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Best Shop Floor Paint

19K views 11 replies 11 participants last post by  Lonesome Lion 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm buying a new house that has a 24'x30' detatched shop. Before I move in I would like to paint the floor with shop paint that resist stains and can be easily mopped. I've read mixed reviews on just about every product that I can find especially in regards to durability. Many of them seem to make the floor slippery.

What brands & types have some of you used, and what are your personal opinions about them? What types are the easiest to put down. Do the flakes that some of the coatings come with improve traction very much? The floor coatings aren't cheap so I want to do it once, the right way, even if it means buying a more expensive product on the front end.

I looked at Tennant Floor Coatings, which seems to be more of an industrial grade product. It would require the floor being ground to remove any impurities and to promote proper adhesion. It looks to be pretty durable but costs about $3sf installed. Has anyone used their products before, and is it worth the extra expense? I think if everything was properly prepped I should be able to get about 10 years of service life.

Thanks ahead of time for your opinions and suggestions.
 
#2 ·
DSW, I have experience with Tennant and it ranks up there with the best. The grinding you speak of is for old, used floors with years of absorbed fluids etc. On new concrete that has not been sealed, you can do a quick acid etch and go. If it has been sealed, you may have to acid etch it a couple of times to get it rough enough for a great bond. I recently finished my new shop floor with Wolverine Coatings and am happy with it. It is comparable in cost with Tennant and the prep and installation is about the same. Wolverine does go on thicker than Tennant, but the durability seems to be about the same. I am a little unhappy about the marking I have done with weld splatter on the new floor, but that was my fault for not covering up. I would assume any coating would mark when welding in the shop.

Trees
 
#3 ·
I was also considering going with a high traffic area tile, like the type used in schools. I don't know hw well it would hold up but seems to last forever with regular foot traffic. It would also be considerably cheaper, I'm looking at roughly $2100 + tax for the Tennant installed. I think I could do the tile for half of that. Just concerned about the durability and upkeep.
 
#5 ·
That Lowes epoxy is some TOUGH stuff for sure, I have a buddy that has it on his shop floor and I plan on doing mine with it this summer. It is available in a bunch of different colors and about any level of gloss plus it has several other cosmetic additives you can get for it. For the price it is really hard to beat!
 
#7 ·
trees said:
DSW, I have experience with Tennant and it ranks up there with the best. The grinding you speak of is for old, used floors with years of absorbed fluids etc. On new concrete that has not been sealed, you can do a quick acid etch and go. If it has been sealed, you may have to acid etch it a couple of times to get it rough enough for a great bond. I recently finished my new shop floor with Wolverine Coatings and am happy with it. It is comparable in cost with Tennant and the prep and installation is about the same. Wolverine does go on thicker than Tennant, but the durability seems to be about the same. I am a little unhappy about the marking I have done with weld splatter on the new floor, but that was my fault for not covering up. I would assume any coating would mark when welding in the shop.

Trees
I second Trees on the Wolverine Coatings. I have used Rustoleum, Quikrete, EpoxyCoat, U-Coat-It, and Griot's Garage epoxies and did my latest workshop with Wolverine and it is by far the best that I have used.
There is only one supplier for Wolverine Coatings products and that is at www.AlphaGarage.com
 
#12 ·
UCoat it

DON'T buy UCoat. I painted my shop floor with it several years ago (and followed ALL their instruction including doing the floor prep twice). The coating DOES NOT hold up and they were no help, I mean NO help, when I contacted them about how bad the product was performing. Bottom line -- the product sucks.
 
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