How to Paint Textured Concrete Walls

Prepare the wall by peeling any paint off with a putty knife and scrubbing the wall with a wire brush and household cleaner, such as dish soap. Let it dry thoroughly before proceeding. A pressure washer works to clean exterior concrete.

Apply an acrylic block fill primer to the concrete. This type of primer works on unpainted concrete as well as on acrylic and latex paint. Use an oil-based primer on concrete that has oil-based paint. Read the label to ensure that the primer is intended for concrete. Allow it to dry completely according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Patch any cracks in the concrete with elastomeric caulk (for windows, walls and doors) or polyurethane caulk (for joints -- sections of concrete that were joined together). Insert the caulk into a caulking gun, insert the tip of the gun into the crack and then depress the plunger to fill the gun. Use a plastic spoon to smooth the caulk's surface.

Paint the wall using 100% acrylic elastomeric paint with a sheen for the most durable finish. The more sheen the paint has, the easier it is to wash. Use a roller brush with a cover that has 1- to 1 1/2-inch piles on the concrete. These thick piles work paint in-between the textured ridges on the concrete. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly. Drying times vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Read the paint's instructions to find the specific drying time. If in doubt, allow the paint to dry for 36 hours.