Floor painting

[SteveB]

I'm at the point of floor installation in my new addition. I want to paint the floors of the laundry room and shop area. About 300 sf.

How clean does the floor have to be? It has some residual drywall mud on it now, but not a lot. Some crud from construction, but not a lot. Wednesday and Thursday, we're going to paint the walls and ceiling, and more will be getting on there. If necessary, I can put drop cloth on it. We're going to airless spray.

Just how clean does the concrete have to be to apply the epoxy stuff? How many different kinds of GOOD floor paints are there? I don't want to be doing this every couple of years.

What kind of floor prep is usual and customary? I know scraping, and getting the bad stuff and dirt and all, but what about stuff that's just slightly into the surface of the concrete? Maybe rent a big rotary scrubber. Oh boy, those things are always fun!

If you've done the epoxy with little hand applied sprinkles and sand, how do you like it? How's it lasting? I've seen some jobs that looked great.

Thanks.

Steve

[hallerb]

to paint

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looked great.

painting concrete is never a good idea, it creates a ongoing maintence disaster.

move washer to replace a hose, ooops we damaged he paint job.

it never lasts although epoxy paints are somewhat better.

honestly your better off putting down tile, looks nicer lasts longer. if you but the commercial type where the color is thru the entire tile scratches arent a big issue, since the color is the same

[hallerb]

to paint

=EF=BF=BDWednesday

=BF=BDWe're going to

looked great.

i know someone who polished his concrete and sealed with thompsons water seal, it looked pretty good

[Rick Blaine]

Drywall mud will scrape off easily. Anything above the surface is going to show big time when it's coated.

Prep is 90% of a good job. You don't want to be taking shortcuts here.

That shouldn't be necessary. Just make sure you can't feel it by running your hand across with your eyes closed.

I like two part epoxies _a lot_. Sprinkles & sand are optional. I put it down in a Michigan winter garage and it looked new for over 10 years. It is slippery when wet though, so if that's a concern, they sell a special grit (it's not common sand). Two coats and follow the directions _exactly_.

[hallerb]

anything on or in the suface which is softer or causes poor adhesion, like drywall mud or wax as 2 examples will leave poor adhesion areas...... so something scrapes along the suface in one of those areas the coating peels off and its time to recoat.

paint is the worst, but any coating is a bad idea.

vinyl tile looks good, theres lots of choices.

My other home had a painted concrete floor painted by a previous owner. it was a real PIA

[J.A. Michel]

I used Rustoleum Professional 2 part epoxy with a clear coat on my garage floor. I've got to say, the stuff is very tough and durable and looks nice too. I have no issues with peeling, cracking, or all the doom and gloom that hallerb is talking about. Cars have rolled across it daily for years and it still looks great. As with any concrete paint, prep is key. I etched my floor prior to application, but for a laundry/shop area, you'd probably be fine with a good wash/scrub/degrease.

If your laundry room is inside the house, I'd advise you use water-base epoxy instead of solvent base. Solvent base paint is excellent, but it stinks to high hell. If you do use solvent base epoxy, please use a respirator when applying it. You'll find yourself floating somewhere close to the ceiling if you don't!! ;-)

Sprinkles and sand are optional. The sprinkles look OK, but I would advise against adding sand. I've heard bad things about doing that.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I don't care what ANYONE says - you can't ventilate a basement well enough to vacate the fumes from epoxy - not for days or weeks or worse. You could remove the house, but then it wouldn't be a basement any more.

[Joseph Meehan]

The results are directly related to the prep work. The floor needs to be 99.9997% clean. Anything less than perfect will cause problems. Follow the instructions with the materials you plan to use and if there is any doubt at all, do more, but never think that you can skip even a little bit when cleaning. Nearly all failures and those who are not happy with the results comes from improper prep work. The other problems are caused by poor materials or or application.

I would recommend avoiding any material that is not a true two part epoxy.

The instructions come with the product. The primary issues are removing any loose material and any oil based contaminate. You also likely will need an acid cleaning. Venting during cleaning an the application of the material is important so plan ahead for that.

This all may sound like a lot of work, but it is not too bad.

I have no experience with the sand type stuff. It sounds like it could help with the problem of wet-slippery conditions.

You also might want to look into one of the commercially applied products that have that sprinkles look. I know of a couple of people who have had it done are are happy with the results.

[Phisherman]

I epoxied my basement floor 15 years ago. It still looks great and well worth it. I suggest leaving the house for a couple days after application--after that you should be okay. Fish and birds should be relocated for a week.

[hallerb]

n't want to

s that looked

today the product is not the same the environmental rules hurt the products durability. what the OP does doesnt really matter to me, but might to the next owner......

I spent a fortune trying to remove the previous owners paint job. no stripper worked well, except making floor way more slippery than ice, i fell several times before giving up.

having removed a lot of the 5 previous coats of paint I tiled the floor, only to have adhesion troubles from the remaining paint.

my comments are based on the frustration I had with the previous owner who painted the floor to start with.

if your going to paint anyway and the home is new wait a tear the concrete is still curing, outgassing moisture. you will mess that up with a layer of paint.

tile looks nicer, is easier to maintain and affordable

[HeyBub]

And there are many who don't care for what you say. It averages out.

[Paul Oman]

Almost no solvent based epoxies anymore. Mostly just 100% solvent free or lesser quality waterbased epoxies.

paul progressive epoxy polymers inc.

Phisherman wrote: