Industrial Floor Coatings

DeadCenter · Oct 20, 2011

Does anyone have a recommendation for industrial floor coatings? I have a smooth concrete floor that I want to cover with a durable coating that will:

1- Hold the weight of a machine tool
2- Stand up to years of foot/tow motor/pallet jack traffic
3- Withstand water and oil based coolant

Anything I'm not thinking of? Any recommendations?

sfriedberg · Oct 20, 2011

When I got quotes for my shop floor, I was bewildered by choice. It was very difficult to compare apples to apples. In the end, I went with an acrylic finish filled with beads for a non-slip finish, and after 2 years have been very happy with it. This was not a paint; they filled concrete expansion joints and such with it. BASF SRS methacrylate quartz, IIRC.

Pros: It's ready for move-in in 24 hours. It's impervious to the oils and solvents I use in the shop. (I routinely clean nasty sections of floor with 90% isopropanol.) It seems immune to hot-tire rubber transfer, although I don't have vehicles inside that often. I am told, but have not yet tested, that it is self-bonding, so dings and such can be filled easily, and that it's sufficiently elastic to bridge over any surface concrete cracks.

Cons: It's not cheap, although not out of line with any other industrial floor finish. It's absolutely not a do-it-yourself project. Dropping chunks of metal on the floor demonstrates it's no tougher than concrete in resisting chips and craters (although it seems no worse, either). Really intense point loads (like 3.5 tons on two bearing-type machine skates) will crush the beads, leaving a visible track. Spatter from welding 4" above the floor leaves slightly discolored spots.

Rudd · Oct 20, 2011

It hasn't had the test of time yet, but I just treated my new shop slab with a product called Diamond Hard by Euco (Euclid Chemical). It's a concrete "densifier", not a coating, it reacts with the excess lime in the concrete. I figured epoxy was going to get trashed by hot ones while welding or cutting, or scraped while moving machines. Plus it takes quite a bit of prep, and then curing time.
I dosed the slab (steel trowel finish shop floor and broom finish ramp on Saturday AM. It rained a little Sat. evening, when I went out the water was sitting ON the ramp. As in the concrete did not look darker like it was wet. The water looked like it was sitting on an impervious surface. It did not affect the "traction" on the floor, wet or dry, that I can tell. I'm getting to that point where falling on a hip would be a bad bad thing.

If I want to go pack with a coating like epoxy later, I can. You can't go from epoxy to a densifier obviously.

Some areas of the slab inside do look a bit darker if water sits for a long while - I'm waiting for my new roof to be installed. The color of the slab didn't really change. Note though, it will highlight any cracks.

From my research, you want a siliconate/silicon blend product.

There are some other similar products that require authorized applicators and are supposedly better, I can get a brand name tomorrow if you like. The rep from one called and said the new auto repair places were not using epoxy b/c of the maintenance required.

Dimitri · Oct 20, 2011

Epoxy floor coatings don't last long, maybe a few months. But they have one benefit, they can be removed easier then most of the tougher coatings out there. So you can refinish the floor when it starts getting ugly looking.

No matter what the coating, use a good degreaser like 3M's HD one, a floor scrubber (be careful they are dangerous) and really work the degreaser, just don't let it dry on the floor. Also if you have any kind of floor finish already, you can use a lye based floor stripper and its generally good with a black scrubber pad, to remove just about anything.

Again be careful especially if you use a floor scrubber, I know most will laugh that I am stressing this point but its 1.5HP plus of power on the motor, and its not going to stop just cause you want it too if it decides to glue itself onto the floor, especially such as if you let the degreaser dry on the floor. Many people have been seriously hurt by them going out of control.

Dimitri

Tonytn36 · Oct 21, 2011

Get in contact with these folks and discuss your needs. They do all of our floor coating work and do an excellent job at reasonable cost. The coatings are tough and available in many different strengths, finishes, colors and chemical resistances.
They can help you decide what type of coating to use for your application. They will do different coatings in different areas depending on intended use of the space, such as high load, heavy traffic areas.

Knoxville Commercial Flooring | Knoxville Epoxy Urethane Flooring | Knoxville Industrial Flooring | Knoxville Floor Coating | Knoxville Floor Sealant | Knoxville Industrial Floors | Knoxville Epoxy Floors | Knoxville Epoxy Coatings | Knoxville Epoxy

russ61 · Oct 21, 2011

same problem....sort of

Not meaning to hi jack this thread but I am maintenance supervisor in a screw machine shop, 50 some little oil slingers,Davenports mostly.The company has me looking for a slip resistant coating that would hold up long term.I tried the epoxy garage coating ,with the paint chips,in my office.Foot and chairs wore through it in a couple of years.The company already issued anti- slip shoes but wants to do more.
Scarifing the concrete has even been brought up.Anybody know of a coating that would work for this?

G-Auto · Oct 21, 2011

We use these guys. They did the hanger for Air Force One. Presidential seal and all.

Hi-Tech Concrete Coatings, Inc. I 800-220-COAT (2628) ext. 102 I Lititz, PA 17543
Hi-Tech Concrete Coatings - Uretek ICR Northeast Division I Surfaces and Substrates, We've got you covered.

Tonytn36 · Oct 21, 2011

russ61 said:
Not meaning to hi jack this thread but I am maintenance supervisor in a screw machine shop, 50 some little oil slingers,Davenports mostly.The company has me looking for a slip resistant coating that would hold up long term.I tried the epoxy garage coating ,with the paint chips,in my office.Foot and chairs wore through it in a couple of years.The company already issued anti- slip shoes but wants to do more.
Scarifing the concrete has even been brought up.Anybody know of a coating that would work for this?

They have slip resistant versions of these coatings.

robmc · Oct 21, 2011

The choices seem endless once you start researching floor coverings. I know you said "coatings" but I bought these for my home shop and when I finish replacing some sections of sill plate, I'm going to put them down. They're not cheap and are industrial tiles, an order of magnitude better than ordinary garage tiles. For me I think they will be good...... for someone else, it might not make sense. I don't think there's a silver bullet..... everything has it's pro's and cons.
Here's their website: www.tuffsealtile.com

bob11x · Nov 2, 2011

Anybody else use the Tuff Seal Tile? It sounds like a good fit for my store - OLD self poured floors - Not terrible shape, but uneven and coming apart in high traffic areas. Mostly for the retail side, so no HEAVY traffic.

We patched and stained it 15 years ago - alot of work, and it needs doing again. The Tuff seal sounds intriguing...

Thanks for any help

cash · Nov 3, 2011

We have looked at a bunch of shop floor coating and have decided to go with these guys-

Manufacturing

They have been put in a several large machine and packaging shops in the Milwaukee area and appear to hold up very well over years.

In december we will be doing this to about 12,000 sq ft. in our shop.

kaiko327 · Dec 10, 2011

bob11x said:
Anybody else use the Tuff Seal Tile? It sounds like a good fit for my store - OLD self poured floors - Not terrible shape, but uneven and coming apart in high traffic areas. Mostly for the retail side, so no HEAVY traffic.

We patched and stained it 15 years ago - alot of work, and it needs doing again. The Tuff seal sounds intriguing...

Thanks for any help

I think I actually have boxes full of the grey tiles with the bumps on them. Let me know if your interested and ill take a look. I think my mother got them from her school when they shut it down.

SND · Dec 11, 2011

While on this subject, anyone ever find or used a really good oil resistant clear concrete sealer?
the sherwin stuff I used smelled horrible, but unfortunately oil gets through it in seconds. There's gotta be a clear sealer that is more chemical resistant out there. I'd rather keep the normal concrete color myself, colored coatings look like crap the minute there's some damage. I did an acid stain on the slab in the house and in the next couple years I plan to sandblast or grind the whole surface to be rougher and try something more resistant in there too, as it tends to scratch easy now.

Monomer · Dec 11, 2011

SND said:
While on this subject, anyone ever find or used a really good oil resistant clear concrete sealer?
the sherwin stuff I used smelled horrible, but unfortunately oil gets through it in seconds. There's gotta be a clear sealer that is more chemical resistant out there. I'd rather keep the normal concrete color myself, colored coatings look like crap the minute there's some damage. I did an acid stain on the slab in the house and in the next couple years I plan to sandblast or grind the whole surface to be rougher and try something more resistant in there too, as it tends to scratch easy now.

Thin layer of clear epoxy or poly-urea?

We just got finished putting down 26k sq of Epoxy Paint For Garage Floors – Epoxy-Coat.com

All floors were diamond ground (I have callous's to prove it) We did not add any flake or non-slip. Really helps keeping machine areas clean. Operators can mop up their area.

Being a production shop, it's getting abused. Scratches everywhere. Still looks better then bare, dirty concrete. The key is to put down anti-fatigue mats around machines, or in places of high wear; like in an office floor with roller chairs - put down some of those clear carpet protectors!

We did it all in-shop, and besides moving around machines it was rather easy. Our supplier was local, so the rentals and supplies were bought from them.

SND · Dec 11, 2011

Monomer, what did you use for the grinding? that's a pretty big area so must have been a decent size machine, or just the ones you can rent with the 1 or 3 discs under on what is pretty much a janitors buffer? I used one of those to scuff/clean the shop floor before I did the sealer, it worked decent but I was dead at the end and was only 600sq/ft...

I want something that soaks in a bit, no sure if epoxy would.

I know if I ever do another colored floor, mostly for a home, I'm having the color mixed in with the concrete before its poured, no more flaking off.

kpotter · Dec 12, 2011

My shop used to be a heavy equipment repair shop and the floor is trashed. The top layer of concrete has been worn off. The floor is black, with oil stains. I love it, it cant get any worse I dont have to worry about painting a machine or pry baring a machine right across the floor. I had visions of a glossy grey floor but they dont last nothing holds up forever. I love not even worrying about what happens to the floor.

david n · Dec 12, 2011

I put down a Diamond Vogel brand of industrial epoxy on my shop floor. The stuff has been wearing like iron. If something is dropped on it, it may just scratch. High where areas aren't even close to showing wear. Good stuff. My only problem with it is when I put it down, I didn't thin it. It was pretty gooey and didn't flow nice and smooth. It was my bad and was in a hurry.

dallack · Dec 12, 2011

We had our floor diamond-ground before moving in to our new shop.
It's just ground, no coating, and supposed to last a long time. Have only been using it for 6 months, so no telling about wear yet.

The last ground is done with 1200-2000 grit stones, so the floor is really shiny.

Here is a link to the company that make the grinding machines:
HTC Superfloor and grinding machines for polished concrete floors

Monomer · Dec 13, 2011

SND said:
Monomer, what did you use for the grinding? that's a pretty big area so must have been a decent size machine, or just the ones you can rent with the 1 or 3 discs under on what is pretty much a janitors buffer? I used one of those to scuff/clean the shop floor before I did the sealer, it worked decent but I was dead at the end and was only 600sq/ft...

I want something that soaks in a bit, no sure if epoxy would.

I know if I ever do another colored floor, mostly for a home, I'm having the color mixed in with the concrete before its poured, no more flaking off.

It was a single head rotary machine, three pads.

Half the shop was done in a matter of a few weeks, the other half was done in sections. I've spent days just grinding.

Industrial Floor Coatings

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Titanium

Diamond

Plastic

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Diamond

Cast Iron

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Diamond

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