Garage floor paint/resin/epoxy resin

[BotusBuild]

We have a large room that will initially be used as our attic (as we don't have one). It will have a Cemfloor screed poured next week, and we want to stop the dust that might/will occur from general foot traffic. I'm thinking of using something like a garage floor paint, or possibly an even more resilient resin or epoxy resin coating.

 

Any recommendations for what to use? Seen this in FB advert land - resincoat.co.uk - anyone used it?

[SteamyTea]

If you are going to the trouble of coating it, then use an epoxy resin. May cost more  but it will last as long as the floor.

 

Alternatively, how about a posh 'vinyl', they don't have to look like the 1980s (though I looked better back then).

[Nickfromwales]

Cheap lino for now, and it'll be warmer underfoot when the heating's not on.

[BadgerBodger]

With it being cementitious, could you use a standard curing agent/dust sealer?  It’s not the most robust solution but it’s something. 
 

As @SteamyTea says resin floor covering would be the most robust. 
 

Somewhere in between you have 1 part resin floor paints like Crown Epimac or 2 part paints like Resbuild SF which get more expensive the more complex the product. 

 

[Conor]

You don't need anything on cemfloor. Just stay off it until it cures properly. Our plant room and large storage room in basement are both bare cemfloor and there is no noticeable dust or wear. 

[saveasteading]

6 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

If you are going to the trouble of coating it, then use an epoxy resin

Depends. I've had fancy 2 part stuff in commercial garages, specified by well known marques,  and it was great but hideously expensive. 

For family garage businesses  we tried the cheapest floor paint from their trade magazines. Tt wore out eventually along the repeat wheel routes, (thousands of passes) and simply needed a local touch up every 5 years. So it saved them thousands.

 

 

[JohnMo]

15 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

and we want to stop the dust that might/will occur from general foot traffic

For our concrete floors before we carpeted, we used a simple inexpensive concrete sealer, white milky stuff, similar to watered down PVA. Went on easy dried pretty quick, dust gone. Cheap as chips to buy.

 

Epoxy used that also, super expensive, every tool you use goes in the bin, in a domestic situation will outlast the rest of the house.

[LnP]

I wanted to paint a screeded workshop floor. The small print on the solvent based floor paints I looked at said they weren't suitable for screed, only suitable for concrete. So I went for the two part epoxy paint. Yes it was expensive and you have to discard your rollers and brushes afterwards, but I preferred to do the job once. It's been down a couple of years now and is holding up wel ... l and I like the high gloss finish 🙂 . I've dropped things on it and it hasn't chipped.

[BotusBuild]

Thank you all. May go for the concrete sealer for now and properly floor it if it gets turned into a bedroom later down the line.

 

FYI- Nick, it's heated so things'll be warm.

 

I'll save the expensive epoxy for MY garage 😁

[BotusBuild]

Its getting close to the time for the garage to get its floor covering 😀

 

Epoxy resin. Product recommendations please.

 

Can it be DIY'd?

[BadgerBodger]

Absolutely can be done yourself with resin paints. Trowels resin coatings are a little more tricky… 

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

2 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

Epoxy resin. Product recommendations please.

@BotusBuild I used 2-pack epoxy from Black Country Paints. It felt like a minefield once I started digging into what to use. Called them up and they were really helpful. Checked around elsewhere and they still came in very competitively, and I did value the support and advice over the phone - stopped me over-ordering and gave sound advice on the sealing I needed and tips on application.

 

https://www.bcpaints.com/two-pack-epoxy-floor-paint-manufacturers/

 

I went for an anti-slip version and am very pleased with it.

[saveasteading]

Unless it will be used for other purposes with nasty spills and lots of movement,  I would just paint it. One coat of single part garage floor paint.

 

A commercial garage has dozens of movements. Yours presumably won't.

Even commercially I once suggested to a client that they ignore the spec of hi-tech flooring and just paint it. This was a commercial  vehicle service bay so getting lots of movement.

 

They saved many tens of £k. Once a year they overpaint the slightly worn area of the repeated wheel routes.

 

 

[BotusBuild]

33 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

single part garage floor paint.

 

Which make? We used one as a temporary measure and parts of it are still tacky after 3 years

[BotusBuild]

@Great_scot_selfbuild, curious about what the 110mm pipe coming through the wall is for?

[saveasteading]

14 minutes ago, BotusBuild said:

Which make?

This was 10 years ago. Just something called garage floor paint and a diy product as well as from paint merchants.

Just had a look. Leyland seem to do one. You may be stuck with grey.

It was just paint so it dried and couldn't possibly be tacky afterwards.

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

5 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

@Great_scot_selfbuild, curious about what the 110mm pipe coming through the wall is for?

Good spot. It’s so we can have an EV charger in the garage, but put a cable through the hole to charge car(s) parked outside. The consumer unit is on the other side of the garage and we also routed a large conduit in the concrete floor. We haven’t made a final decision on location - this was to give us options. I’ve done similar ‘what if’ options. In the house with wiring and plumbing for future possible expansion / change.

[Andeh]

Any form of garage or workshop only do 2 part Epoxy resin/paint. The normal single tin garage floor paint can be extremely weak, with warm tyres simply peeling it off.

 

Once you've made that mistakes the effort of removing it to enable a proper replacement is massive.

 

Having made the mistake myself, it took nearly a dozen hours with a floor grinder to remove it all.

 

Since then, I swear by 2 part Epoxy paint, and over 2 garages, daily used by two cars I've found it extremely resilient.

[saveasteading]

23 minutes ago, Andeh said:

The normal single tin garage floor paint can be extremely weak, with warm tyres simply peeling it off

I'm only saying what I did. This was a new commercial car garage with hoist. It worked nicely and our client saved many thousands. I'm guessing, but 12 cars a day?

In other garages we used v expensive resins and they worked too, with a downside of being thick and difficult to seal at edges.....and expensive.

 

 

 

 

[Roger440]

If its a proper screed, nice and flat, then if you just want to stop dust, just use a densifier. Its clear like water and just soaks in. Cheapish, and dead easy to apply.

 

If you paint, you are appying a coating. Again, if its completely smooth, and with proper prep, a single pack product will work up to a point. However, not all single pack products are equal. Id certainly not be buying from B&Q. Ive found Promain very helpful if you ring (an actual telephone call, madness i know!) and explain what you are doing.

 

For me, if painting, its 2k epoxy every time now. But i prefer to tile. Did my last garage with tiles and its absolutely the best solution long term. Good epoxy is expensive. Tiles more so, but the difference if you do it yourself not that big. Depending on the tiles of course!

[saveasteading]

30 minutes ago, Roger440 said:

certainly not be buying from B&Q. 

It's just that I did a search and that came up, showing it is common. I'm pretty sure we sourced ours through a paint merchant, and it was not a mass market make.

[BotusBuild]

For clarity, currently the floor is the foundation slab, poured with C25 concrete. It was covered with plastic sheeting in the warm weather, and will need grinding and levelling (or the other way round) before I do anything.

 

Tiles? I'm bound to drop a hammer or spanner when working in the car/s 😀 probably give this a miss.

Which i think narrow MY choice to a 2 part (2k?) epoxy.

So, any preferences on 2 part (non slip) epoxies?