# Should I paint my foundation?



## kds

So I have this dirt area between my parking pad and the side of the garage. I'm going to be tearing it up, removing the rocks, and putting some plants in before winter (hopefully). Before I plant, should I paint the foundation or leave it bare? There won't be enough plants put in to really "hide" the cinder block.

I just don't know if there is maybe some reason I shouldn't paint it if it's not worth the effort makes it more difficult in the future to maintain.

I did get a pretty good color match from Home Depot that I used to paint the trim around the garage door.


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## N LA Hacker

I would. Just to give it some uniformity.


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## TN Hawkeye

This may be a little out there but if you know what kind of color scheme you are going with for your plants you could paint the cinder blocks a complimentary color to really make them pop.


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## TheTurfTamer

I would match the siding, I am a little OCD. You can get your siding color code ( its on the back of the siding )and take it into to Lowes or Home Depot and they can color match a concrete stain. I use it on all my concrete edging. I have painted all my electrical meters to match my trim as well as my gas meters. 3.2 MB IMG_0447.JPG Check Error 


I use Valspar products. I actually used the Solid Fence stain colored to match. It works great and easy to touch up. Matches my fence and my shutters.

Here is a before and after of my concrete edging .

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4.2 MB IMG_0179.JPG Check Error


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## ken-n-nancy

Aawickham78 said:


> ... they can color match a concrete stain.


The above implicit suggestion - to use a "concrete stain" (rather than a paint) is an important one, in my perspective.

A stain will "soak in" to the concrete and provide color without building up an additional layer of material which will tend to want to peel over time (and thus eventually look bad and increase future maintenance requirements.) A stain will thus "age better" without requiring a higher level of future maintenance. Rather, as the stain ages, the color will fade, but will not result in a peeling surface which will demand future attention.


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## pennstater2005

I painted mine with a rough texture roller for exterior concrete. I painted white wish I would do differently now although it rinses off fairly easily. I did this about 7 years ago and it isn't peeling yet. The stain sounds interesting.


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## kds

The stain is interesting. You can get it color matched with the siding? I have two tones of cinder block it seems, will that affect it? And you don't have to prime with the stain?


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## TheTurfTamer

kds said:


> The stain is interesting. You can get it color matched with the siding? I have two tones of cinder block it seems, will that affect it? And you don't have to prime with the stain?


There is semi transparent stain base as well as solid stain base. If you use a solid, the difference in brick colors will not be seen. You can get a quart and try it out on a cinderblock and see what you like. I matched everything to the same color so it was easier.

Hope this helps. That wall and flower bed have a lot of potential. Not sure if that brick wall gets direct sunlight or not, Think about heat transfer if it does when picking out the plants. I lost a row of White Mountain Snows because the heat off the brick baked them in the afternoon.

Have a great weekend.


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## dfw_pilot

I like the stain idea. IMO, instead of trying to match the siding, I'd opt for a contrasting option. That way, if the colors don't match exactly, it won't look like you tried and missed. Awesome idea for a project.


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