Nancy Udell on wed 1 nov 06
Hi Nancy,
In my old studio (our basement) the floor was unsealed concrete and
DUSTY.. I did clear everything out, clean, and put a concrete paint on.
The floor was much better, but the paint wasn't very durable and
chipped, etc. And when I tried to redo the area by my wheel and
marked it off with masking tape, the masking tape pulled up the old
paint right off the floor when I pulled it up.
I wished I had done more research first. There is a lot in the
archives on cleaning the floor first with muratic (sp?) acid so that
the paint does not peel up. If i were doing it again, I think i
would take the time to power wash and then clean with muractic acid
and then paint or maybe just seal. I'm not an expert on this except
that I know what i did wrong last time. Advice is to go slow and
clean really well before putting down the sealer/ paint.
Good luck
Nancy Udell
Santa Fe, NM
Snail Scott on wed 1 nov 06
I like my concrete au naturale. The moderate
absorbency allows me to work slabs on the
floor, and a scruffy concrete floor is sort
of like a faux-finished wall - the existing
irregularities prevent any additional messes
from looking horrid. (I _will_ spill things
on the floor and make messes.) I have laid
down epoxy floor sealants in the past, but my
present space (and most of my past ones) have
had years of abuse: oil, tire residue, spilled
chemicals - I'm unconvinced that I could ever
get it clean enough to take on a good tightly
bonded coating. I spilled some Rhoplex on it
a month ago - wiped it up - it's invisible
but I'm sure it penetrated - and I doubt
that muriatic acid will remove it. Same with
Thompson's or Water Warden - will an epoxy
coating stick to it where it's been splashed?
Not much else seems to. I'd rather have my
floor as is, sort of evenly mottled from a
history of honest use, than have an otherwise
pristine (but nonabsorbent) floor with a few
peeled-up nasty patches.
If I had the time and cash to do my floor,
there are a whole lotta things I'd do first.
-Snail
Nan Rothwell on thu 2 nov 06
Last winter, I repainted my studio floor using a two-part epoxy paint that
was designed for high-traffic industrial settings (dairy, chemical lab,
etc.). When we built my studio thirty years ago, we re-used old building
materials including the windows, doors and flooring -- old hardwood floors
we tore out of a building that was being taken down. The polyurethane we
put on the floor back then had largely worn off (clay is ABRASIVE!). It's
early to report the long-term behavior of my new paint, but so far it's
doing great. What a relief to be able to wash the floor without having half
the water soak in!
The epoxy paint was primarily designed for concrete floors. In fact, I had
to speak with several service reps before finding someone who could vouch
for it being suitable for wood flooring. So if you do decide to paint your
floor, you might want to check on industrial products like two-part epoxy.
If you want the specific name and stock number of what I used, drop me a
note off-list and I will see if I can dig it out for you.
Nan
--
Nan Rothwell
NanRothwellPottery.com
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