• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Best shop floor surface?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 12521
  • Start date

Share this page

D

Deleted member 12521

Guest
Guest
Offline
Hey All,

Before I move the 3As into the new shop, I was considering applying an epoxy coating to the polished concrete slab. Other options include various lay-down (rolls, squares, etc.) products.

Any opinions out there on the best shop floor surface? Cost, durability, looks, ease of installation (or any other factors I've overlooked)?

Thanks in advance for any input!

P.S. Seeing as this shop was built specifically to house TRs (well, there will be some windsurf and ski gear in there, too), I'll post a few photos of the various stages of construction soon...
 
I used a 2 part expoxy on my concrete floor and am very pleased. Caution on using on too new of a floor - new concrete needs time (some say 60-90 days) to allow trapped gasses to escape before an epoxy coat will adhere. Another concern would be your term "polished concrete". I've read that if the concrete is too smooth, even after etching there is still nothing for the epoxy to grab onto.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Seeing as this shop was built specifically to house TRs [/QUOTE]

You are a lucky man!

My shop is a tall pine tree, and here's the floor:

PeaGravel.jpg


Tom
Pine-tree mechanic?
 
You probably will want to seal/finsh your shop floor, if for no other reason for looks or to cut down on dust from the concrete floor.

But let me suggest an additional measure you can take. Get yourself a large section of linoleum (a building supply houses may have some they are closing out cheap) to place under your car. It cleans up easily, keeps stains off the floor, and acts as an additional moisture barrier between your floor and the car.

Every now and then -- say at five or six-year intervals -- you may want to renew the linoleum if it becomes frayed or damaged from use.

Moreover, if you work under your car up on jack stands (and don't have a lift), linoleum makes sliding around very easy. And, the little padding that you find on linoleum makes working under there in cold weather (assuming your shop is not heated) a little more bearable.

Works for me... Just a idea.
 
Was at a clients last week and he had some brand of tiles on his floor.
Are they all that noisy?
This one creaked a lot!
 
Epoxy floor in a real working shop is the best. Tiles are pretty, if you just use the shop to polish and admire your cars, but don't do any major projects.

Of course, apply it before you let your vehicles leak oil all over it, or it will never bond.


John
 
Tr3aguy said:
Bob....unless you are a member of the 6 pack club...the images do not show up....I am sure it is interesting though.
Click to expand...

Sorry bout that... you don't have to be a 6-Pack member to see the pictures but you do have to register (it's free like BCF) for the forum.

The pictures show how much work the professionals do prepping the floor before beginning to lay down the coating. I think it was two days of prep work!

Paul cross posts frequently so maybe there's pictures posted here somewhere.
 
I hired a pro to do my floor (second home where I have <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">us</span></span>ed him) and he did a great epoxy floor. It was used concrete so the used a big grinder (looked like a commercial floor polisher) to clean up the surface -- then acid, primer, epoxy, chips & clear coat.

Nothing stains it, you'd have to attack it with a hammer (or drop something heavy) to do any damage to it.

The chips with clear over them provide just enough grip for safe walking but not rip your skin off when you have to lie on the floor (sand in the finish is too abrasive for comfortable vehicle-limbo work).

I mention this as you may want to get some quotes from a pro and compare cost to DIY.

<span style="font-style: italic">PS You may want to avoid the decking system if you think you will ever use casters -- the weight of the car on those small caster wheels sank into the plastic tiles in one friend's garage.</span>

<span style="font-style: italic">Oops</span>
 
Just had my garage floor done with the "grind, two coat base,add flecks and clear job." The previous one coat epoxy system did not hold up to hot tires or all the repairs on the TR3! Turned out great, but it's just like body work....the important part is the prep !

Gordon
 
Thanks for the advice fellas. I'm going to go with epoxy, and I don't think the prep will be too bad; the slab is two months old and it has only seen foot traffic so far... :hammer:
 
I'll offer a couple of tips I picked up watching the guy who did mine:

He wore a pair of old golf shoes while he worked -- these let him walk right on the wet epoxy w/o leaving footprints. The little marks left by the spikes 'healed' right up.

I had an assortment of color ships spread on the wet base coat before the clear coat. To do this he used one of those Scott's seed spreaders that you wear on your belly and work a crank as you walk around (in your golf shoes of course).

A fairly ridiculous looking set-up but beautiful results that still look good after 4 years.

Epoxy.jpg
 
From Geo:

Geo Hahn said:
Nothing stains it, you'd have to attack it with a hammer (or drop something heavy) to do any damage to it.
Click to expand...

I have a nice hard Sherwin Williams "nickel" finish. I like it, but man did I want to cry when I dropped a big hammer on it and marred the perfection. Probably best in the long run. Too much perfection isn't good for the soul.

Really, golf shoes? Steel spikes? The really old kind? When I do my older garage I may try that. I assume it's just for the off chance you need to walk back on some part you just painted, right?
 
Back
Top