Garage Floor - Epoxy or Tiles..?

Hi,

I'm looking to improve the garage floor and would like some recommendations for a good quality epoxy paint (non-lifting) or possibly tiles.

Any experience with either would be good to hear.

cheers

simon

Reply to
Simon Coupland
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What do you want to use it for and what is the condition of it now?

Reply to
Andy Hall

It's for a couple of cars (they just fit), and it's mainly storage with some maintenance work (oil changes, brakes etc).

The floor is currently painted but it has lifted where it stuck to the car tyres. The concrete is in good condition, just slightly off-level in places. I'm hiring a floor grinder this weekend to take off the old paint and smooth the surface.

I'm undecided what to do after that. The cost of floor tiles is approx £500-600, with Epoxy paint at around £200. Prices based on list prices I've seen on various web sites.

cheers

simon

Reply to
Simon Coupland

approx

I've used the bulk 20 litre tins of floor paint from screwfix for years now and not had problems with lifting paint - just the odd scuff occassionally needs touching up. To make my garage floor more pleasant to roll arround on servicing cars I have lined it with 18mm OSB or Sterling board which is then floor painted.

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

I would expect floor tiles to be even more prone to lifting, as the result of the action of car tyres, as well as having gaps between them that can fill with spilt oil etc.

Floor paint usually only lifts if the surface preparation is inadequate. After grinding the floor, treat it with a hydrochloric acid wash (sometimes sold for treating floors as muriatic acid, at an inflated cost), rinse well, then paint it with a good quality garage floor paint. I find that two coats of International Garage Floor Paint gives as good a finish for factory floors, including ones that take a fork lift truck, as the professionally applied epoxy we started with.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

I'm not sure I would want to jack a car up on tiles either.

Reply to
adder1969

"nightjar .uk.com>"

Thanks for that.

I understood that the issue with tyre lifting paint was the chemical reaction that occurs when a warm tyre is left in one place for a period of time. Do you have that problem in your factory, or is that something that would only apply to a garage..?

Do you prime the floor before painting, or just put paint directly on the cleaned concrete..?

cheers

simon

Reply to
Simon Coupland

Glad to hear that your paint hasn't lifted. I have painted my floors for many years, but always had paint lift. Probably poor prep, that's why I'm hiring the floor grinder.

Doesn't the OSB have a problem with jacks and axel stands making dents etc...?

cheers

simon

Reply to
Simon Coupland

One of my tenants does car stereo fitting and they simply paint the floor, without having problems. I would be very surprised if a paint formulated for use on garage floors would suffer the problem you describe. However, some people don't see why they should pay more for a garage floor paint, when there are cheaper concrete floor paints on the shelf and your garage may have been done with one of those.

It is while since the floors were bare concrete. IIRC, the paint manufacturer simply recommended thinning the first coat, but that may vary from make to make and the best thing to do is to read the instructions on the tin.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

TV studios use a form of lino for smooth camera movement and some pretty heavy spot loads are applied to it with certain types of scenery. It would be ideal for a garage floor - although probably too expensive.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

"nightjar .uk.com>"

No, I've always used proper concrete floor paint from Leyland or International. Generally not cheap. Might as well have used cheap paint for all the good it did..!

I've just spent this evening with the floor grinder, good fun and the floor is looking very smooth and clean. Just need to go over it again tomorrow with the fine grade grinding stones for a really smooth finish.

I'm still unsure of the finish I'll use...

cheers

simon

Reply to
Simon Coupland

If you used concrete floor paint, rather than garage floor paint, that is the likely explaination of your problem. When I referred to cheaper, that was a relative term applying to the two the different products, rather than being intended to imply the quality of paint.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

"nightjar .uk.com>"

Ah, good point...! I assumed they were one and the same...I'll make sure I get the right stuff this time.

I'm nervous of getting it wrong, as grinding the floor and getting all the old paint off has been a hell of a job - not one I want to do again in a hurry. My arms are like Popeye's now, having wielded the floor grinder for several hours.

Thanks for your help.

cheers

simon

Reply to
Simon Coupland

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