Machine shop floor finish

We're doing some major renovation work to our machine shop area. When it's done, it's supposed to be something we can show off a little bit. There is lots of work to the walls, lighting, electrical, etc. I'd also like to neaten things up with an epoxy floor finish or something like that. The floor is bare concrete right now.

BUT this is a government operation, and architects and engineers are involved. For some reason, they're not real hot on that idea - they keep saying epoxy is expensive, doesn't hold up, and will need to be replaced in 4-5 years.

So are they right? Does anybody have an epoxy floor under their machines and can tell me how well it's doing, or about how much it cost?

bare concrete is a beautiful thing.... I'd sonner go with a clear sealer than an epoxy coating. The sealer is inexpensive, invisible, and sooner or later someone is gonna drop a couple ton piece of metal and put a great big divot in it, much easier to make it look normal on a non epoxy floor.

i have used a poly coating called HILL floor sealant . has held up well.

Epoxy is a beautiful thing until you spill oil. Then it's really hard to stand up.

CCC said:

We're doing some major renovation work to our machine shop area. When it's done, it's supposed to be something we can show off a little bit. There is lots of work to the walls, lighting, electrical, etc. I'd also like to neaten things up with an epoxy floor finish or something like that. The floor is bare concrete right now.

BUT this is a government operation, and architects and engineers are involved. For some reason, they're not real hot on that idea - they keep saying epoxy is expensive, doesn't hold up, and will need to be replaced in 4-5 years.

So are they right? Does anybody have an epoxy floor under their machines and can tell me how well it's doing, or about how much it cost?

Click to expand...

Epoxy holds up pretty well, but can be slick when oily. If the concrete is reasonably clean, the best thing to go with is an acid hardener. It actuaslly penetrates into the surface from 1/4 to 3/8", and the more use the floor gets, the shinier it becomes. It also hardens the concrete to help fight abrasion wear, and also densifies the surfae to prevent oil from soaking in. It can be colored, too. We used it often in the old days, before the colored was available. It's often speced on industrial floors. If there is an old sealer on the floor already, it has to be removed before hardening. I used it on my driveway and sidewalks last year when I changed to putting my fertilizer on thru the sprinkler system....didn't want the fertilizer soaking into the concrete and causing damage during the freeze-thaw cycles. Sonneborn calls their product Lapidolith. The old AC Horn Co. called theirs Horntraz, and there are others.

Oil, water, anti-freeze... They all make epoxy coatings seem like teflon.

I was actually planning on it till my concrete guy sealed my slab with something incompatible with the stuff. Now that I have the other sealer, I don't mind that I don't have epoxy.

The sealer turns black from spatter. I can only imagine what the epoxy would do, and I would've had to pay more for it.

Another problem of epoxy is having to etch the surface of the concrete. This involves pouring slightly dilute muriatic acid on the floor and letting it eat until it quits foaming. Can you say rust? If not, you will be able to by the time you finish.

I have done this both ways and prefer my sealed floor, as suggested above.

I have a poured epoxy floor, made when the house was new 10 years ago. The concrete was ground and etched first, and they guaranteed adhesion for life. It is 2-3mm (1/8") thick, and has stood up extremely well (to moderate use, I am only a hobbyist). I wipe up spills, so friction is not a problem. Pretty expensive as far as I remember. From time to time I wash it with strong detergent and wax it, then it looks just just like new for a time.
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=124769
Ole

Ice is right. Epoxy with a few dropes of oil or coolant makes a skating rink. Safety first.

A machine shop floor takes a terrible beating. If the shop is a serious enterprise and not a showplace the floor finish has to be utilitarian. However it should be safe to walk on, easy ti sweep, simple to repair and recoat when the time comes and in the end have a nice appearance when it's necessary to impress people.

Epoxy and other hard surface coatings look great when new but aftter a couple of years in busy shop they look like hell; there's no fixing them exept by re-coating. The floor for coating has to be grease-free for initial application which is hard to do in a working shop because of the need for pressure washing, etching, etc. Walked in chips make a mess of it. Hard iron casters, dropped material, and metal drum handling chews it up. Strong solvents will stain it possibly lift it. And spatter from hot work causes amazing ugliness. And wow!! is it expensive to doctor up. The cured coating is flammible which is something to think about in fire safety.

What you want is a good traction floor coating, that's easily repairable and comes up easily for re-coating if need be. I suggest a consumable coating intended for easy stripping or repair.

I prefer interior grade latex wall paint. It's not shiney and expensive. It closes the pores of the concrete making it easy to sweep. The high pigment load ensures good traction so it's safer than an impervious coating when wet or oily. It's cheap, comes in many colors, and is universally compatible with other latex paints. A simple scrub with soap and water will take up most any stain for spot re-coating. It will track and stain but shrewd color selection and spattering with a contrasting color(s) will minimize the effect to the eye.

Come re-coating time water and detergent with a poly briush on a floor polisher will take it right up. A wrinse, a time to dry, and then a re-coat in the evening. Allow to cure over the week end and you're back in business. You don't want to use a good exterior grade. It's too durable. A low cost interior grade is superior because its so easy to repair and recoat over damp mopped damage.

Another point is latex is $12 gal per 5 gallon pail Vs $40 to $120 gal for the better quality floor paint that looks so good until you actually abuse it for a while.

Just don't have white floors.

Lost an account many years ago when I walked across a fresh "white" shop floor with my oily scrap boots. Granted I was a kid, and didn't know any better, but that was the last time I was welcomed back by that shop diva.

epoxy floor

If you end up using epoxy mix ground up walnut shells in the paint for a non slip surface. Peter

We have an epoxy floor, grey in color, that looks like it was mixed with large-grained sand (could be walnut shells) which has so far held up well for five years and is very much non-slip even with a leaky roof and oil/coolant spills.

When we had our shop built we had a wood block floor installed. We sharpen saw blades and this allows us the ability to roll freshly sharpened saw blades to the containers for shipping. Some blades are 52" in diameter. Oil and spills soak into the floor without much problem. Give it a sweep now and then and the floor looks great. Heavy machinery is no problem, soft on your feet and should last as long as the bulding. check out jennisonwright.com

My 'Retirement shop' which I will build this fall will have 2000 S.F. of Oak Floor.

Grey epoxy with the paint chips sprinkled on it for non skid. If you want a showplace this is the ticket. Bought it at Home depot. You can even order different colors of paint chips.
Downside is that if you drop something small,( insert screw), I have to sweep the area and look through the pile.
have fun
i_r_machinist

Thanks for the tips. Sounds like we need to stay away from plain epoxy for safety, but I'll look into the nonslip additives, and some of the other sealers. Those might work well. Wood is probably out for cost reasons. This floor gets a lot of traffic - not vehicles, but people, carts, and equipment dragged around. Would latex paint stand up to that?
"Pretty" isn't the main concern, and we do real work in here. We're just trying to spruce things up a bit.

I used the two part epoxy, color chips and non-skid additive, I am totally happy with the outcome. I completely ground the portland cement layer that you get after finishing off and then acid washed and rinsed twice, let the floor dry for a couple of days running the furnace and a couple of fans to circulate the air. I have spilled oil and antifreeze on it and the floor is not slippery, that anti-skid works great. The finish is unbelievebly tough and durable. As was stated in a earlier post with the color chips its a PITA if you drop a small screw or similar, so I bought a 12" sweeper magnet and keep it close by. Another upside is that the floor has to really be nasty before it looks dirty. I bought the epoxy at a local paint manufacturer in Tulsa, Anchor Paint, cost was about $30 a gal., I put down 2 coats using a roller. When I built my building last year I covered the inside walls with 5/8" MDF, and I also used the same epoxy but a different color on the walls, withnout the color chips of course. Do the prep. right and the results are worth it.

Having done epoxy and having it mess up and then redo. In my new shop, I plan on using a sealer.

epoxy floor

I built my shop 2 years ago and coated the floor with Epoxy grey I bought at Lowes. I think it was around $ 80.00 for 1.5 gallons. I used 4 gallons for a 24 x24 floor. I love it. It makes the shop look clean and professional. It is pretty darn hard too. I have drug and scooted machines across it and havn't pulled any of it off the floor. I plan to recoat the floor now that all of the moving machines around is done. I plan on sprinkling a small amount of sized gravel on when I coat it to aid in traction. When it is wet it can be slippery. The professional floor coating guys do this to eliminate slip hazard in factories. Really great stuff.
Brock

Epoxy coating a floor is the worst thing you'll ever do. Use a sealer or use nothing but stay away from epoxy unless you walk around your shop in your socks and never drag anything across it.