Floor coatings?

[f350ca]

When I built the shop the concrete guy used a sealer that was applied while doing the final towelling. Gets worked into the top layer. Guess its 15 years latter and oil still wipes off the floor without staining.

Greg

 

[pontiac428]

I spent the last weekend on epoxy flooring in my shop. I used the Rustoleum Rocksolid polycuramine kits, sized according to their guide. I did 1/2 of the 980 s.f. floor with one 2-car kit, added an additional 20% flakes, and more than adequately covered with Rocksolid clear coat (1 kit per half) with added grip modifiers from Valspar (1 pouch grit per pouch of clear).

I prepped and prepped, scrubbed my new concrete floor with TSP, rinsed, then with etch, then rinsed 2x... that's a lot of scrubbing and rinsing, and I had to do most of my clean up with the wet vac. Several days of work. I expected flawless results at that point, of course.

In the end, the surface itself was pretty good. The cured epoxy seems very tough. The color was streaked, as the epoxy seems to change shade as it cured and coming back to overlap left visible differences. Coverage is good, right on the money. Sharpie marks that I made to index my progress rose right through the epoxy to the top.

The clear coat went further over the epoxy base than the epoxy did over porous concrete. I have no big complaints about the clear except that it is hard to see and hard to judge how thick it's going on.

We'll see how well it holds up. I think I did adequate prep, so I have high hopes. Once I move all of my stuff in and set up shop, I doubt I'll see much of the imperfections, and if I can I hope to be to busy doing shop stuff to care.

 

[Investigator]

It's hard to beat latex based floor paint. For some reason it holds up better than oil based. I painted my original shop floor with latex based paint because at the time it was less money. When I added on to my shop I decided to splurge and use oil base because I was told it was better. In the high traffic areas, the oil based peeled off, where the latex still has a presence. I was told it is because the latex can breathe and it handles moisture better.

So, just a latex paint, or a specific paint for floors?

 

[matthewsx]

I suspect there's one for floors, I've used acrylic latex on wood floors and it worked fine. Concrete takes more prep of course, that's what I like about the Thompson's or similar, less work. Also it only costs like $30/gal and goes on with a garden sprayer.

I've done the epoxy and the feeling of despair when it starts to peel after all that work and money spent is not something I want to repeat.

John

 

[Investigator]

I was thinking of being able to lighten it up color-wise. Maybe a brighter gray, , or approaching white. Something to help make it brighter in the room. I had given thought to being able to use colors like reds or blues to make a happy space.

 

[matthewsx]

I was thinking of being able to lighten it up color-wise. Maybe a brighter gray, , or approaching white. Something to help make it brighter in the room. I had given thought to being able to use colors like reds or blues to make a happy space.

If you want a different color have them mix it with the concrete.

You can always do this to make the shop more "happy"



John

 

[ACHiPo]

I went with RaceDeck for my main garage and am pretty happy. It feels much better on knees and feet than concrete, is easy to clean, and can be replaced fairly easily if you damage a tile.

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I'd had problems before with both a concrete hardener and epoxy, so decided to try the plastic flooring.

 

[FOMOGO]

I wouldn't waste my money on Thompsons, it just doesn't hold up. Mike

 

[matthewsx]

I wouldn't waste my money on Thompsons, it just doesn't hold up. Mike

It's not supposed to be permanent, that's a good thing because it doesn't require a whole bunch of labor to re-do it. And, if you decide to do something different later it won't take sandblasting to get back to a surface you can use.

And it doesn't specifically need to be Thompson's product, there are plenty of other good water based sealers for concrete.

It's really a matter of taste, I just have my own experience to go on.


John

 

[GL]

Buddy of mine has done several garage/shops with U-Coat it, epoxy based with good results. Where I work (heavy truck plant) at one point most of the floor was epoxy coated. Floor was blasted prior to paint. In high wear areas, aisles with heavy forklift traffic, shot was added to the mix. Held up well for 10 years or so. It does not like weld BBs or cutting torch slag, or anything else red hot landing on it. It was removed when the next director of operations decided that a polished concrete floor was cooler than epoxy - took most of a year to finish. For most of us, some kind of sealer is probably enough. Have painted with enamel concrete paint - never had any luck with that. That’s what I think I know, your mileage may vary.