I am in the process of building a new house in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 3400' elevation. The workshop, which is attached but on a lower level, has a lovely concrete slab on grade floor. My builder is very proud of it. He likes to leave his level on it over the weekend so the casual observer can determine how level it is. It is quite level in carpentry terms, although I haven't brought out my machinist's level as I don't want to burst his bubble (so to speak). Anyway, I will eventually have a 12x36 lathe, some kind of mill (yet to be determined), bandsaw, etc. I enjoy hobby gunsmithing and knife making, but am a hobby collector and want to keep the space as versatile as possible.
Until recently, I just assumed I would leave the concrete floor bare, but now I am starting to worry about oil and stains making permanent messes, so I was considering painting the floor with some kind of coating. Probably a two part epoxy in a mid gray, I think. I was just wondering what you folks thought. In my photo studio in San Francisco, in a 1920s industrial building with concrete floors, I've had rather poor results with paint and eventually went with a fully polished floor, which is very nice but cost a bundle. The problem with paint on these old floors was that there were multiple layers built up over the years and not all well applied. It tended to flake off and even stick to casters that didn't move all that regularly. Now that we have a fully polished floor, it's much better, but oil spots tend to be permanent.
I know that surface prep is everything when painting and since I have nice virgin concrete at this point, maybe I should just go ahead and paint in the new shop and it will be the best solution. Also, to make matters somewhat more difficult, I am building in Kalifornia so getting the really good paints might require a trip to Nevada...
Until recently, I just assumed I would leave the concrete floor bare, but now I am starting to worry about oil and stains making permanent messes, so I was considering painting the floor with some kind of coating. Probably a two part epoxy in a mid gray, I think. I was just wondering what you folks thought. In my photo studio in San Francisco, in a 1920s industrial building with concrete floors, I've had rather poor results with paint and eventually went with a fully polished floor, which is very nice but cost a bundle. The problem with paint on these old floors was that there were multiple layers built up over the years and not all well applied. It tended to flake off and even stick to casters that didn't move all that regularly. Now that we have a fully polished floor, it's much better, but oil spots tend to be permanent.
I know that surface prep is everything when painting and since I have nice virgin concrete at this point, maybe I should just go ahead and paint in the new shop and it will be the best solution. Also, to make matters somewhat more difficult, I am building in Kalifornia so getting the really good paints might require a trip to Nevada...