Masonry paint or drylok
Hi hope everyone is safe and healthy. My basement has a small 6×9 room that I’m leaving uninsulated. I also have a wall next to my staircase that I’m leaving bare. I insulated the rest of the basement. My question is about painting the remaining concrete white. I’m not holding off any water but was wondering if waterproofing paint would have better adhesion or would be a safe bet in case of humidity. I have the option of just using masonry paint or using drylok for ease of application. Any potential harm or drawbacks is just using the drylok white paint compared to white masonry interior/exterior paint. Finally I have plumbing and hvac in room, do I have to use a separate paint for that application? Plumbing is old 4 inch metal drain pipe. I believe that would be copper. Im just going to paint everything white.
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Drylok would be fine. The usual commercial paint used for block walls is known as "block fill paint" -- any paint store should be able to get something like that for you. All these paints do is go on thick and penetrate the pores of the block for good adhesion and resistance to voids.
You can paint copper pipe, although I personally would leave it unpainted. If it's a copper pipe, it will either be the usual shiny orange-ish copper color, a dark brown or even an aqua/green patina (think "statue of liberty color"). If the pipe is silver or shiny gray, it's probably galvanized steel. If the pipe is black, it's probably black iron pipe. If you have any galvanized steel pipe, you will need to use a primer that will work on galvanized (zinc) surfaces, otherwise the paint won't adhere well and will easily flake off. Rustoleum makes a primer for aluminum and zinc surfaces, and another "bonding" primer that will also work for galvanized surfaces. The labels on the cans will tell you which primer will work on what material if you use their paints.
Note that if that drain line is copper, it will have sweat-type fittings that aren't much larger in diameter than the pipe itself. If it's an old cast iron drain, you'll have big bell ends at each fitting that look big compared to the pipe.
Bill
It’s the color of the Statue of Liberty so I would think copper. Is it bad to paint it? Is there something I can use to wrap around it and cover it that is white or that I can paint white? I’m thinking some kind of insulation if it isn’t going to harm pipe just to cover it