Painting a garage floor, advice please.

[Bill]

Well, it's only taken 10 years but I have just finished tidying my garage/workshop! Long story but it has been used as a store ever since the day it was built. Over the years I've been considering painting the concrete floor in an attempt to keep the dust level down and to make sweeping easier. Looking around at the various floor paints it seems that the two part epoxy ones are the hardest wearing and longest lasting, so the adverts say any way :-)

I have just less than 30m square to paint, unfortunately as there is already racking down one side and a bench down the other not all of the floor is accessible.

Does any one have any comments on painting concrete floors? What sort of preparation is needed, just a good sweeping or is some sort of primer a good idea too? Are the epoxy based ones the best idea? One or two coats? Pitfalls that if they exist I will definitely fall into?

All thoughts much appreciated.

[Tim Watts]

Bill wibbled on Monday 03 May 2010 00:08

I'd hoover it too, if you have access to a workshop hoover or an old style VAX - that's what I always do when putting anything onto concrete, like tiles, epoxy DPM etc. You know you have all the dust off.

Choose the epoxy paint and read the instructions and if necessary, call the manufacturer's tech line - they are usually helpful IME.

Based on my experiences with an epoxy DPM (which is essentially painted on and looks like a painted floor afterwards), no primer is stipulated, but the floor must be stable, free of laitence and loose or powdery material.

[spamlet]

If it hasn't actually been used as a garage and thus got impossibly saturated with oil, floor paints - many of which are designed for harsh factory environments - are pretty good. I was always impressed how some red stuff they used to put on a factory floor where I worked, stood up to the fork lift trucks and their loads. Mind you they always made some poor bugger scrape it all off and repaint it nice and smooth again every year or two! If you've had a car etc dripping oil on it for years I wouldn't bother though.

S

[Gib Bogle]

It's been a while since I heard that. In our house when I was a kid it was electrolux.

[The Medway Handyman]

Floor paints are simply good quality paints able to stand foot traffic. You would be better off with a product that hardens the concrete surface chemically to prevent dust

[Nightjar]

I had a professionally laid epoxy covering put down in one of my factories, which lasted four years. Since then, I have used International Garage Floor Paint, at a fraction of the cost for a life of about three years.

Vacuum cleaning will be better. Well made concrete floors do not create dust, but if yours does, it will need a coat of concrete primer / sealer first. A preliminary wash with brick acid is said to give a better key, but I've not found it makes a noticable difference.

Two coats, working in different directions, will ensure complete coverage the first time you paint. Repaints in later years will only need one coat.

Always paint towards a door and make sure, unlike a chap who worked for me, that it leads to the outside.

Colin Bignell

[Bill]

In message , Bill writes

Thanks to those who replied. Floor is now painted a light grey colour. I used a 2 part epoxy.

The initial cleaning was done with a broom and after the third or fourth pass down the garage I decided I was never going to clear all the dust, a slightly rough floor surface that seemed to hold the finer dust. So stronger measures were called for, out came the leaf blower, five minutes later and a fine dust cloud outside the door it was spotless, I'm fortunate that although I call it a garage it has never had a car in it, it's more of a workshop so there were no oil spills or anything nasty on the floor to clear.

The first coat went down without too much trouble, apart from making sure I didn't miss bits, the paint was only a marginally different colour to the concrete and it was difficult to spot small misses. Maybe I should have waited until next week? Having a cataract op' tomorrow which should improve my sight somewhat!

Second coat was even easier, glad I bought 2 rollers as the 1st one was solid by the next day. Yes I did expect that :-)

Is there something in the smell of this stuff that attracts flies? An amazing number appeared when I started applying it.

I even managed not to paint myself into a corner, having one roller door and 2 normal doors made access and egress relatively easy.

Just got to wait for it to harden a bit more and I can move all the junk, useful bits and pieces, back in. Pity really it looks quite tidy at the moment!

[Tim Watts]

Nice write up :)

Which brand of paint did you use in the end?

[Bill]

Thank you. It said Regal on the cans, Not sure of the quality or reputation of this but it has certainly gone very hard and given a god finish. Not so sure about their estimate of coverage, I feel they were a bit optimistic but the floor was not smooth so that will have had an effect on it. The finish on the stirrer I used is very good!! Talking of which, I was tempted to mix it by hand but then thought about it and bought a paddle mixer from Screwfix

it was WELL worth it, I was more than happy that everything was properly blended, I don't think I would have been happy had I done it by hand.

[Tim Watts]

Thanks- I'll look them up. Must be them here:

Not so sure

I agree and I think you were right to do so. I used a drill mixer when I put down an epoxy DPM, which I suspect is *very* similar to epoxy floor paint. I had to roller on 2 coats, the 2nd at 90 degrees to the first to ensure no missed bits (instructions said) but it was *very* shiny! And my mixer is very shiny too. And the red stain on the drive is still there after 12 months!