Thread: Shop floor

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I'm sure this was discussed to death some where but I can't find it so What do you guys use for floor covering if any...Paint..Tile... ???. I haven't been able to find anything that will work better than plain old concrete.

Mine is plain concrete and will probably stay that way.

Plain old concrete, but with a sealer applied to keep it from sluffing off dust.

two part epoxy floor paint when it gets bad scrap the loose stuff off roll a coat on hot and heavy .its about time just do not have the money to blow

Plain concrete,,with thin sheets of particle board,and a liberal coating of polyester resin,gelcoat,,paint,etc splattered on...the usual,for a fiberglassers shop..

Plain old enamel paint with a hardner, the $20.00 a gallon stuff, lasts a year or so. My garage is overdue by about 2 years, maybe in the spring.

Maple & Oak! Old dance hall! 8-)

I used a two part epoxy finish that I found at Home Depot. I needed two kits for +/- 700 square feet. As it dries, you sprinkle the little "fairy dust" flakes. The flakes add some texture so it's not too slippery to work on.

I'm not near as rough on the floor as Pat and Jerry, but I certainly haven't babied it either. Five years old and still looks pretty good. Cleans up nice with hot soapy water and any stains wipe off pretty well with acetone.

I washed the floor real well with hot soapy water and etched with muratic acid prior to application. The process cost was about $200 bucks and I did it in two weekends (half at a time).. I'm satisfied with the result - but If I had it to do over, I'd go a bit lighter on the flakes..

right now mine is just plain ol cement......the day I have a bigger shop that will be just a shop....then i will go with some kind of epoxy piant to clean things up where the project car is and rubber matted flooring for benchwork areas

glennsexton----- How dose that hold up to welding, burning, paint overspray??? I see you use jack stands don't they chip the paint???
Thanks

Glen my brother used the same stuff on his house in Washington State. It looked great when I went to visit him last year!

My main shop floor is ceramic tiles, my dirty area is just concrete painted with 2 pack epoxy floor paint.

Glenn's looks similar to mine, I used the Rustoleum kit available at the big box and other hardware outlets. Mines been down for 9 years now and still looks good. There's a few spots where I must have let some chemical or other stand too long and there's some slight discoloration, but otherwise, as Glenn says, a quick mop and it looks like new. To respond to some of your additonal questions, I've used stands, dropped steel and iron pieces, plasma cut above it, had welding slag fall, and all sorts of automotive fluids, and the coating has held up beautifully. The meanest thing I did was get some epoxy paint overspray on it that I ended up dulling a small area with the cleanup, but it didn't hurt the adhesion.

I put this on fresh, cured concrete, so the cleanup was comparatively easy. The kit contained a pre-cleaning substance (my guess is TSP). I wondered about etching the concrete with acid, called the tech help line for Rustoleum, and they were pretty negative on that idea. I don't know if that was CYA so that acid injury wouldn't come back on them, or that the etch from the cleaning material they supply is sufficient, though barely detectable. Following their supplied instructions to the T the process went fairly easily, and the results have been terrific. Considering how cheap it was/is it's great value.

Edit: here's a pic before I was completely moved in and you could still see most of the floor.....the sheen is only moderate.

I have 2 part epoxy on mine. Its 8 years old and could be repaint in the high use areas.

Mine's holding up real good. The jack stands have not bothered it, welding splatters but doesn't stick. I've had hot stock, i.e., a chunk cut with a torch fall on the floor and not leave marks. Over spray - well, it does stick - but caught quick it will wipe up with acetone. Like I mentioned, the flakes add a bit of rough and that's good for a non-slip finish but they do catch the gunk and there's bit of scrubbing necessary if I let over spray get too hard.