Painting basement wall with obstruction

Question

I am currently in the process of painting a section of my basement. it has bare cinder block walls, and I am painting with latex DRYLOK

For the most part, this is fairly simple, if tedious. However, the paint is very thick, almost like painting with glue. This makes it difficult to do any type of detail work, including painting behind obstructions. Thankfully there are not any obstructions in this section of basement, with one exception: the water meter.

I am using a masonry roller with about a 1 1/8" NAP, and a masonry brush that is also very thick. Neither fits behind there.

I do not own a paint sprayer, nor am I interested in the financial investment and headaches associated with trying to get such thick paint to work in a sprayer for a tiny part of the wall. I am also unwilling to remove the meter temporarily to paint behind it. Both of those options fall outside of the amount of frustration that I am willing to deal with to paint a small section of wall that I am willing to leave as-is if there are no easier options.

What options do I have, if any, for applying DRYLOK behind an obstruction such as this water meter?

Answer 1

Take a brush or putty knife or trowel or slab of cardboard or whatever you have on hand and slather the material in there. Get it thoroughly covered so that your primary objective--sealing the wall--is accomplished.

Then wrap a large rag around your hand and dab off the extra. Really you're just trying to prevent runs and create a texture that comes close to the rest of it. There's no science involved at all.

Answer 2

Use a thinner skinny mini roller, available most anywhere they sell paint. If it does not quite fit you could gently flex the meter away from the wall enough to get it.