Shop Floor Coverings

[Joseph Ragsdale]

Currently I have bare concrete in my shop.

I originally tried to install a floating laminate floor over the concrete, but quickly discovered that it was not practical. A small amount of sawdust made the floor very slippery. Having several cast iron table tops to hit my head on made this a no-go.

The bare concrete I have is stained in a few places and covered with various paint spills in other places. I would like to cover this up for aesthetic reasons. I would also like a nonslip surface that can withstand heavy machines being rolled around on casters.

I was thinking the paint you can buy for garages and auto shops that is slip, stain, and moister resistant. I don't know of any brands and I don't know much of a pain it is to prep and paint.

Any suggestions?

[glenn bradley]

Two friends of mine were lucky enough to epoxy their garages prior to moving in. One does a variety of things-garage. The other works on motorcycles and drags some heavy rough stuff across the floor. Watching this makes my teeth hurt but the floor finish is unharmed. Pretty impressive stuff. The motorcycle-dude used Rustoleum's product. Not sure about the other guy.

[Joe Chritz]

Rustoleum two part epoxy garage floor finish.

Indestructible for the most part. Mine if far from pristine anymore but it isn't chipped up unless I took a piece of concrete with it. It is on another planet
from floor paint and it is on the low end of epoxy coatings.

Any finish will be slippery under the right conditions. The chips supplied will help. I put mine on fiber fill concrete so it isn't glass smooth. It isn't to bad, even with sawdust on the floor sometimes.

Joe

[Greg Narozniak]

When we moved into our new house I made sure I painted the walls of the garage white as well as put down an Epoxy Floor. I went with http://www.epoxy-coat.com/ It is an excellent product, thicker than any of the Borg versions and it has been tough as nails.

I followed all the instructions to a tee and the floor has been wonderful for the two years we have been there. hot tires have no effect nor does dropping very heavy things on it.

The one thing I would have changed was I should have had the floor ground flat. The house was built in early 90s and there are some high spots and some spots that were much rougher than others that made the finished product not as nice as I would have liked in these spots. Not the products fault, just food for thought.

I believe Chris P used a similar "industrial" version and was very happy with it.

[BOB OLINGER]

Greg,

The Expoxy-Coat website is very impressive. I am in proces of preping my shop floor which is in the basement. Currently is concrete (stained, dirty,etc.). I planned on using the best I could find at Lowes (don't have the brand name with me). Would you recomend this product for my basement shop floor? Thanks

[Kev Godwin]

Joseph,
This might go against the grain of some, but I use 6 foot wide rolls of indoor-outdoor capet held in place with two-sided carpet tape to keep from sliding. I shop vac them when needed and roll them up and take them outside a couple times of year and hit them with compressed air. It is very slip-resistent and very low cost. I chose grey color but other colors are available. I also chose the nylon type with woven loop, not the plastic type that looks like astro-turf. It is very easy to cut around machines if needed but I didn't do that. Most of my equipment is movable and easily rolls over the thin carpet.
Kev

[Doug Shepard]

I used a Sherwin Williams epoxy after shopping about for a white to brighten the shop up
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=37683
No problems after 1-1/2 years so far. I also bought some extra additive that's mixed in that provides a bit of grit to the paint. Between that and the color chips there's been no slippage problems even on wet spots on the floor. The only negative on the epoxy paint is having to push excess water from car tires or snow melt outside. It no longer seeps into the concrete like it used to but sits on top until you remove it.

[Joseph Ragsdale]

It's seems like a pain in the butt having to etch the concrete with acid before applying the epoxy.

I don't have a way to wash away the acid. Could I suck it up with a ShopVac?

How difficult was to to epoxy your floor?

[Lee Koepke]

I used a semitransparent concrete stain on mine and two coats of sealer. Its not too slippery, and makes the clean up of sawdust much easier.

The etch, primer, stain, and sealer ended up being about $ 0.30 / sqft and that was much cheaper than the epoxy paint. My floor had a few stains and a red tint from the clay and for me, its only a shop floor, I just needed something to make it look clean, neat, and dedicated.

It took the most time to acid etch. I used a mop with several replacement heads, buckets and buckets of water, and reached deep down for my patience. I dont know if i would recommend a Shop Vac, unless you want to toss it. The acid most likely wouldnt react well with the pump function or any metal.

[Joseph Ragsdale]

I bought the Rustoleum Epoxy Shield two part kit. Grey with blue chips. I'll post pics of my shop when finished

[George Carion]

I've been thinking about coating my garage floor with epoxy too. It has paint, oil, and dye stains that aren't very attractive.

For those of you who went the epoxy route, how does that finish do with paint, stain, and oil spills?

[Joseph Ragsdale]

I've started to prep my floor. I've got glue and paint on my floor that's a real PITA to remove. I've been using mineral spirits and a razor blade scraper.

The mineral spirits softens the glue and I'm slowly scraping up a gooey mess. As for the paint, the mineral spirits did nothing to help remove it. I could chip a little here and there with the scraper, but not much.

I wonder if I could use my ROS with some coarse grit paper.

[Joseph Ragsdale]

Just a quick update. The ROS with coarse grit paper works pretty well. What I've been doing is using mineral spirits and a razor blade scraper to remove the thick goo that the glue turns into. After which I run the ROS over it and remove the rest.

I'm wearing a $30 3M respirator, ear protection, and eye protection. The ROS is loud, kicks up fine dust against the concrete, and kicks up small particles which get thrown in my face. If you're going to do this, spend the money on good protection.

The paint on the floor is getting noticeably thinner after scrubing with mineral spirits several times and running the ROS over it a few times.

This is slow going, but it's going

(My poor ROS. I'm curious to see how well my Porter Cable 343 holds up to under these conditions.)

[Chris Padilla]

I was going to suggest www.ucoatit.com but I see you are deep into your prep work already!

In doing my floor, I did pretty much as you are doing. I etched it with Muriatic Acid when I had it as clean as I could stand it and then painted away.

[Scott Velie]

I have unfinished concrete and I really hate it. It is hard on the back let alone dropped tools. SOMEDAY I will put wood down like a real wood shop should have.