What might cause this problem?

I have been striping a bank for a couple years and it always wears or peels off in 6 to 9 months. When I first got the job I thought is was just a poor job and the other Co. didn't put the paint down thick enough. I subed it out 2 years ago, but first I cleaned the lot and wirebrushed all the areas to be painted, and he did it at dusk in the fall. it didn't last a year. I did it last year and the same thing. I did a business next door and it held up ok. The lot is concrete, 10 plus years old, I used D/V oil base paint. The salesman for D/V said some concrete retains moisture and it is coming out and causing the paint to prematurely wear and come up. There are large thin areas where concrete has came up. So this sounded logical. What can I do to help it last longer,At least so it will look decent for a year. It's my bank and so I can't just pass it off. Would C/R work beter? If I do it in the day could that be part of the problem? I have never had this problem. From another post, it sounds like I should pressure wash it to give it more life. What advice can you help me with Thanks, Mike

Pressure wash should fix the areas that are peeling. Premature wear might also be peeling, just getting scrubbed off before the peeling is apparent. Concrete is the most unpredictable surface. Curing compounds, and alkalinity cause all sorts of problems with paint adhesion, but if it's been a few years, pressure washing should solve the problem. High traffic areas will show wear first. The option is to use top of the line paint. 100% acrylic if waterbased, chlorinated rubber for oil based. I like CR on concrete, usually bonds better than waterbased in my experience.

There is a big difference between peeling and wear. Since you put the paint down thicker and it still wore away, it is probably due to poor adhesion. Is the problem limited to the drive thru area or all over the lot? Is the parking lot next door asphalt or concrete? Not knowing what the conditions were like when you striped, I would guess that either the concrete is flaking up or the concrete was damp or had moisture in it from cleaning, sprinklers, weather or whatever. If you want to fix the problem permanently;y, put on a two inch lift of a/c and no more peeling.

Thanks Guys, I have a 1500 psi PW, will that be big enough to do the cleaning job?

ACE: buy or rent a PW with a 13 hp motor. There will be a vast difference over the machine you have. You can get a direct drive cold water washer for less than $1000, or rent for $75 / day. We use ours a lot for paint prep, and the cheap ones from Sam's club or http://www.1800333wash.com/wtrcn/page3.asp will do the job.

Long ago and far away, before all the new exotic paints came along, C/R was known as "swimming pool paint". It was used to paint the inner walls of swimming pools because it would adhere to the concrete and resist moisture delamination. The traffic paint version of C/R is not as aggressive (or as expensive) but it is a good paint to spec for concrete. I have also used a thin coat of latex with success. The Texas stripers have a lot more experience with concrete, as their 200 degree summers turn asphalt into grape jelly. Around here asphalt is king. Now if you REALLY want to solve the problem, waterblast the lines and install epoxy lines. You won't be restriping that lot again for a few years.....

ACE ... if you have access to a scarifier go over the lines with it. Sounds like there is some contamination on the surface. Set it to remove ~1/16" of the top which should get the existing line and any existing contaminate. You might have to go over it a couple of times, but would think it would help the lines definitely last longer.