Workshop Floors

Dec 07, 2006 10 Replies

I want to re-surface my garage (workshop) floor whilst I have everything moved out of it to clean up after the recent flood. The existing floor is rough concrete, previously covered with floor paint, and with a few divots in it from various drops.



The question is what is the best surface to put down? I've been having a look at some industrial epoxy self-levelling screeds, which appear to be pretty tough, and go down around 2-5mm thick, but any idea how they would stand up to a Bridgeport being moved back in on skates?



Anyone done something similar, or found a better surface to put down?



All input appreciated.



Peter



Sorry Peter can't help. Floors are like brain surgery, they exist but I have no working knowledge of either.

.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

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If I was put in that position ...I would put tough quarry tiles down .. .the type they use in fire stations ...if they can stand a fire engine running over them ...and the guys jacking up the things off the tiles ...they are good enough for me .

all the best..mark

What about leveling it up with a grinder:-

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then patching the divots with epoxy cement.

If you re-screed the whole floor, you may need to use a scabbler to roughen up the surface to give the screed a key. and remove the floor paint.

Mark Rand RTFM

having

down?

Peter,

I have found that 19mmc waterproof osb board (sometimes called Sterling Board) screwed down and painted with Screwfix floor paint is remarkably durable and has the advantage to being a relatively soft surface for the odd dropped tool to land on. I have moved a lot of machinery over this floor over the years and only had to touch up the paint occassionally. If you are at risk of more flooding it may not be appropriate, however I get rain blown under my roller shutter door on a regular basis and it hasn't deteriorated that I can see.

AWEM

All heavy jigs etc. where moved with an overhead crane but I have seen the surface damaged when finally positioning heavy eqipment as edges can "plane/abrade" the surface.

A company I visited did a workshop floor in epoxy with a "non slip" finish and it looked very smart, bright yellow as I recall. Unfortunately despite its non slip claims it quickly turned into a skating rink if you had wet footwear and had to be removed.

Concrete smoothed over and painted with normal floor paint. Quite strong enough for most purposes and easily repaired after damage. Last time I got any I got it from

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up marked Screwfix but as half the price :-). (there is quite a lot of useful information on various floor coverings downloadable from that site as well).

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I have no wish to divert this thread but is this "epoxy cement" available in reasonable quantities as I have a number of fairly large holes in my concrete floor that need attention. My first attempt at repair has crumbled rather quickly.

Regards

Keith

It's available in reasonable quantities... It's the price that's unreasonable :-(

Here is an example:-

or another one:-

regards Mark Rand RTFM

Thanks Mark, my building knowledge is very limited. I have a Cromwell quite close so I'll go and have a look but Screwfix looks quite a bit cheaper.

Regards

Keith

[repairing holes] I would use some self-leveling castable "Speed Screed". There are **huge** differences in quality. I suggest using the UZIN-brand, if that's available. I have done some floor-laying over the years, and learned UZIN to be the best, even in very thin layers (others often fail below 1mm).

Nick

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