# Concrete floor - Why Epoxy? other alternatives?



## becikeja (Sep 12, 2010)

Thanks for comments on my last post as I started the brainstorming phase of building a new shop: https://www.lumberjocks.com/topics/307407

I now have HOA approval and in progress of securing the city permits. Wow, who would have thought this would be this tough,.... anyway, as I add up all the suggestions you provided and my own wish list I will need to make some trade-offs to manage costs. Currently I am trying to decide if I just leave a basic concrete floor or should I cover with one of these epoxy products, or is there something else I should be considering.

Really leaning toward just a concrete floor. Seems like an easy decision to cut costs., but once the tools start going in, i will never go back and do it later. What are the Pro's and Cons of covering the floor, am I missing something I will regret later?? Is it really worth it?


----------



## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

I believe that any floor covering is strictly a matter of personal choice.
for starters: concrete has a specific number of days to properly cure and dry
before you can do anything to it. (depending on your relative climatic conditions).
ask the company techrep that provides the concrete for that information.

being in the Navy for several years, I learned how to prep, paint and maintain
steel decks and concrete floors. so when I had my own two garage/shops,
I primed and painted the floors. when I built my last two shops, I primed
and painted the floors.
paint lends itself to easy cleaning and maintenance. and there are specific
primers and paints for concrete floors just about everywhere.
I have never had an epoxy floor. I don't know what would happen if the epoxy
decided to de-laminate from the concrete. (other than a nightmare).
so from the painted point of view - my vote is on prep/prime and paint a floor.
as painting and building is my profession, the shop floor gets quite a few squeezouts
of glue and epoxy. every few months, I would just run a floor scraper over
the floor to remove all the gunk and repaint. (not so easy with an epoxy covering).

the 1957 era house I purchased 3 years ago, has a painted garage floor and
a very large covered concrete patio. both will be getting new paint in the Summer.
(from what I understand, you can always come back later and epoxy over a properly painted floor).
keep doing your research !! and CONGRATS on your new dream shop !!

.

.


----------



## teetomterrific (May 30, 2017)

I epoxied mine after it was built before moving in and would do it again if I ever move. The floor had cured for about 3 months during construction. The floor really looks great. It is so easy to keep clean. I mostly just push around a cheap dust mop and then vacuum up the pile. The only con is that if you drop something heavy on the epoxy floor it will chip. In 3 years I have about a dozen dime to quarter size chipped spots. One day I'll get around to patching those with some more epoxy.

I bought mine fro Epoxy-Coat . I needed 2 full premium garage kits to cover a 24'x36' area. The entire thing cost $999 with a free shipping discount.

One note. I run a dehumidifier 24×7x365 and keep the shop at around 40% humidity I'm sure this has an effect on keeping the concrete dry but I have no empirical evidence that it is preventing delamination of the epoxy coating.


----------



## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

It partly depends on where you live. I had a concrete floor in my shop and I hated it in the winter because It never warmed up no matter how warm the shop was. I live in the far North and we get cold here. It also was hard on my knees. I had anti fatigue mats everywhere, but that made it hard to sweep. So I installed a product called Dri-core, I got it at Home Depot. It was very easy to install even after my shop was full of machines and cabinets. I just did a third at a time. It is supposed to be a subfloor, but for the shop I didn't install anything over it and it has held up fine. I did give it 2 coats of floor varnish. My floor is now warm and not hard on my knees, I don't need the anti fatigue mats, and it is so much better when you drop a tool of the floor.


----------



## ibewjon (Oct 2, 2010)

There is also a stain for cured concrete. Adds color and it won't peel off. A chip is easy to touch up. I have bare concrete with no complaints. If I was building today, I would put hot water heat in the floor.


----------



## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

I like epoxy for looks and easy cleanup of oil spills etc if you are doing mechanic type work. I do all my own car repair so consider it a must for that. If I didn't do car repair I don't think I would go through the hassle again though.


----------



## bndawgs (Oct 21, 2016)

Go with 2'x2' carpet squares.


----------



## ibewjon (Oct 2, 2010)

You mean 2×2 dust collection squares. How would they ever be clean?


----------



## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

No matter what unsealed concrete will put out masonry dust that will wreck havoc on precision machinery. Seal it with something, anything. They have clearcoat as well as more expensive epoxies.

Once sealed put down something with padding for the feet. It makes a huge difference.


----------



## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

My shops floor is concrete. Just plain gray.My shop under the canopy of a live oak tree so my floor is nicely cracked.


----------



## AndyMcKenzie (Nov 5, 2011)

I'm not a big fan of concrete. It's what I have now, and it's hard on the feet and knees after a couple hours, and dropping anything is likely to do damage to the tool or work.

I'm planning on putting in some kind of wood, probably some sort of plywood subfloor, when I can afford it.


----------



## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

I chose a bright yellow epoxy for my concrete garage floor. Two really great benefits. First, it brighten up the garage dramatically. Second, it made a noticeable decrease in the humidity of my garage.


----------



## hkmiller (Mar 6, 2018)

> It partly depends on where you live. I had a concrete floor in my shop and I hated it in the winter because It never warmed up no matter how warm the shop was. I live in the far North and we get cold here. It also was hard on my knees. I had anti fatigue mats everywhere, but that made it hard to sweep. So I installed a product called Dri-core, I got it at Home Depot. It was very easy to install even after my shop was full of machines and cabinets. I just did a third at a time. It is supposed to be a subfloor, but for the shop I didn t install anything over it and it has held up fine. I did give it 2 coats of floor varnish. My floor is now warm and not hard on my knees, I don t need the anti fatigue mats, and it is so much better when you drop a tool of the floor.
> 
> - bondogaposis


The dricore interesting product. Did you coat your concrete floor with anything before you put it down


----------



## bndawgs (Oct 21, 2016)

> You mean 2×2 dust collection squares. How would they ever be clean?
> 
> - ibewjon


Just vaccum them


----------



## becikeja (Sep 12, 2010)

Thanks for the comments, not to worried about a cold floor we now live just NE of Dallas. More worried about keeping it cool in the summer. I was worried about the bare concrete floor and assumed epoxy was the only answer. Never thought about painting it…. That just may be the answer. It will seal it at much less cost, but to madmark2's point will not provide any padding for the feet. But what options are out there? the Dri-core mentioned above is just too costly.


----------



## Foghorn (Jan 30, 2020)

I put down Swisstrax tiles in my garage/shop. Love it.


----------



## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Some guys recommend the hard rubber horse stall flooring. Some just put down plywood or even OSB roof decking with sleepers underneath. I've also seen seen some people put laminate flooring down.


----------



## clin (Sep 3, 2015)

Of course any flooring that could be put down on a concrete slab is an option. Up to and including hardwood floors. At a minimum I would paint the concrete. It will give many of the advantages of epoxy at much less cost.

But painting, epoxy or any coating on concrete, still leaves you with a hard floor. This is hard on your feet, legsand back, and hard on tools that you drop.

I used modestly expensive, heavy duty PVC tiles that just snap together. They work well for me. They provide quite a bit of cushion, are easy to sweep and vacuum, even with the coin pattern. The cushioning is not so much you can't roll heavy machines around.

PVC tiles are available in a range of thicknesses and corresponding costs. There are relatively inexpensive garage mats made from PVC. They're just big rolls and go down fast. But being inexpensive, they are also much thinner.

I don't care for cushioning floor mats because it's more likely I would trip on them, unless they completely covered the floor and didn't have exposed edges that I could catch a toe on. But I suspect if you had that many mats, it would get expensive.


----------



## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

Sheet linoleum


----------



## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Might look into better shoes, too.

back when I ran injection molding machines….I usually had 3 lines to "babysit" and, in a "normal" 12 hour shift, would be walking from 3 to 5 miles on the concrete floor….usually wore the best steel-toed sneakers I could afford….2-3 times a year.

i also spent over 6 years on concrete construction crews….usually just foundations….the "flat work" was contracted out. small pads like the OP's shop were one of our jobs….

tip: (free, too!) if the foundation wall is separate from the floor slab…BEFORE you back fill against the inside of the wall…add a layer of foam board. top edge is beveled so the floor covers it…..keeps the floor from getting cold.

Have done a couple "pours" for basketball courts. On top of the gravel base, there was a 6mil plastic sheet ( no gaps, keeps ground water out) then a layer of sand…then the wire mesh ( 6×6 welded wire ) that was tied together. Mesh sat of small blocks, to keep it in the center of the slab's thickness. Concrete has to be "finished" within 1/8" of flat for the entire floor, before they were allowed to lay the wood floor over it. There was a barrier rolled out first, then the wood floor….kept the Maple from sucking all the water out of the concrete, and rotting.

Simplest slab/foundation for a small pad( and cheapest to do) would be the "Thickened Slab" where you dig a trench arouns the perimeter, then lay the plastic, wire mesh for the floor area, will also be bent down into the foot wide trench…and #5 rebar tied to the edges. A stack of pavers, broken up into small squares, is used to hold the wire up…..unless your back is younger than mine, and you simply pull the wire mesh up, while standing on it….blocks are easier.

Used to be able to figure out in my head, the exact amount of concrete a pour would take…..was a LONG time ago..


----------



## Brawler (Nov 12, 2018)

I have a question folks. Is a painted or epoxied floors slippery when you have saw dust on them? I have a handicap where I don't do well with slippery or uneven surfaces. Like I can't have fatigue mats for fear of tripping on them, or one little slip, down I go. I had thought about painting/ epoxy the shop floor, but I have my concerns.


----------



## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

Many epoxy and other paint have nonslip options that is basically scattering sand over the wet paint for traction. Believe me that issue has been well researched and resolved. Search for "nonslip paint"


----------



## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

> It partly depends on where you live. I had a concrete floor in my shop and I hated it in the winter because It never warmed up no matter how warm the shop was. I live in the far North and we get cold here. It also was hard on my knees. I had anti fatigue mats everywhere, but that made it hard to sweep. So I installed a product called Dri-core, I got it at Home Depot. It was very easy to install even after my shop was full of machines and cabinets. I just did a third at a time. It is supposed to be a subfloor, but for the shop I didn t install anything over it and it has held up fine. I did give it 2 coats of floor varnish. My floor is now warm and not hard on my knees, I don t need the anti fatigue mats, and it is so much better when you drop a tool of the floor.
> 
> - bondogaposis
> 
> ...


 No I did not, just swept it clean.


----------



## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

Daniel - what type of covering is in your kitchen and bath ?
I would go out on a limb and say that a concrete floor painted
with Porch and Patio enamel paint is less slippery than ceramic
or porcelain tile in your home. and much less slippery than some
of those imitation wood floors I have walked on.
if you are comfortable walking on the floors in the grocery stores and wal-mart,
a painted floor would be about the same.
and I feel that adding sawdust to the mix greatly increases the risk of slipping
on any surface (other than carpet).

.


----------



## jeffswood (Aug 17, 2011)

Are you planning and putting dust collection pipes under the floor/in the concrete? Always something to think about when making a new shop. I should plan for it.

Personally if I ever build a shop, I will scrape up the extra funds go with a wood floor.


----------



## Knockonit (Nov 5, 2017)

i used a floor buffer with a scuff pad and acid washed the floor, vaccumed the excess and clear wash, dry for a day or so, then gave it a bath with the epoxy paint from home dip store, two coats, and yeah i filled expansion joints with a filler to get floor smooth, rolled on finish, let it dry, and awesome, not slippery, although they did offer a clear coat, which in my thoughts would have made it slippery, my shop floor is covered in dust contantly, and i have task mats at some machines to stand on, and a few at areas where i spend time assembling ect. 
cost was negligible compared to the actual mulitiple coat epoxy, works well here in Az for me, your mileage may vary, good luck 
rj in az


----------



## OzarkJim (8 mo ago)

In a shop with heavy machines? Hands down Concrete!! You need to consider FUNCTION FIRST. It's hard to beat concrete in a shop for multiple reasons. 

If standing on concrete bothers your feet or knees get a good pair of shoes!!

If you live up north and the cold floor is a consideration add heat to the floor (IE: pipe). Expensive yes but you decided to live up in the tundra and that is just one of the costs of living there.....

Simple non slip paint does well. 

If your shop is large enough to need utilities in the middle of it consider adding a utility trench in the concrete. Best decision we made with our build!!


----------



## OzarkJim (8 mo ago)

MadMark said:


> Many epoxy and other paint have nonslip options that is basically scattering sand over the wet paint for traction. Believe me that issue has been well researched and resolved. Search for "nonslip paint"


Ditto to MadMark comments. They also can mix the sand directly into the paint. Get them to put it in the shaker machine at the store.

I have a can of the paint we used in the shop. I'll get the information for you shortly. Got it at Lowe's. Works great and looks good. It's a tan color (I don't like the utility gray colors). I tried gloss black against the advice of some on here first. While it looked fantastic, it also showed every single speck of dust on it. So, tan it is. 

The anti-slip "sand" they sell at a paint store that is mixed into the paint is actually very "fine" sized (like 100 mesh or something). Almost a powder and as such it does not interfere with sweeping the floor. I would pay the small amount extra for it rather than going cheap with just regular sand. I have seen shops with just regular sand and it is irregular and does make sweeping more difficult.


----------



## OzarkJim (8 mo ago)

jeffswood said:


> Are you planning and putting dust collection pipes under the floor/in the concrete? Always something to think about when making a new shop. I should plan for it.
> 
> Personally if I ever build a shop, I will scrape up the extra funds go with a wood floor.


I went a different route in our shop with Utility trenches mid shop. Best decision I made. Now our shop is super versatile. We can change setups very easily and work on our utilities as needed. Trenches were poured with a lip so that a 2"x12" fits flush with the concrete. It didn't cost much to add this feature, but it adds so much to the shop it's priceless. Just be sure that you run oversized conduit for electricals, air line, control lines and also pipe for the dust collection. 

Great thing about the trenches is no cords or pipe hanging down from ceiling and nothing to trip over!!!!


----------



## Knockonit (Nov 5, 2017)

get a bag of double ought silica sand at the big box store and cast it on floor before paint dries, have friend who tried the sand in thepaint can and well kinda ugly for sure, the casting method may require a second coat, to seal sand in, but imo seems to be a better deal. 
have to say, my floor is not slippery at all unless there is standing water, did spill some water a while back, but no slippery than a tile floor when wet. dust not an issue. good luck, lotsa choices, 
rj in az


----------



## newblodgett (1 mo ago)

Has anyone done an asphalt floor?


----------



## OzarkJim (8 mo ago)

Knockonit said:


> get a bag of double ought silica sand at the big box store and cast it on floor before paint dries, have friend who tried the sand in thepaint can and well kinda ugly for sure, the casting method may require a second coat, to seal sand in, but imo seems to be a better deal.
> have to say, my floor is not slippery at all unless there is standing water, did spill some water a while back, but no slippery than a tile floor when wet. dust not an issue. good luck, lotsa choices,
> rj in az


Ok I got a LOT of floor left to paint in my shop so I gotta ask. What do you mean by kinda ugly?? I did the sand in the paint and it worked great SO FAR. But I sure would like to know if I am missing something BEFORE I paint the whole floor!!


----------



## OzarkJim (8 mo ago)

newblodgett said:


> Has anyone done an asphalt floor?


I'm not sure that would be a good idea as there would be lots of crevices for dirt and sawdust to hide. Not sure why you would want to go that route. I would think it be more expensive than concrete? Asphalt would also give under the weight of heavier machines and that could lead to leveling problems. 

Can you think of any advantages?


----------

