn’t work too well, so I went to Lowes and bought some spray Kilz for that.

Then I started painting with Drylok.  I quickly realized this stuff is too thick to stir by hand, so while I was at Lowes I bought a paint stirrer that I could put in my drill.

Stirring Drylok paint with drill attachment

I got two coats of Drylok on the walls, and started on the floor.

Drylok on walls and floor
Drylok on walls and floor

2007.07.24

I continued painting the floor after work today.

Drylok on floor of back basement room
Drylok on floor of back basement room

2007.07.28

Unfortunately, there are remnants of some kind of rubber pad that was glued down to the concrete for a previous carpet job, as well as some remaining mastic from the carpet that I pulled out.  So that has been slowing me down as I try to scrape as much of that up as I can before painting.  The carpet mastic is like used bubblegum times ten.

Trying to remove carpet mastic with scraper and heat gun
Painting floor of back basement room

I’ve been putting down two coats of Drylok on the floor.  I really should have started with at least one coat of primer first.  In some areas the stains underneath are bleeding through, requiring a third coat of paint.

I ended up using some Kilz primer over the Drylok in an area near the door where something below was still bleeding through.  Unfortunately the Kilz is a bright white, whereas the Drylok is more of an off-white, so it really stands out.  Not sure if I want to buy another $22 can of Drylok to make it blend in.

2007.08.04

White Room

Where’s a Cream album when you need one?  “Is that freedom rock man?  Well turn it up!”

Back room of the basement after priming and painting with Drylok
Back room of the basement after priming and painting with Drylok

The photos don’t really do it justice… it is incredibly white and sterile in there.  However, they exaggerate the color difference between Drylok and Kilz.