# Will this primer ever dry?



## crashdavid (Jan 20, 2012)

I stripped my 50 year old cement floor of tile and adhesive. Then I etched it, rinsed it, neutralized and vacuumed it dry as prep for painting. I only let the floor dry for two days with three fans going. Now the Benjamin Moore primer has been down for 4 days and it still is tacky in places and small spots of paint come up when I walk on the floor. I have a fan turning.

Is the primer ever going to set up? Any suggestions as to what I should do.

Thanks in advance for your help.


----------



## ADaniLion (May 24, 2011)

The same thing happened to me...I'm sorry to report it took about 2 weeks before it was completely dry. This was on concrete floor in a ground level, walk-out basement and I just attributed it to moisture in the concrete from under the floor.


----------



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Not sure why you used a primer on a concrete floor? Primers are just not built to be walked on. A porch, floor and patio paint would have been a better choice. They are self-priming and chemically balanced so you do not get a reaction between the alkalinity of the concrete and the paint/primer solvents and binders. It sounds like this might be what is happening and especially if you used an oil-based primer. The primer could also be responding to residual moisture still left in the concrete and there is nothing to do but wait it out. 

Paints for floors in the Benjamin Moore line come with urethane reinforcement in the alkyd product and epoxy in the latex acrylic product. Both are excellent products. In this day and age I guess I would lean toward the water based floor paint assuming your primer leaves a neutral alkyd film.


----------



## crashdavid (Jan 20, 2012)

Thanks for your reply. I am familiar with your professional and expert feedback on this and the professional painting site.

The Benjamin Moore store person said I needed the primer before I applied the Porch and Floor Enamel which I have always intended to do. He recommended I use the Fresh Start All Purpose interior/exterior primer (latex) tinted to my finish color. He also suggested I use the #122 latex floor and patio enamel as the topcoat ($69/gal).

So, what do you suggest I do now? The primer is down and I even intended to apply more as there are some uneven and thinly coated spots, not to mention the 6 or 7 quarter-sized spots of peeled paint.


----------



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Let's see what others have to say on the matter. The store person probably recommended the primer more as a sealer to chase anything left of the glue you might not have gotten? If you used a latex primer it should dry eventually and I now think it is just plagued by residual moisture in the concrete. Not much to do but what you are doing. Give it lots of ventilation and crank up the dehumidifier if you have one. Let it evaporate out. I would not add more until what you have has dried. 

The failed adhesion spots concern me a bit and I suppose residue from your glue or etching chemicals could be hiding but it sounds like you did everything right so I really think it is just trapped moisture.

I know the porch, patio and floor paint is pricey but it is nice stuff and with a couple coats down, you should get good mileage out of it. You might look online to see if there are national coupons the store might not know about although Benjamin Moore dealers are usually up on such things. I hope they did or will cut you some sort of courtesy discount. Don't be afraid to ask for a discount!


----------



## crashdavid (Jan 20, 2012)

I called Benjamin Moore and, believe it or not, Ben answered. BM suggests adding a little water to the floor and patio enamel for the first coat and, as you said, don't use a primer. He said he did not think the primer would effect the durability of the #122 topcoats. I would have preferred the adhesion I would have gotten between the cement and the floor and patio enamel.

So it goes. I will politely relate this info to the store employee when I ask for a discount on the floor paint. Thanks again.


----------



## Mr. Paint (Nov 10, 2011)

Thinning the first coat is recommended on bare, unfinifhed concrete. Use two coats straight when the primer dries up.


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Mr. Paint said:


> Thinning the first coat is recommended on bare, unfinifhed concrete. Use two coats straight when the primer dries up.


 
yes indeed :thumbsup:


----------



## Nailbags (Feb 1, 2012)

crashdavid said:


> The Benjamin Moore store person said I needed the primer before I applied the Porch and Floor Enamel . He also suggested I use the #122 latex floor and patio enamel as the topcoat ($69/gal).


He did this to boost his lagging sales quota for the week. He sold you paint


----------



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Nailbags said:


> He did this to boost his lagging sales quota for the week. He sold you paint


I hope not and I can be as cynical as they come about such things. I suspect he was just not familiar with floor paints. Many, including painters that have not used them much, are not. And there are some companies that do claim you can use their regular paint products on floors---semi-gloss for example---if you put a primer underneath. Not a great idea.


----------



## pucks101 (Apr 20, 2012)

Sucks to get bad advice from the paint store, but this just shows they are human. At least you know you can go up the chain with Ben Moore. Try that with Mr. Depot... Hopefully they take care of you on the remaining purchases.


----------



## crashdavid (Jan 20, 2012)

*Status Report*

Well, it is Saturday morning and I painted the basement floor last Tuesday. A few areas are still a little tacky and my stockinged feet still stick a bit though the paint does not seem to be coming off on my socks anymore--except in one place: the highest traffic area at the bottom of the basement stairs headed into the laundry room. That paint is really soft. 

I took a putty knife to it last night and scraped a couple of square feet of paint off in about 5 minutes. While I will wait until Monday for the paint to set up, I am resigned to stripping the whole floor if necessary.

This is a 1950's era "game room". The old knotty pine had yellowed. The fiberboard ceiling was filthy etc. I Bins'd and painted the knotty pine, painted the trim and ceiling. My wife and I are really pleased with the way it all turned out. We were even pleased with the floor until we realized it was, literally, a floating floor.


----------



## crashdavid (Jan 20, 2012)

*Update: Finally!*

I waited a month for the BM Primer to dry on the concrete floor. The Benjamin Moore guy gave me a quart of the Porch and Floor Enamel to coat an area and see if it would set up within specs. It did. I painted the floor and waited another week before I second coated it.

The floor is dry, hard and, I hope, durable.


----------



## Expert Paint (Jul 24, 2012)

i agree with pucks. the reason you want to use specialty stores ie- ben moore/sherwin is because they stand behind their products/recommendations. call them out on it, they should pay labor and product for you to redo it. . .. as long as you truly did what they said and followed application directions


----------



## Expert Paint (Jul 24, 2012)

if it were me i wouldve used armorseal treadplex or 1k. no primer needed, and durable.


----------

