# Drylok or epoxy paint for sealing concrete Deck?



## ohman (Jun 23, 2009)

Dear all:

Our house on the second floor has a curve shaped outdoor concrete deck. This deck, historically had some water leaking problems (although we don't really know whether the water was coming in through the roof or from this deck). 

Anyway, recently we are going through a exterior paint project, and the painter suggested to have two coats of epoxy-based paint on the deck. However I was thinking that maybe we could do one coat of Drylok masonry waterproof first, then two coats of epoxy-based paint. Would this work better and for water-proofing and sealing purpose, would this sound like a good idea? We have been using Drylok for our basement (below grade), and it seems to be working great, but I'm not sure if Drylok could also be applied for the outdoor concrete deck. Thoughts or comments?

here is a photo of the deck:
http://yfrog.com/0h3110deckp

Thanks!


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## ohman (Jun 23, 2009)

Oh by the way, this concrete outdoor deck also has some water ponding area area the rain. If we really care about these ponding area and really want to get rid of them as much as possible, what would be the best approach to handle this? Many thanks! :laughing:


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## NAV (Jun 2, 2009)

Dryloc is not intended as an exterior coating, I am not sure you should read the can.

anyway it definitely is not designed for ponding water, not many material are.

I would recommend a traffic coating for a deck. look into BASF Sonneborn traffic bearing systems.


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## ohman (Jun 23, 2009)

Hi NAV, thanks for your reply.

I double checked, it seems that Drylok is designed for both interior and exterior, above or below grade masonry walls. Here it also mentioned that it can be used with concrete swimming pools:

http://www.ugl.com/drylokMasonry/masonryWaterproofer/latex.php

We have used Drylok with our basement and retaining walls with good result, but I have never used it for concrete outdoor deck before, so just curious whether it is a good idea to use Drylok as a base coat primer, then two coats of Epoxy paint for the deck.

By the way, what's so special about Epoxy paint that it is usually used for floor or deck? Any thoughts or comments? Thanks!


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

Nav is right, Dryloc really won't hold up under foot traffic and outdoor furniture on it. Good epoxy paints are a whole other paint. You can drive a car on them.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

ohman-

You did not post your location. If you are in a cold climate, you could possible lift the entire epoxy deck coating in one very flexible piece after a season.


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## BMDealer (Dec 9, 2008)

Drylok does have a Epoxy reinforced concrete paint that can be used on your patio.......comes in different colors as well. See the link below:

http://www.ugl.com/drylokMasonry/floorAndExteriorPaints/latexConcrete.php


I am not to familiar with this product or its durability but it is out there...I actually had a call for it today.


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## ohman (Jun 23, 2009)

concretemasonry said:


> ohman-
> 
> You did not post your location. If you are in a cold climate, you could possible lift the entire epoxy deck coating in one very flexible piece after a season.


Hi we are in San Francisco.

By the way we were thinking of using DryLok as the "primer" (or just spot priming for the edges or hair-line cracks), then on top of it, put 1 - 2 coats of Epoxy paint. Would this work? Thanks!

By the way it seems that UGL make several products of "Drylok", the one that we have (some left-over from previous basement project) is the Drylok MASONRY WATERPROOFER, not the Drylok Latex Concrete Floor Paint.

Not sure if there is a big differences between these two products though...


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