The builder and I have been working with various vendors to get the floors painted. I'm not a "floor paint guy"... in that I have always preferred a "working shop"... which means dragging heavy items across the floor - using the floor as a large anvil... or generally just not caring about "the floor". Makes my life easier.


BUT after all this work in the new shop - the builder and I thought we should at least look into doing the entire shop - not just the entrance - bathroom and upstairs office area.

Well.... this is quite the problematic area! My criteria was - that the vendor would have to demonstrate the product has been installed in real actual working shops with hot tires parked on it etc. In other words - if the vendor hasn't done this coating in an airplane hanger -- firehouse (where they park the trucks) -- or warehouse where forklifts are used.... "beat it!" Remember where I am -- so this is not a major city with plenty of guys doing this kind of work.

The first couple guys -- could only show us pretty little two car garages - in brand new houses (meaning brand new concrete) - with your grandmothers Buick parked in it. Uh..... No thanks.... scram! Beat it!

Finally got a couple people out of Twin Falls and Boise... actual real commercial guys... Bids are over $20K to as much as $40K. But what's most interesting is the sales pitches - which are mostly about NOT to use the other guys stuff.

Guess what my solution is? It's not happening. No way I'm spending that kind of money on the floors - while all the time worrying about when the paint is going to peel off. It's far easier to do absolutely nothing and not have any worries.

So here's the funny part.... since it's just a small job and I'm not going to be driving on it -- I can now just use the little home garage guy and have them do the office and entrance and bathroom.

Pics of "the rig" parked inside sometime this next week depending on whether or not I get brake parts here for the Mustang. As soon as that job is complete I'm hoofing it to SV! Yippeeeeee

Smart move. 20 to 40 k is huge money for floors. At that price you should do your homework and do them yourself. Its not like you dont have the time.

A good commercial buffer, scotchbrite pads, weed sprayer with appropriate cleaner, hose and squeegee can be had for a lot less than $20K. But finding someone dependable to operate the equipment can be a challenge.

That's how I cleaned the service bay every Friday at 4:30 at the local Porsche dealer in the mid 70's. Looked great.

I'd do what Sieg suggested. Then I'd get a concrete water based sealer, and seal the floor. It will soak in and it looks like you didn't put anything on it. It will keep the concrete dust down to a minimum.

What about staining the concrete?

When I worked at the Mobil station on 102nd and Halsey Street -- we cleaned the floors with solvent - then a water rinse and a squeegee... we also washed our hands face and arms in LEADED gasoline. All of which has since been deemed highly inappropriate... LOL







All the suggestions are good -- but we don't know how the floors were used or treated in the past. The building was first used as a heavy metal fabrication business -- not sure if anything in between -- but last use was a commercial door refinisher... and the floors "APPEAR" to have plenty of overspray of various stains and clear finishes. So to go back now and try to put something on them would just be a complete guessing game.

The big commercial floor coaters quotes all included GRINDING the floor surfaces to clean cement.




Per above.... works nice on a nice new floor.... and Staining was / is an option. But I think I'm sticking to my original plan of just using 'em the way they are. I'm really not trying to build a collectors showroom. I like pounding - welding - grinding - beating - dragging... GORILLA STYLE. LOL

Even with that prep it's only addressing surface contamination. Chemicals wick themselves into concrete and once the top is sealed which keeps the concrete from being able to breathe, "contaminated" moisture or gases trying to escape have no where to go and compromise the bond or discolor the finish.

Personally I like my concrete a little on the trashy side...........

This is what I did, only the sealer was solvent based. It does make a huge diff in my shop but I get what you're saying GW. Floors are already contaminated with who knows what.

And since GW likes to share wonderful little stories, I'll add mine.
When they were building my shop, the guys used a hard rubber tired forklift to do the high work and move materials. They spent 9 days riding in circles and doing doughnuts on the fresh concrete. When they were done, 75% of the floor was black. No amount of scrubbing or chemical could make a dent in it. No amount of threats or phone calls could get the people responsible to even come out and look at it. The owner just kept saying "but it's a shop, what do you want the floors to look like?!?"....


Jeff-

The same can be said of my living room floors!

LOL

That would have pissed me off almost as much as the spray in foam insulation guys getting overspray all over my freshly poured, smoothed to a baby's bottom finish, not sealed outbuilding shop floor that I was planning on finishing somehow someway. :bigun2:

To this day I still remember the feeling when I walked into the shop the first time. Like I was kicked in the gut... That stuff doesn't come off of ANYTHING...EVER...