What kind of Paint should I use on my new shop floor

[JoelAlbert]

All,

In a few weeks I am moving into a new house and turning the 2 car garage into a woodshop. It's very exciting and I have been waiting a long time :cool2: to have some space of my own.

Quick question....

Would you recomend that I paint the cement floor in the garage?

If so, what kind of paint would you recomend?

Thanks

Joel

 

[Bill Boehme]

Worn concrete still looks like concrete. Worn paint on concrete just looks like ... 😀


... worn out paint.

There are some DIY epoxy coatings, but I would not waste my time with them. If you are wanting to go to that extent, then have it done professionally.

 

[tomcatmartin]

Epoxy

When I moved my shop into the garage, I used two part epoxy with the sprinkles. They have several grades-one for basements, one for garage floors and an industrial grade.
I have been very happy with it. It makes sweeping sawdust twice as easy. It has been installed for over three years and still looks good (except where I have spilled various finishes on it🙂 You can buy it on sales for around 40 bucks a gallon for the garage grade.

 

[Vaughn]

I've also used the Rustoleum two-part epoxy with sprinkles on my garage (and adjacent laundry/mud room) floor. It's been on the mud room floor for six years, and the shop floor for about four, and both are still holding up very nicely. I've dropped heavy steel things on both floors and the paint shrugs them off. I had a gallon of industrial-strength hydrochloric acid leak in a cabinet and spill on the shop floor, and other than discoloring it, the epoxy paint withstood it well. Had it not been there, the concrete would have been deeply etched by the acid.

So far the only downside I've seen is that the painted floor can be slippery with a light coating of sawdust or dry woodchips. The paint chip sprinkles definitely help, but in hindsight I would have liked to use more of them. The area in front of my lathe (where I spend the majority of my time) and a couple other high traffic areas have foam mats, and they handle the slipping problem (and are easier on my feet and back than the bare concrete floor).

Several other concrete floors in my family have also had the Rustoleum epoxy paint, and without exception, they've all held up well...for 8 or 9 years so far in a couple of cases. I think the key to success is following the directions closely, and being meticulous about prepping the floor before painting. Like most finishes, the actual application is relatively quick compared to the time spent preparing the surface.

 

[n7bsn]

Vaughn has a good point, don't stint on surface prep. People that have, have had issues with an epoxy floor cover

 

[allen jay]

paniting floors

my experience has been thus
sawdust and a painted floor make for a good ice rink.
the rust oleum epoxy is a product that in my opinion needs some work.
it doesn't hold up to chemical spills. garage floor paint definitely doesn't.
gasoline will dissolve garage floor paint.
i realize you probably wont be doing any car maintenance in your new wood shop.
and both are slippery when wet or with sawdust on them.
if you are gonna do it use a professional with a good epoxy and lots of anti skid material.
and make sure he does exhaustive prep work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anything left on the surface of the concrete will compromise the integrity and longevity of anything you decide to put on the floor.
one mans opinion
take it with however many grains of salt you wish
and good luck in your quest

 

[Alan Trout]

What I used in my Machine shop that I owned many years ago was epoxy floor paint. It was made by Devoe paint which is part of ITW. It was very reasonably priced. I had it in my shop for about 6 years before I sold it, and in a much harsher environment than a wood shop and it wore fantastic. Prep the floor properly and you should have a nice floor for many years.

Alan

 

[Bernie Weishapl]

I used the Rustoleum 2 part epoxy and it has been down for 5 yrs and looks the same as the day I put it down. Sure does make clean up nicer.

One thing as Vaughn pointed out is the prep is critical. Follow the directions to the tee. My neighbor didn't and his looks like well not good. Lots of chipping and flaking.

 

[Bill Boehme]

my experience has been thus
sawdust and a painted floor make for a good ice rink.
the rust oleum epoxy is a product that in my opinion needs some work.
it doesn't hold up to chemical spills. garage floor paint definitely doesn't.
gasoline will dissolve garage floor paint.
i realize you probably wont be doing any car maintenance in your new wood shop.
and both are slippery when wet or with sawdust on them.
if you are gonna do it use a professional with a good epoxy and lots of anti skid material.
and make sure he does exhaustive prep work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anything left on the surface of the concrete will compromise the integrity and longevity of anything you decide to put on the floor.
one mans opinion
take it with however many grains of salt you wish
and good luck in your quest

I agree.

The large manufacturing company where I spent my entire career had heavy duty epoxy floor coatings that was about 1/8" thick. It also incorporated anti-skid material to keep it from being like an ice rink if water or cutting fluid from milling machines was spilled on it. It was rugged enough to withstand many years of abuse from a consant stream of traffic including large vehicles such as forklifts as well as stuff being dropped on it or dragged across it.

I considered the Rustoleum product a few years ago when it was introduced, but decided that it was much closer to being a heavy duty paint than it was to being a real floor coating.

 

[Charlie M]

My wood shop building was used for a couple years before we built the house to store a car among other things. Although not too bad with the oil spills, it would have taken a lot of prep work to get the concrete clean enough to paint. In any case, the concrete has taken on an interesting color and pattern from the mesquite sawdust on the floor getting soaked periodically during heavy rain storms.

However, I did paint the concrete basement floor in our new house to protect the computers and other electronics there from any cement dust. I used ordinary interior Latex house paint. After ten years of use, it still looks great.

Charlie M

 

[Gary Chapman]

Never paint concrete

Trust me, I am a professional painter and also have a shop. I have painted many a garage floor, many a basement, many floors and I have yet to paint one and not regret painting it.
You can always sweep and clean concrete, you can even hose it down but once yuo paint it, its all over.
You will have to continue painting it every couple of years for you will not like the look of torn or scratched paint.
My advise is to look for some old conveyor belts,(Wide ones) or some type of solid rubber flooring to lay down in from of your lathe and table saw to cushion your body and then you can sweep it or move it BUT NEVER PAINT A FLOOR. Sorry ,I didn't mean to throw off my feeling to strong.

 

[Wayne Spence]

floor paint

One of the additives used in the manufacture of ceramic floor tile for its abrasive resistance and anti- slip properties is silicon carbide. It is fairly coarse, probably coarser than 100 mesh, can't recall. Is that what others are calling the sprinkles? Mixing it with the epoxy paint would be difficult, especially gettting dispersion and uniformity. There may be an epoxy paint that has it mixed in at the factory. Also, if you do much walking barefoot on the garage floor you will need a tough skin.

 

[waltben]

So why paint it at all???? I can't stand standing on concrete with or without paint for hours on end. Years ago I picked up some of the 2' interlocking squares of closed cell foam from Sears and PepBoys and laid them everywhere there wasn't a tool. They don't look great after all this time, but they sure are comfortable.

I've also seen some commercial grade tiles for gymnasiums and industrial applications that should work just as well - just don't know where to get them.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Trust me, I am a professional painter and also have a shop. I have painted many a garage floor, many a basement, many floors and I have yet to paint one and not regret painting it......

I would agree. The painted concrete porches and garage floors that I have seen do not look especially good after a couple years of use. What I would really like to do is put down a hardwood floor. I found a limited batch of solid oak once a a surplus place for a really good price, but when I built my shop, I did not have the height of the doors quite right for putting down a sub floor and then the planking. I could have torn out the drywall and moved the doors up, but I could see things quickly getting out of hand. I have thought about heavy duty ceramic tile, but am not sure if that would be a good idea.

One of the additives used in the manufacture of ceramic floor tile for its abrasive resistance and anti- slip properties is silicon carbide. It is fairly coarse, probably coarser than 100 mesh, can't recall. Is that what others are calling the sprinkles? Mixing it with the epoxy paint would be difficult, especially gettting dispersion and uniformity. There may be an epoxy paint that has it mixed in at the factory. Also, if you do much walking barefoot on the garage floor you will need a tough skin.

The material used on industrial floors if something with traction is desired is normally aluminum oxide (like your white grinding wheel) or silicon dioxide, a.k.a. quartz dust -- very soft compared to silicon carbide. I have not seen anything nearly as rough as you are referring to. The stuff that I have seen on the floors in manufacturing plants is not rough at all -- it just provides the same amount of traction as smooth concrete (not glazed).

The colored chips in the DIY kits such as Rustoleum is nothing more than colored decorative flakes and does not add any roughness at all. I do not know what the material is, but it might be epoxy based just like the base coating material. You only get a tiny amount of the flakes to sprinkle around on the epoxy while it is still wet and if not careful, you could run out before sprinkling the entire painted area.

 

[Paul M. Kaplowitz]

Shop Floor

I used 2 part apoxy with the black and white sprinkles 3 years ago and the floor looks beautiful. I work in my shop 4 days a week and roll a shop crane around on it to mount heavey pieces on my VB36. I first used a pressure washer to prep the concrete( watch the nozzle you use, you can score the floor if it is too concentrated). The stuff I bought at Lowe's cost about $90. for the kit. Follow the directions and it is easy to do using a roller. I found that the best way to apply the sprinkles is to take a handful and scatter them. Do a 6' strip, scatter the flakes and keep going.

 

[Joe Greiner]

I agree - no paint. Salvaged pallets allow wood chips to fall into the gaps, to avoid tracking them into the rest of the house. Less frequent cleaning too. Adjust tool heights as needed.

One of the best floors I've seen in a machine shop (NAPA repair shop) was about 6 inches of dirt. Very benign to dropped auto parts, which could shatter against concrete. Continuous wood blocks, end grain showing, were once common in manufacturing facilities, for worker comfort, as well as protection of product.

 

[Vaughn]

I agree most floor paints don't hold up. I've seen some that look horrible in a couple of years. But so far I believe everyone here who has suggested "no paint" has not actually used or witnessed the Rustoleum epoxy paint in person. I've yet to see someone who's actually used it (and who has done the proper prep work) complain about how it holds up. To me, the benefit is stain resistance and easier cleaning. It does hold up to chemical and solvent spills. I've spilled DNA, lacquer thinner, naptha, gasoline, 2-cycle mix, hydrochloric acid, and other fun stuff on mine, and aside from discoloration (fading) caused by the acid, nothing has fazed the paint. I think TransTint dye might stain it...I haven't tried to clean up the purple spot in my finishing area yet. The pores in the concrete are sealed, so they don't trap dust or moisture. It's very washable, including with a pressure washer. You could get a similar result with a hard troweled finish on the concrete, but it'd also stain easily, be slippery when wet or covered in sawdust, and wouldn't hold up to acid spills. If my next shop has a concrete floor, I'll use the Rustoleum epoxy on it.

The "sprinkles" that come with the Rustoleum kit are chips of epoxy paint, and they do indeed add traction. They're tossed onto the wet paint and become "glued" to the surface. You can purchase additional chips at the Borg if you want more traction or are worried about running out before you're done. (Something I've never seen happen, BTW.) You could also sprinkle an abrasive like graded silica sand to add traction, but it would make sweeping a bit more difficult.

Like I said, the naysayers seem to all be people who've not actually used the product. Reminds me of some turning tool debates that go on here and there, too. 😉

 

[n7bsn]

So why paint it at all???? I can't stand standing on concrete with or without paint for hours on end. Years ago I picked up some of the 2' interlocking squares of closed cell foam from Sears and PepBoys and laid them everywhere there wasn't a tool. They don't look great after all this time, but they sure are comfortable.

I've also seen some commercial grade tiles for gymnasiums and industrial applications that should work just as well - just don't know where to get them.

A good floor coating can be a good thing, but then again. I use both the 2ft squares and a mat I got from Woodworkers Supply

But then my feet are still complaining about too many hours/days/months spent standing on steel decks.

The school where the local club meets coated their floor with a high quality epoxy coating (no chips) and I don't think anyone has had an issue with the wood chips on this floor. But the floor quoting was designed to allow basketball and such, so far the floor is holding up

TTFN
Ralph

 

[TJ Hamilton]

How about a wood floor?

I've had T&G 3/4 plywood floor underlayment on my Houston garage shop floor and now in the Douglasville (GA) basement shop.

Screw it to 2x4's put a couple of coats of Poly on it and SCHAZZAM you've got a foot and leg friendly surface. And if you drop a sharp tool it will stick, not dent.

If you're interested send me you email address and I'll forward a copy of the FWW article on how to do this.

Best regards, Tom, in Douglasville, happy with a wood floor in his woodshop.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I agree most floor paints don't hold up. I've seen some that look horrible in a couple of years. But so far I believe everyone here who has suggested "no paint" has not actually used or witnessed the Rustoleum epoxy paint in person. .......

I do not have it in my garage or shop, but I have seen it in other garages in friends homes. It looks fine and is definitely far more durable than generic "floor" paint.

How long it will last depends considerably on usage. The industrial products are usually rated for 15 years, but the wear and tear is far greater than a home shop. The only problem that I would have with Rustoleum and most of the other homeowner DIY kits found at hardware and paint stores is they are water based (akin to the water based polyurethane wood finishes). The thickness of the finish in the Rustoleum and other similar products is only 3 mils.

There are some mid-price range floor coating products that have a higher solids content and a finish thickness in the 9 to 15 mil range. Many of those are solvent based which could be a show stopper if adequate air flow is not possible. Expect to pay five times more for these products.

Some of the more serious floor materials have a thickness in the range of 20 to 24 mils or even more and are 100% solids with no solvents although there is a small amount of out-gassing during the curing process.

 

[george morris]

tile

I use the 12" hard plastic interlocking tiles from Sam's club they work well after you get used to the clip clop sound,they are hard enough to roll my machines on them. G

 

[dmahany]

Epoxy floor.........

I used a 2 part epoxy from Armor Clad. They recommended their military grade 2 part clear finish as an overcoat. I absolutely love it. I spent a weekend prepping it with a floor grinder and solvents for 30 years of built up grease and grime as it is a garage floor. After 2 years of wear, it looks like new !! I used glass-bead additives in the clear coat to reduce slipperyness and have no regrets. My "shop" has all tools on mobile bases for weekend warrior use. I also have dragged a 3 ton auto jack with solid metal wheels across it many times for vehicle servicing and it hasn't scratched, chipped or flaked. I wish I had done it years ago.

 

[wwlewis]

Paint on concrete

I used a single part epoxy when I moved into a new shop. The purpose was more to help see than for other purposes. Since it is much lighter than the concrete, I can see better. Contrasted to the unpainted side where we park cars, it is noticeable. It does gets damaged when I drop things or drag across it. I have not noticed any increase in slipperiness.

Because it is lighter, I can see the shavings better and it seems easier to clean.

 

[John Beaver]

I am a fan of concrete. The main floor in my house is concrete with a color added to the mix.

That said, I put down a "race deck" type flooring in my garage / shop. I think the cushion of the plastic helps your feet and back through out the day. It is very easy to sweep and vacuum and when you drop a chisel (or turning) it softens the blow. It also has a little texture (like diamond plate) so it is not slippery.