I'm preparing to paint the floor of my new shop. Went to home depot in a sleep deprived stupor (too many 36 hour days) tonight and picked up some porch and floor paint by Glidden in "Steel Gray". After getting home I realized I have no idea what Glidden might consider steel grey. Is it a light or dark gray? I searched around Glidden site and even other paint sites with no real patch of color to judge by. I am hoping it is not dark gray, because then it means another trip to home depot and then stand in refund line and then back to purchase line.
How does this stuff hold up in a shop with no cars? Just a few heavy machines and me.
"V8TR4" sleep deprived stupor (too many 36 hour days) tonight and picked up some
There are few paints that will stand up to the shop environment successfully. I'd suggest you give very careful consideration to the idea of using an epoxy paint, which will likely provide the best possible surface. Making the decision before you paint is important, for once you have applied any type of paint to your floor, you won't be able to apply epoxy when you find you're unhappy with what you've done otherwise.
There are drawbacks to painting any shop floor. If you do any welding, they will show burn spots anywhere slag drops, generally a chocolate colored spot. They also have the negative quality of being slippery when wet, although if you add sand to the paint that is not an issue. I've applied epoxy paint to several floors, both with and without the sand. I was pleased with the results in all cases, but not very happy with the discoloration from hot objects. In order to get around that in my new shop, I dyed the concrete a light gray color when it was poured, which has turned out to be a great idea so far. It won't burn, and doesn't look like typical concrete.
You may wish to talk to a paint expert before making up your mind. I would also recommend you look at color charts instead of assuming a color. Try to keep the color on the lighter side so you don't have a lot of trouble lighting the shop. Dark colors absorb a great deal of the light.
i am in the process of painting a 5000sqft shop, i did home work and feel that a light color epoxy paint is the way to go. do prep your floor with a diluted muratic acid wash so you have maximum bondage and also clean you floor with tsp which i got at home depot in the paint section. do not ask for help at home depot atleast the 3 i went to they said they did not carry tsp and one was sitting on the paint counter for restocking.
Last summer I painted the floor of my new garage with the Rustoleum Garage Floor paint (2 part epoxy) that Home Depot sells. Per the instructions, I waited 45 days (label said "at least 30") and until the evening when the temp dropped into the high 80s, (label said "xx to 90 degree range"). Anyway, I don't know if there was still too much moisture in the 6" slab since I was extremely careful about keeping it wet while curing or if the temperature was too hot (the cans were almost too hot to pick up after mixing) but all the paint is cracking and starting to flake off. Let's just say I ain't real happy about it right now. I figure sometime this spring I will take an air scaler or something and remove all the paint (1100 sq ft) and try something else.
Good luck. Steve. : (
"V8TR4" sleep deprived stupor (too many 36 hour days) tonight and picked up some
there is a local paint supply place that makes there own paint so far they are cheaper in price. i just bought a building and i painted inside and out. i pressure washed the floor to remove old over spray, but it has some contact cement in a few spots. i also used that tsp and it works great you could tell the difference. i am going monday to wash with muratic acid solution. then i will let the floor dry for a few days. they told me it is important to use the acid but just as important to remove it after do not let it dry on the floor. you willl have great results with a light paint for lighting. when we sprayed the inside and the floor was covered with overspray(white) it look like day light at night. big difference when i wash the floor and removed the over spray dark and gloomy.
about 20 yrs. ago i had to take dialantin, i had a head injury.... i went to one of the big box store(think it was house works), and got some glidden paint for an interior sheet rock wall..... white paint... the room was already white... i stood on the ladder and painted the same spot about four times... the paint would just pour into the sheetrock... threw the stuff out and went to sherwinn williams and get some real paint.. one coat and it looked real nice.... suggest you do the same thing.. i would never use glidden again.. my time is worth too much to mess with that trash...
Howdy! As a firm believer in "Form follows Function" and that every dollar spent on non-tool stuff is a dollar wasted, I go down to my local paint store and get their mis-tints. The store you are looking for probably has had one or more buckets of paint spilled in the parking area by a painter's helper. Yep, you are looking for the place where the professional painters, (or at those that get paid for it) hang out. My local is a Benjamin-Moore store and they carry a Gloss Alkyd-Enamel which has been on the floor of my shop for at least 5 years. There are some dings and spots in need of a re-coat but I can say the same about me after 5 years in the shop.
The mistints cost me between $1 and $5 per gallon depending on how many I buy at time etc. There is not much choice in color, but I get the "light mis-tints" and have a pie-bald floor. Since my primary concern is to minimize the concrete dust and promote sweeping up chips, the color is not a problem. And few people who see my shop even notice that there is a floor, they are too stunned by all the "stuff" it contains.
Just a thought.
Rick Dulas
On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 09:19:41 GMT, "V8TR4" sleep deprived stupor (too many 36 hour days) tonight and picked up some
When I built my shop in 1987, I painted the conc. floor with Rustoleum 6000 System water-based epoxy in light gray. It has held up very well. and only now is beginning to show wear-thru in high traffic areas. It has never peeled or flaked and seems to be oil and solvent proof, plus the water clean-up makes application easy.
Randy
"V8TR4" sleep deprived stupor (too many 36 hour days) tonight and picked up some
Did you have a moisture barrier under the concrete?
At $54/gal the Rustoleum was the cheapest epoxy floor paint I could find. In the fall, I painted my new shop floor, which had cured for about 6 months. Prep is crucial and is a royal pita (if you're thinking about doing this and see one of those floor machines at an auction, buy it - nobody every wants them and they go cheap. That ocurred to me AFTER I spent a week on prep). So far, it's been fine, I've driven my dually and forklift around on it. Even the rocks in the tires haven't chipped the paint. We'll see how it holds up once the machinery gets moved in.
SRF wrote: (clip) the cans were almost too hot to pick up after mixing (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Epoxy resins libetrate heat as they cure, and the cureing rate goes up with temperature. Since you started out with the paint already pretty warm, and it heated up further as it cured, it got too hot to handle. I have seen resins curing in a one-gallon can get swo hot they boiled over and smoked. This can be helped by pouring it in smaller cans, on in something like a flat roller pan, to aid heat transfer.
Moisture in the concrete is an enemy to the paint. If the garage is warm, you can build up vapor pressure behind the new paint film, and get blistering and peeling. This could be due to the fact that you kept the concrete damp to help for a slow cure. It could also happen on older concrete which is on the ground, and absorbing moisture.
18" compacted gravel, then vapor barrier, then 3" compacted sand, then 6" of concrete. While I'm not sure if the problem was the heat or the moisture I'm letting my next slab sit for at least 3 months before I paint it AND when the temperature is in the 60s - 70s.
Thanks for all the replies and advice. I went ahead and returned the Glidden Concrete stain I purchased and bought the Behr Concrete and Garage epoxy.
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I had done most of the floor prepping over the week and am now waiting for the temp to get to 65 before applying.
I must admit that I have been going crazy trying to get my shop setup. Been working on it all month. It seems like every little thing I want to do to it so far has become this giant project with all sorts of hurdles to get over. Like now I am waiting for the weather to warm up a little and going and standing in line at Home Depot has really gotten old :)
Thanks again, Oliver
"V8TR4" sleep deprived stupor (too many 36 hour days) tonight and picked up some
They have a local store and I checked them out. I think the price works out to be around $90-100/gal. At that price, I'd go with a commercial epoxy or water based epoxy you can order from MSC.
I guess you could call this a gloat as well as my opinion. I bought six gallons of light pink Behr floor paint ($1.00/gal) at Home Depot and then went to the paint counter and had them throw enough black into each can that I now have a medium gray. I have enough paint to do the 1100 SQ. Ft of garage. I wouldn't paint the shop floor as the traffic areas will wear away quickly with the amount of steel chips I get on the floor. I picked up 5 gallons of concrete sealer at the local hazardous waste disposal site and intend to use it on the shop floor. That will keep the dust down and keep oil from permeating the concrete. So far the investment in the floors is $6.00 but I still haven't applied it. The sealer goes on with a tank type pressure sprayer but we'll probably have to roll the floor paint. I am going to tile the office and bathroom. Leigh@MarMachine
Dang guys! I've been buying regular epoxy 2 packs which includes a gallon of "A" and a gallon of "B" , which ends up as 2 gallons of paint, from Sherwin Williams for $64. This works out to around $32 a gallon.... I painted the aisleways between the screw machines with it, then sprinkled play sand and let it dry overnight. Sand was swept off for a real aggressive non-skid finish.
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