Shop floor

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:43 am

OK ... so the shop is nearly done, walls framed, electrical done, insulation / drywall / tape / mud and paint done, lights hung...
Before I move the stuff over, I'm still trying to decide about painting the floor. I have wavered back and forth over this; the building (and floor) is 50+ years old, and the concrete is in decent shape, but has a few spots with pretty bad spalling / divots. It is somewhat moist; I did the trick where you tape a piece of plastic down for a few days and had no water.
I'd like to do it to keep dust down and just for overall appearance (resale!); I conned my dad into coming over and helping, but he thinks it is a bad idea (thinks it will look worse if the stuff peels off down the road).

I know this has been hashed over in several forums; anyone have any thoughts? I'll try and post some pictures of the floor this evening after work.

Thomas
-8 wings

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:56 am

Thomas, do it. Dad has used 9or seen) old, 1 part products that were probably not prepped properly. It is justa floor and should be coated for all the reasons you stated.

Prep is the key. Muriatic acid wash it. Let it dry FULLY. Then, on a day with low humidity and a good, dry forecast... coat it!

Use any good 2 part product and if anything detatches, reapply then... probably a few years later.

I did mine two years ago and there are spots... overall, it is GREAT!

By and large, even with detatchment it will look better overall and do the things you want to do.

If it comes off reapply! It is just a floor!

CJ

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:03 pm

The floor in this shop used to be a terrible mess. Before I moved into the space it was used to store a couple of old cars and before that a contractor had it. When originally poured the concrete was swept with a broom for surface treatment so it was really rough. I went overboard with two coats of epoxy paint from Sherwin Williams but in the end it really improved the environment of the shop. Not only does it make the floor look nicer and reflective of light but it takes the sharp edges off of the rough concrete. When I drop things like rivets on the floor they are easy to see and pick up. Painting the floor with epoxy was on the expensive side to do but it's one thing I know I'd do again considering how well it holds up.

tshort · Post by **tshort** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:36 pm

Jim-

Just how thoroughly did you clean the floor prior to painting? I know what the directions say ... I spent 7 hours this afternoon and cleaned everything with the degreaser then scrubbed it with the acid and rinsed thoroughly. Some of the old oil / grease spots (probably >50y) are still there, faintly. I'm planning on giving it a good etching and scrubbing tomorrow, then letting it dry for 48 hours and painting. Is that similar to what you did?

Thomas
-8 wings

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:48 pm

I didn't do much. There were pieces of electrician tape stuck all over to the floor and I had to scrape those off. I used lacquer thinner to soften up an old oil spill and then some absorbent material for about a week after that to actually get the oil up. I swept it with a broom and vacuumed pretty well and then painted. In hind sight I would have paid more attention to the oil spill area but it's small and out of the way.