My carwash is a painted concrete block building. I would like to side it or cover it with something so I don't have to paint it every other year. Has anyone covered a block building with steel siding. If so how did you fasten it and how did it hold up? Any other ideas would be welcome.
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What to do with painted concrete block building. Don't want to paint.
- Thread starter sparkey
- Start date
Earl Weiss
Well-known member
Have a similar building and seemed to be getting dirty. Seemed the color was being leached out and the whitish stain was disapppearing and the gray concrete was showing up. I used a "Concrete Stain from Home depot on the exterior and inside I have glass board paneling to keep water and soap from leaching thru. Has held up well now for several years. You might want to try it. The stain is "Absorbed" into the concrete instead of sitting on top like paint.
Brief glimpse of building here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBxcHLP3mg
Brief glimpse of building here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBxcHLP3mg
We had the exact same problem on our original car wash that we built 17 years ago (we learned and built the next two with walls that never had to be painted or stained). Anyway, we looked into every possible solution and ended up using very tall sheets of white FRP. I was sooooo hesitant to do this as every car wash I've seen with FRP looked like crap. Here's the deal, if it's installed correctly (we did the install and that makes all the difference) it looks and perfoms AWESOME. We did this remodel 12 years ago and it still looks brand new. Never has to be acid cleaned - which my other two locations do and that is a horrible job! It was by far the cheapest choice in a wall covering and I couldn't be more happy with it. We spent $60,000 extra when we built our two newest washes to have Astraglaze block walls that never need to be painted. They are gorgeous BUT they get dirty ever 6-12 months to the point that they have to be acid cleaned - and they can be damaged fairly easily. Our wash that we installed the FRP panels on is definitely in the roughest location of the three and takes a beating, yet those walls still look brillantly white, have not had a single instance of damage, and don't need to be acid cleaned. Let me know if you'd like pictures of the washes so you can see how they look. The install on the FRP is so crucial. If you decide to go with I'd be happy to share with you the tips that made our intall a success.
2Biz
Thread Killer!
I don't know if my little (4) bay counts, but I have Extrutech Wall Panels inside my bays and on the outside truck bay wall. The truck bay wall faces the West, Evening sun. It was installed about 10 years ago and has withstood the sun and violent storms over the years. Not a single panel has come off or come loose. It does stain over time and could use a good cleaning. But as far as I know, its never been chemically cleaned. There is no stress cracks or any kind of damage due to weather/sun. These panels are susceptible to dings from the HP gun. But easily filled/repaired with White Silicone and a putty knife. So far I know they have withstood -15° to 100° or hotter....Temperature has had no affect on them.
If I ever had to replace the panels, I'd replace with the same stuff. JMHO....
BTW...The panels go from the ground up to the grey horizontal lath boards...
So, I don't know if you'd want to cover the whole building with this stuff? I can attest that it holds up well and doesn't look half bad. I'm sure you can get different colors....
If I ever had to replace the panels, I'd replace with the same stuff. JMHO....
BTW...The panels go from the ground up to the grey horizontal lath boards...
So, I don't know if you'd want to cover the whole building with this stuff? I can attest that it holds up well and doesn't look half bad. I'm sure you can get different colors....
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I am still half tempted to put 1" foam panels against the concrete walls and cover with steel siding or some type of aluminum if they make such a thing other than horizonal house siding. I was hoping someone has tried this and could give some feed back on how it holds up over time.
What purpose would the 1" foam panels provide? I am tempted to put vinyl siding on the exterior. Have say vertical panels from the ground to the top of the bays and then go with lap siding the rest of the way up. Or visa-versa.
Ok all, maybe you don't have it on your wash but what have you seen -say at conventions when you visit washes? Gotta be something out there that looks good, is functional and does not cost an arm and a leg. ????
Ok all, maybe you don't have it on your wash but what have you seen -say at conventions when you visit washes? Gotta be something out there that looks good, is functional and does not cost an arm and a leg. ????
Would you have a picture you could share?
MEP001
Well-known member
I've seen a lot of older washes that are just metal frames with coated R-panel for walls, and it lasts for decades, but I don't think it would last as long if it was screwed to a wall without airflow behind it to keep it from rusting.
We have a half block that has a multi color brown -dark grey -tan look. after 25 tears it has lost it colors so we matched color to reddish brown color and found high quality solid stain. Stain will not peel or flake. We had our summer guy do sections when slow and greatly improved our look for about $2oo of stain and no real labor costs. We are at 9 months now and it still looks fresh. We may recoat again in summer as block really pulled stain in and a second coat will bring out full richness of color.
