Garage / Workshop Floor Paint

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Over the years I have tried loads of different makes.

 

Some dont cover well, thin as a thin watery stuff

some take forever to goi off.

 

Most end up pretty much the same 

 

Is there a make someone can reallyy advise is the dogs do dooahs and why where to get etc ?

Nige

[David Sparkes]

There is a railway enthusiast near me who has just (within the last two years) built an engine shed, including sealing the new concrete floor, and painting over it.
Note it was a two part process. He described the sealant as looking like cold tea, both in colour and viscosity, while the paint was a standard dark red colour. (The colour is 'standard', the paint was the appropriate stuff for the job).

He got both products, IIRC, from 'a favourite supplier in Sheffield', which counts as local to him. I don't know if he had previous experience of these products, or followed the advice of a trusted supplier.

He hasn't named either product in his blog, but the workshop is big enough to have required the sealing and painting to be completed in stages, so drying time has not been excessive, and once one section was done, 'stuff' was placed on it, and it was walked on, soon after completion.

I was going to say that diesel railway engines don't have wet rubber tyres to grip and rip up the paint, but he has been using a solid tyred fork lift truck, and a cherry picker style device on rubber tyres (to complete the light fixing and cabling on the OH trusses).

I haven't been following his weekly blog for that long, but I have paid my respects by physically visiting site.
Do you want me to see if I can extract some product names, and details of previous experience (if any)?
Or do you want details of the Blog site, where you can do your own reading, view the pictures yourself, and form your own judgement?

[Snagger]

I can't remember the name, but there is a floor coating specialist shop in Kempston, Beds.  I had a look at some of their products, from basic paints, through rubberised coatings to expoxies.  The epoxy is the really tough, long lasting stuff, but obviously costs more.  It's all available for DIY installation, though.

In the end, I just used the stuff sold in WIckes (not their own brand, it had a red tin, International I think) which was reasonably good and cheap.  Went on well and only came off where heavy metallic objects scraped over it, like dragging axles or pushing the laden engine crane sideways (non castor wheels on the legs).

[Cynic-al]

I used firwood 2 part stuff at work. The basic paint came off but the 2 part stuff really stuck. It was a power floated sealed floor. I used the etch stuff to rough it up, the soap stuff they sell to clean it then rolled on 2 coats. I put the grit in the second coat as it's inside a warehouse door and the forklifts tended to slide as they came in but you don't have to. If they don't make the 90 degree turn they'll slide and knock the racking down. Been there a few years and it's still there even with the forklifts all over it. 

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

8 hours ago, David Sparkes said:

There is a railway enthusiast near me who has just (within the last two years) built an engine shed, including sealing the new concrete floor, and painting over it.
Note it was a two part process. He described the sealant as looking like cold tea, both in colour and viscosity, while the paint was a standard dark red colour. (The colour is 'standard', the paint was the appropriate stuff for the job).

He got both products, IIRC, from 'a favourite supplier in Sheffield', which counts as local to him. I don't know if he had previous experience of these products, or followed the advice of a trusted supplier.

He hasn't named either product in his blog, but the workshop is big enough to have required the sealing and painting to be completed in stages, so drying time has not been excessive, and once one section was done, 'stuff' was placed on it, and it was walked on, soon after completion.

I was going to say that diesel railway engines don't have wet rubber tyres to grip and rip up the paint, but he has been using a solid tyred fork lift truck, and a cherry picker style device on rubber tyres (to complete the light fixing and cabling on the OH trusses).

I haven't been following his weekly blog for that long, but I have paid my respects by physically visiting site.
Do you want me to see if I can extract some product names, and details of previous experience (if any)?
Or do you want details of the Blog site, where you can do your own reading, view the pictures yourself, and form your own judgement?

If you can find out would be brill !

[simonr]

Someone told me that regular floor paint covered with fibreglass resin works well - producing a very smooth, durable surface.  I think the resin was sprayed on to the paint.

Si

[David Sparkes]

17 hours ago, Hybrid_From_Hell said:

If you can find out would be brill !

I have written to the website admin (& Owner) to ask the questions.

In the meantime I've found the earliest mention of them (Father Pete and Son Andrew) using the sealant.
The backstory is that the Engine Shed has been built, engines have been moved in plus lots of miscellaneous equipment while the Shed is fitted out, and engines are worked on.
Also in the shed is dust from the new concrete floor, leaves and general dirt that has blown in while the doors are open, and dirt from the boots of people walking in from the yard and track are outside. The worst has been brushed and shovelled away by the barrow load, the rest is being vacuumed up from the area to be sealed and painted.

Now you are in a position to make sense of the last few paragraphs of the entry for 5th June 2016 which is where the 'tea' reference came from.

Regards.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

^^

 

 

[David Sparkes]

My 'other job' is recompiling an Instruction Manual, and although it's 'essential' it's boring, so in a break I found myself going over the blog posts for Weekend Rails, but this time I was looking with more effort for clues to the paint they had used.

Lo and behold, in the entry for 7th August 2016 is the comment :

"So anyway, both Andrew and I have been into Paintmaster at Whaley Bridge during the week – he to pick up some more sealer and I, for red floor paint.  But I don't think the lady behind the counter has a great sense of humour. Putting on a cheeky smile I asked for 'a bucket of red concrete paint' and when her expression remained one of icy stare, added '20 litres'.

'You mean a 20 litre drum of polyurethane floor paint?'
'Yes', I said, switching to serious business-mode 'in red.' "

Obviously I will pass on any reply I get from Andrew Briddon, but that seems to be the stuff.
The page I've linked to has both the Sealer and Paint shown, clicking on each individual tin exposes links to a Information pdf and a Safety pdf.

Hovering over the page-top menu item for 'Floor Paints and Sealers' you will see they do other styles of paint, but as the blog said 'Polyutherane' that is what I linked to.

No doubt it's always a balancing act about the current state of the floor (and therefore the amount of preparation required),
the time necessary to apply and let harden,
whether the job can be done in one go,
the expected use of the floor,
and cost.

I will let you check the Paintmaster claim 'BUY DIRECT FROM MANUFACTURERS AND SAVE £££’s' :-)

Regards.

[SPendrey]

I'd go with the most expensive one.  It says it is "mixed colours" so will look like you've a wet floor with oil or petrol spilled on it. :-)

[David Sparkes]

Apparently there have been security problems with their blog site, so when I repeated the post to his direct email I got:

Concrete is highly porous. You can simply paint it but expensive paint will simply disappear into the concrete. Therefore the recommendation is to use a sealant (the "cold tea" in the blog) applied fairly liberally (it's so thin it goes everywhere anyway) then 2-3 coats of concrete paint leaving 24-48 hours between. We apply with a roller, with a brush only to get into awkward corners. Interestingly, if your man has spilt oil anywhere, the patches of concrete so affected seem to seal up nicely - there may even be a case for using old oil to seal it first!

The wear is heaviest from the forklift tyres and we try to give it as long as we can before driving over - sharp turns can lift the skin when it is still fresh.

Our stuff comes from Paintmaster at Whaley Bridge, but they have a stockist in Coalville who advertises on ebay if that's nearer to him.

Regards,     David.