Workshop Floor

Don't seal it at all. Fit ECOTILES

Foxyred said:

Don't seal it at all. Fit ECOTILES

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Jack stands, engine hoist and floor jack would really roll good on that

In the last 20 years I have supervised the building of thousands of apartments and houses. There aint many concrete floor types I haven't come across. A concrete slab floor does dry. After its cured. It can cure under the sea if necessary but we are talking a slab floor so it cures then dries.

I have had slab floors smashed out several months after a house was occupied to investigate drainage problems and it was still wet in the center. Not soft, not just as it left the truck but wet, moist, sodden, damp, not dry. The ones that had been tiled too early or had lino laid stank. Moisture had gathered within the concrete right under the surface. In fact contractors now insist on a coat of epoxy sealer on the floors before they lay vinyl as they are sick of being brought back to re lay vinyl time and time again. The epoxy does not get rid of the water it just keeps it in the concrete and not loosening the vinyl glue.

Take it to the bank. Im a doctor.

Bobsticle said:

In the last 20 years I have supervised the building of thousands of apartments and houses. There aint many concrete floor types I haven't come across. A concrete slab floor does dry. After its cured. It can cure under the sea if necessary but we are talking a slab floor so it cures then dries.

I have had slab floors smashed out several months after a house was occupied to investigate drainage problems and it was still wet in the center. Not soft, not just as it left the truck but wet, moist, sodden, damp, not dry. The ones that had been tiled too early or had lino laid stank. Moisture had gathered within the concrete right under the surface. In fact contractors now insist on a coat of epoxy sealer on the floors before they lay vinyl as they are sick of being brought back to re lay vinyl time and time again. The epoxy does not get rid of the water it just keeps it in the concrete and not loosening the vinyl glue.
Take it to the bank. Im a doctor.

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Not doubting you on this Bob, you are spot on
Did they use clean sand or pea stone as a base for the concrete or straight on the soil. Concrete is a good wick for moisture, and moisture will travel from bottom of concrete to the surface. Just lay a piece of cardboard or wood and come back in a week and lift it up and see.

vilguy said:

or just use an admixture waterproofer....

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Ere we go.................


Chemicals added to concrete PRAs to stop damp do not work for hand poured slabs. They can block pours to eliminate moisture ingress but need other elements in place to work. They just dont bridge the gaps in un uniform concrete with aggregates added. Like trying to fill a sponge with petrol using a paint brush.

The other problem with PRAs is they can seal from the outside trapping the moisture within. Just what you dont want.

Not bad in fine render when tanking but ****e in concrete.

Thor1950 said:

Not doubting you on this Bob, you are spot on
Did they use clean sand or pea stone as a base for the concrete or straight on the soil. Concrete is a good wick for moisture, and moisture will travel from bottom of concrete to the surface. Just lay a piece of cardboard or wood and come back in a week and lift it up and see.

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Depends on what your laying on. Soooooooo many variables. My fave is for ground that is wet and liable to shrink back when drying out (The crust does dry out when built on). You lay an interlocking base made of paper. Bit like eggbox stuff. Once the slab is cast it melts away leaving a void.

The whole depends on size verses type of ground. OK you may be laying 1000 tons of concrete but spread out over a large area the point load may be very small. A bit like the old bed of nails trick. The chap may be ten stone but ten stone divided by 1000 nails is only a few ounces per nail.
90% of house slabs are cast on the ****e dug out of the footings. All be it belted down with the back of a 15 ton digger bucket. Clean hard core of any description wont make any difference but how much weight does a house floor take? A garage floor Isnt constructed any different but the slab may be a little thicker and extra steel thrown in. All have a DPC membrane lay down first. If its in any danger of being punctured by the footings ****e, blind with sharp sand.

Thor1950 said:

Jack stands, engine hoist and floor jack would really roll good on that

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I take it you looked at the raised disc They do a smoother one !

Its fitted at :-
Northampton Police HQ Garages
Toyota Derby

Act in haste repent at leisure :smash:

Foxyred said:

I take it you looked at the raised disc They do a smoother one !

Its fitted at :-
Northampton Police HQ Garages
Toyota Derby

Act in haste repent at leisure :smash:

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http://www.ecotileflooring.com/faqs/

ecotile is extremely tough and hardwearing. It is a vinyl product so it will compress under heavy loads but will always return to its original shape. Please consult our sales team to identify which product would be most suitable for your application.

Word compress under heavy load= to me equals rolling resistance, making things hard to push/move. and jack stands seems as they would cut the vinyl and possible be unstable.

It is hard enough to move a engine hoist on a good concrete floor at times, or use a floor jack to move a car also

Thanks for the input guys, in summary it seems i have a choice between, pva, sbr, epoxy sealers, acrylic sealers, and numerous others, as a surface finish.... paint, epoxy, floor tiles(ouch £20 sq / metre), etc. with regard to stopping warm tyres lifting the paint, ?? was thinking of thin door mats, placed in the right place, seen dry sand used but thought that was messy.
I'm not after clinical cleanliness but want to keep it tidy and looking good, will go and do a bit more research. thanks again.

Bobsticle said:

Ere we go.................


Chemicals added to concrete PRAs to stop damp do not work for hand poured slabs. They can block pours to eliminate moisture ingress but need other elements in place to work. They just dont bridge the gaps in un uniform concrete with aggregates added. Like trying to fill a sponge with petrol using a paint brush.

The other problem with PRAs is they can seal from the outside trapping the moisture within. Just what you dont want.

Not bad in fine render when tanking but ****e in concrete.

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Sorry but we use admix in concrete for many civil engineering projects in the water industry. In concrete thats mtrs thick, not a few hundred mm's
Not sure what they use as i am not a concrete expert, but it is used.

Many areas are sanded by hand afterwards to give a great finish too. improves flow for water applications. You could polish the concrete after its set. That would look nice!

OP - if you use an epoxy ontop of the floor you wont have to worry about warm tyres etc.

You might find it uncomfortable to be stood on for a long time though.

Other option which could be used is to use some silica fume. Ive made concrete with this before. Its brilliant stuff. (bit expensive though)

Its really REALLY fine (so dont mix it in the wind) but fill in all the teeny weeny gaps and massively improves the compressive strength of the concrete. Makes the concrete from dark great to black depending on how much you use. (you need to use a mix calculator to make sure you dont use too much!)

Its funny to do a mix with this stuff too. You add the calculated amount of water and it will just dissapear into the mix. The mix will look dry. But agitate it in a mixer and it will suddenly turn into the concrete we know and love.

So it's up to about 15 grand now. Not bad for a garage floor.

PVA it, a fiver tops.

In a few years degrease it and lash on some cheap floor paint then every other year rinse and repeat.

Doctor Bob.

or you can buy specific concrete sealer or just buy floor paint

trax said:

or you can buy specific concrete sealer or just buy floor paint

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No. You can just keep buying sealer and floor paint. Just the same but more expensive.

I remember working for a pub outfitters many moons ago and the biggest problem was finding a floor finish that was low maintenance but looked good.

They had tried everything over the years. Reps would queue up in droves to flog the latest high tech coatings for timber flooring. Not one worked better than another. This went on for the four years I was with them and eventually when all the sales men sorry I mean experts had buggered off they started laying India stone paving inside. This went black with spilt beer within weeks so the salesmen returned with arms full of sealers and polishes and strippers. And on and on and on.

Floors are high maintenance. Live with it.

Bobsticle said:

No. You can just keep buying sealer and floor paint. Just the same but more expensive.

I remember working for a pub outfitters many moons ago and the biggest problem was finding a floor finish that was low maintenance but looked good.

They had tried everything over the years. Reps would queue up in droves to flog the latest high tech coatings for timber flooring. Not one worked better than another. This went on for the four years I was with them and eventually when all the sales men sorry I mean experts had buggered off they started laying India stone paving inside. This went black with spilt beer within weeks so the salesmen returned with arms full of sealers and polishes and strippers. And on and on and on.

Floors are high maintenance. Live with it.

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what are you warbling on about now? high maintenance? you having a convo with yourself?

bet op wishes he never bothered asking.

every builder has there own way of doing things like this and the old ones are immovable and detest change.

and it's for his garage.. no need to go nuts

Im just giving 30 years experience to someone who asked.

Builders have many approaches and many work to some extent or another.

I often chuckle at new techniques and products. The old ways have often evolved over many generations and taken thousands of trials and errors to perfect.

Then some spotty ex grammar school kid who cant knock a nail in sits in his office and makes a discovery that he thinks no body has tried before. Once a marketing company get hold of it it becomes the best thing since sliced bread and the masses believe the hype and empty their bank accounts to buy into it. Thats why we are currently making new homes out of ****e.

The fact is you know nothing about laying or painting concrete but continue taking stabs in the dark with useless and expensive suggestions. Its your right to do that of course and I enjoy the entertainment, so thank you for your lame contributions.

If thats nuts................ :bounce:

Bobsticle said:

Im just giving 30 years experience to someone who asked.

Builders have many approaches and many work to some extent or another.

I often chuckle at new techniques and products. The old ways have often evolved over many generations and taken thousands of trials and errors to perfect.

Then some spotty ex grammar school kid who cant knock a nail in sits in his office and makes a discovery that he thinks no body has tried before. Once a marketing company get hold of it it becomes the best thing since sliced bread and the masses believe the hype and empty their bank accounts to buy into it. Thats why we are currently making new homes out of ****e.

The fact is you know nothing about laying or painting concrete but continue taking stabs in the dark with useless and expensive suggestions. Its your right to do that of course and I enjoy the entertainment, so thank you for your lame contributions.

If thats nuts................ :bounce:

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didn't realise concrete floor sealer and/or floor paint were so exotic tbh.

btw, that spotty ex grammar school kid you disdain invented the PVA you recommend.

truth is many builders do use pva to seal concrete floors...

Yea but it was a builder who found how to use it............


I wouldnt put it on my garage floor. Its ****e..............