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Posted by: sww914 Jun 27 2009, 12:31 AM

So it seems that I'm moving my shop from a 100 (really) year old barn to a very nice automotive service complex. I think that if I'm working in a very nice building, on sports cars, in the city voted best place to live in the country by some silly magazine for people who give a crap about those things, I should paint the damned floor. I want to paint it white, you can see better under the cars and you can see spills.
Any positive results from painting the floor?
Did you find something great and not too pricey?
Did you get some that was absolute junk?
A lot of us 914'ers probably don't ever get around to it, I might need to post on rennlist, those weenies seem to care a lot about fluffy toilet seat covers and expensive little dogs in designer purses.

Posted by: RobW Jun 27 2009, 01:56 AM

Congrats on the new shop! Is it close by? When are you moving? Is my car OK?

Posted by: sww914 Jun 27 2009, 04:26 AM

Everything is good. I'll call you tomorrow, it was too late tonight. The shop is in SLO.

Posted by: brp986s Jun 27 2009, 12:48 PM

I got the 2 part expoxy stuff from Home Depot. It looks the same as the Griots garage stuff. It has not worked out very well, but that may not all be the fault of the product as much as the circumstances. If the water table in your area is high then vapor is permeating through your floor and will cause the paint to bubble and flake off. Second, if your cement is finished so as to be shiny, it will be difficult for the paint to adhere when hot tires are parked on it - the more time, the worse. I've thought about using that anti-slip adhesive backed stuff to put in these places. I've heard you can place an inverted glass on the floor to look for condensation to test for water permeation. Water level may be low at this time of year. The stuff is impervious to solvents, brake fluid, etc.

Posted by: sixgt Jun 27 2009, 01:07 PM

My friend used the Griot's floor paint, guaranteed not to scratch or lift. It was pretty expensive and did have some lifting and scratching issues. Concrete was new but allowed to dryout properly.

You can check w/ some of the garage forums online. Most have built or remodeled their garages and a lot of the guys have tried most of the floor paints out there.

Posted by: BarberDave Jun 27 2009, 01:08 PM

My problem is simular, garage floor is not more than 3 inches above grade.

When it was pored no vapor barrier was put under slab, so every time it really

rains. Moisture comes up thro the concrete, the amount is just enough to make

the floor damp, to the touch. And Pi-- me off.

Is there a paint ( or ???? ) that i could use to seal the floor. And prevent the

moisture from comming thru ? I WANT ONE OF THOSE PRETTY GARAGE

FLOORS ! Dave

Posted by: underthetire Jun 27 2009, 01:15 PM

Sorry, floor paint sucks.
We used it in our machine tool showrooms. Cracked from driving on it. Left burn marks from the forklift turning on it. Slippery as hell with oil on it.

We use the thick "school house" tile squares in our shops now. They hold up better and is much easier to repair. Costs a little more.

If you don't need white, concrete stain is a lot better, but you will need a good floor to start with.

Posted by: Elliot Cannon Jun 27 2009, 02:05 PM

I used Griots Garage paint on my last garage and it works pretty good. The key is preparation. I scrubbed the floor twice with a good industrial soap/de-greaser, then etched with muriatic acid. You have to roll on the second coat no longer than two hours after the first. This stuff really hardens. You need to let it cure for a few weeks before parking cars on it. Liquid spills clean up fast and easy. It can be a bit slippery when wet. On my latest garage I used the snap together plastic floor tiles and like them a lot. Go to bigfloors.com. They have the squares on sale for 1.98 a piece. You also might try garagejournal.com. They have a section about floors and what people have used.
Cheers, Elliot


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Posted by: JJ914GT Jun 27 2009, 05:06 PM

Off topic; sorry, but are those really Jag XJS mirrors on your car? Or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

Posted by: RobW Jun 27 2009, 06:35 PM

I looked up Northern Tool and they just have lots of the tiles.... I wonder how much a thin linoleum would cost...

Posted by: Elliot Cannon Jun 27 2009, 07:53 PM

QUOTE(JJ914GT @ Jun 27 2009, 04:06 PM)

Posted by: JJ914GT Jun 28 2009, 05:40 AM

Right, so my eyes were indeed playing tricks on me,..

Look about the same:

Here an XJS one ( electric)



See the similarity? ;-)