Coating systems for cement composite articles

An aqueous coating system comprising:

• one or more multistage latex polymers containing between 50 and 90 wt. % hard segments having a Tg between 30 and 130° C. and between 10 and 50 wt. % soft segments having a Tg between 0 and 25° C.;
• an aliphatic epoxy resin system having an oxirane functional component that is distinct from the one or more multistage latex polymers, wherein the oxirane functional component in the aliphatic epoxy resin system has an epoxy equivalent weight less than 1000;
• and
• wherein the aqueous coating system includes one or more coating compositions that may be applied in one or more layers and contains about 2-50 wt. % aliphatic epoxy resin based on total solids, and the aqueous coating system when dried is block-resistant.