Why not get the MSDS for the admixture and compare it to the MSDS for your
paint? If latex is the stuff that you are looking for you can buy liquid
latex for about $20 a gallon.

But if all you are going to do is top your driveway with a skim layer, ask
yourself these questions:

1] If you are able to successfully substitute latex paint for admixture for
this project, how much will you save?

2] If you substitute latex paint for admixture and you fail to achieve the
desired result, how much will it cost you to redo the project?

Of course you could experiment on a small scale but the trick there would be
to quantify your results. For instance if you poured yourself a small slab
of concrete and then topped it wit your experimental mixture, is this going
to predict how your mixture will do when you trowel it all over your
driveway?

Seems to me that there are a lot of variables here to control for, and
given the answer I suspect will arise when you answer questions 1 and 2 it
seems to me that you will find that you are better off leaving the chemistry
to the chemists.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.
"William Deans" wrote in message
news:1104177589.5d0260be888d95d3dd18e6bc776cb457@t eranews...
FIVE STAR REPLY!

You posed two questions:
(Q1) proportion of polymer vs water in paint may be lower than in the more
expensive admix

Answer:
cheap gloss latex paint is 20%+ polymer == please see numbers / sources
in
previous post
Latex admixture is 4x% polymer.
Based on these numbers you get substantially more polymer/dollar with
paint.
I am happy to hear that the polymers used in concrete admixtures are
likely
the same as those used in paint.

(Q2) paint has pigments and viscosity modifiers that will likely weaken
the
concrete.

Answer:
I am not aware that paint pigment weakens concrete (and I could always use
paint mixing base) but I am very happy you mentioned the viscosity
modifiers. They could be a deal killer and I will check them out right
away.

Thanks again,
William


"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
William Deans writes:

Latex admixture for concrete costs many fold what cheap latex paint
costs ($4/gallon). What would happen if I just used latex paint
instead? Yes, I know it probably won't be as good as the special
purpose admixture-- but how far off are we talking about?

There are several items used both as concrete fortifiers and paint
polymers, including acrylics and PVA (polyvinyl acetate). PVA is also
what is in white glue or Elmer's glue. (Indeed, you can improvise your
own paint out of Elmer's and pigments).

PVA concrete admixes typically advise against immersion. Not as
resistant to water as acrylic.

The questions I would raise are (1) proportion of polymer vs water in
paint may be lower than in the more expensive admix, and (2) paint has
pigments and viscosity modifiers that will likely weaken the concrete.
So it is hard to tell whether you get more polymer per dollar in paint
vs admix.

(NB: "latex" in the context of paint or an admix has nothing to do with
rubber. It just means "emulsion", in this case of acrylic or PVA
monomers.)

As to whether it works, you can improvise scientific testing of concrete
for bonding and compressive strength with a shop press, if you are so
equipped.

If I had to guess, I would expect waste paint to improve concrete, but
not as much as a real admix.