I recently resurfaced the garage floor using self levelling concrete. The original surface was beginning to show signs of breaking up in part. The prep was all done correctly, my mates a builder. The self levelling concrete contains a latex substance, I presume to aid flow. I now want to paint the floor. Having looked in the usual places I find that most floor paints are not suitable for use with self levelling concrete floors. Even my local builders merchant says they will have to check with the tech dept.
I used Feb self levelling compound on the room/void that sits below my conservatory. Not sure if this is the same chemically as your compound but certainly garage type floor paint was specifically advised against IIRC,
We just used Dulux weathershield external smooth white masonry paint bought cheap(around £15 for 5 litres) when Tesco had it on offer.
This void has been used for wood storage and given a severe hammering - the paint has not worn, chipped or anything else, so comes highly recommended.
We did a test area first, straight on to the compound and then two coats for a good finish. Because the compound is smooth, it did not take a lot of paint to do the job - around 35 square metres so about the area of a big garage.
This paint also worked reasonably well with tanking compound which in theory should not be painted.
Thank you for the replays. I looked at floor tiles, the poly type as sold by Garage Decking and similar companies. It worked out quite expensive for the floor area I need to cover. My idea is to paint the floor and use rubber floor roll for the tires to sit on. This will prevent the hot tyres damaging the painted floor, and similar with regard to axle stands etc. I have a floor creeper and mat so knees etc. taken care off.
Must admit I wouldn’t have given any thought to using external wall paint. I’ll investigate that further. Still awaiting the merchant getting back to me.
Hi Jeff, when you find out something that is suitable, please let us know on the forum. The one question you must ask is, is it slip proof or will it, in time become slippy. I painted mine with two coats of red TOR floor paint and after a few months it has turned it something like an ice rink, a slight exaggeration, but slippy enough that if you for instance were trying to push a car out of the garage, your feet would not get enough grip on the floor to do it. It was OK when it was first painted but got slippery as time passed on. The only benefit of a slippy floor is that if you are laid on a piece of polythene under the car it is easy to move about.
I received a phone call today from my pro decorators shop, Rabbarts. They informed that the tech guys recommend a two part epoxy by a company called Hempel. They specialise in industrial coatings. The paint brand is called Hempadur. The good news is it comes in variety of colours and starts at £25 for a five litre tin. Some colours cost more. Not a bad price looking at some on the shelf that start at £60 plus in your local/national diy store.
Will be popping in to see them later in the week and will feed back.
Regards,
Jeff.
Forgot to say they do an anti-slip or recommend adding a fine grit.
Thanks for the replies. I did look at all types of floor tiling. Went with the paint option in the end. I want to continue the paint covering a meter up the walls, midgray to existing white. Also I have two four meter lengths of rubber roll which I’m going to use under the wheels. This should stop the hot tyres tearing up the paint and concrete.