Following an extension to a domestic garage to provide a workshop and storage for motorbikes we were contacted regarding a garage floor paint for coating the floor.
The technical department were asked for a hard-wearing garage floor paint that could be applied to a reinforced poured and tampered floor slab to stop the concrete from dusting and provide a grey hard wearing decorative finish.
Questions To Ask
Before the product is applied, you need to ask yourself a few questions. For example, how long has the floor screed been laid? As a rule of thumb, for every 25mm thickness, the concrete needs 30 days to dry before application of paint. This time can very depending upon various conditions. These include how warm it is and how much air movement there is.
A factor that many people do not take into account, this is often the case in the Spring, is that the floor slab takes time to warm up so even if the air temperature is say 10 degrees Celsius the concrete may still be only around freezing.
Garage Floor Preparation
Preparation is also a major factor that many people overlook, as this was a tampered floor that contained a large amount of water which rises to the surface and as it dries this produces what is know as laitance, these laitance must be removed in order to achieve good adhesion between the floor and the paint to do this we recommend either a blast track or the use of Acid Etch. Following an Acid Etch treatment the floor is required to fully dry. Then the first coat of garage floor paint is applied.
The paint recommended for this application was a water based 2 pack epoxy paint from Rust-Oleum know as Pegakote. The first coat was diluted with 15% water to help the paint soak into the floor. This creates a good bond that is less likely to peel or flake in the future. The second coat was applied undiluted. The Pegakote floor paint was touch dry after 8 hours but needed to fully cure. This is as with all epoxy paints between 5 to 7 days to fully harden.
Fancy reading more of Promain‘s floor paint articles? Read these:
- Can I Use Garage Floor Paint Outside?
- How To Paint A Garage Floor
- Slip Resistant Flooring For Catteries and Kennels
- Sika Garage Floor Paint At Ferrari Manchester
- What Causes Hot Tyre Pickup?
