Concrete Shop Floors

[Mark Blatter]

Lots of new shops are being built or built in the past few years. What have other done to seal the concrete? My preference would be to do an epoxy to seal and protect the floor, but the one time I did it at a past job it was very expensive. Not a fan of painting concrete as it doesn't seem to last.

All suggestions and opinions welcome.

[Jim Becker]

Mark, I'm not really all that knowledgeable about concrete, but I wonder how much benefit sealing would bring if the floor is "finished" really well, like some of the more commercial shop projects like Martin Wasner's were done. Those floors are "pretty shiny" just by how the contractor worked them during and after pouring. I don't know that I'd put the expense into a fancy sealer, myself, and I use anti-fatigue mats over my concrete floors, too.

[Thomas Crawford]

I had my concrete guy finish it really nice and smooth. I was considering the epoxy but honestly I think I'm just going to leave them as-is. Planning on anti-fatigue mats as well. I'm not really concerning with staining, and long term I'd love to put hardwood floors over it anyway.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

I put down Armstrong commercial tile:

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Search/N-5yc1vZbzk0/Ntk-Extended/Ntt-armstrong?Ntx=mode+matchpartialmax&NCNI-5

I think I paid about $0.60 per sq ft. Easy to lay and has not given me any problems.

[Bill Dufour]

The horse stall mats at TSC are pretty cheap and very heavy duty. But no tapered edges so easier to trip over.
Bill D.

[Bill Dufour]

If you use silicone sealer to prevent oil stains I think you will be out of luck for any paint sticking later.
Bill D.

[Peter Christensen]

I worked in a plant that added a second building of 60,000 square feet. They had a very expensive epoxy floor of about an eight of an inch thick or more on it. To prep for the epoxy the entire floor was shot peened to clean and rough the surface. In less than 2 years the epoxy was lifting and breaking up in the areas where the vapour barrier under the concrete wasn't well done. Middle of the floor or at expansion joints. The water vapour from below was enough to push the epoxy off. At least twice more they tried to repair the floor by chipping up the loose areas or grinding them and shot peening again. At least regular floor paints can be repainted quickly and relatively cheaply.

The best concrete floor I ever saw was the Canadian Airlines hangar (now Air Canada I think). They had the concrete made with Quartz sand and it was close to white when cured. They never had to paint it.

[Ole Anderson]

A ground, polished and sealed floor like the big box stores have would be nice.

[Jeff Ranck]

I put down Armstrong commercial tile:

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Search/N-5yc1vZbzk0/Ntk-Extended/Ntt-armstrong?Ntx=mode+matchpartialmax&NCNI-5

I think I paid about $0.60 per sq ft. Easy to lay and has not given me any problems.

I've always wondered if the VCT would be too slick. Have you had those issues with it?

[Jim Becker]

With vinyl tile like that, there are commercial coatings that can be applied that make it look nice but also make it relatively non-slip. But, of course, that requires time and money, too.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

I've always wondered if the VCT would be too slick. Have you had those issues with it?

I remember as a kid these floor being slick, especially after a fresh coat of Futura :). The tiles actually have a matt finish and by themselves are not very slick. So, intentionally, I did not wax it or put any coatings on it. It has been 7 years and I have not had an issues with it.

[Mark Paavola]

I epoxy coated the concrete in my shop and garage. 18 years for the garage and 15 for the shop. Makes sweeping and cleanup a breeze. So far no failure or staining of the epoxy. I used the rustoleum product from HD. I know that people have had failures of this product but has held up very well for me.
P.S. Also did the floor of the RV garage 2 years ago.

[Ronald Blue]

This is just power troweled to a nice slick gloss. 382763382764

[Art Tripp]

My 30' x 40' shop has a concrete floor that was power troweled and it turned out great. One section is reserved for my tractor and the floor can get pretty messy at times, I use another section to park my pick-up and for mechanical & other work where a floor creeper glides nicely, and the third section is reserved for woodworking. I haven't done anything with the floor since installed except to sweep it after whatever project I happen to have worked on and after a couple years of use it still looks and performs great. I am however planning on placing an anti-fatigue mat in the area around my workbench / assembly table and my bandsaw, table saw, radial arm saw area - I can feel the effects of the solid concrete after a period of time working there.

I have a 2,000 ft driveway with a hill and during icy conditions, the traction with the tractor can be iffy so I am planning on installing rear chains next winter. My hope is to add an additional 30' x 30' unheated section to keep the tractor and other items that don't need to be in the heated shop, but if I don't get it built this year, I plan on laying down some boards or something to offer protection from the chains and can imagine possible damage if not protected.

Our attached 2-car garage (actually, van and Kawasaki Mule area) has a concrete floor and it was simply power troweled smooth. Winter was harsh on our limestone driveway and our Mule often travels off road, so the floor had become quite messy with both wet and hard-dried mud. Today I used a long-handle, flat-metal plate tool (about 12" or so wide) to scrape both the dry and wet areas with no adverse effects.

I retired a couple years ago as a fire chief and our station was built in the 1960's. The concrete floors looked great the day I left and never had any special treatment, just a sweep and washdown a couple times a week. We never gave the floors much of a thought and with the heavy trucks, metal ladders and other equipment often on it, hose with metal couplings sliding across, countless muddy, crud and grit-covered boots and other gear on it, you would have never guessed it's age by looking at it.

I have been satisfied with the performance of well-installed concrete and if left alone, I don't see much of a problem with it. I have also seen a variety of coatings & coverings of various types on concrete and they can look quite pretty. My main concern and for my personal use (I tend to use - but not abuse what I have), is that if I place something on the floor, that it could at some point begin to fail and require some type of follow-up attention somewhere down the road.

[John K Jordan]

My multi-use shop floor is power troweled, like others mentioned. I built 24x62 with several rooms and walled sections for wood, welding, machining, maintenance, etc.

The floor is smooth enough to sweep easily. I've added nothing but occasional spills and occasional oil leaks from chainsaws, machining, and such. It doesn't concern me the least if it gets stained since I look at what I'm making or fixing, not at the floor.

JKJ

[Mike Cutler]

A different take, and a "sea story".

In 1979 I was stationed at Dam Neck Va. for Polaris/Poseidon Missile school. As a student awaiting a class, we were tasked with cleaning the barracks each morning.
One morning we were assigned to wax the sealed concrete floors of the barracks. We did a glorious job.
That night, at about 2AM, or 0200 for the military guys, the CDO, Command Duty Officer, was making his rounds through the barracks.
His leather soled Koroframs, hit that waxed floor, and with some added condensation from the humidity. He slipped on that beautifully waxed concrete floor and shattered his elbow, and hip.
The next day we were stripping off all of the wax from the barracks floors.
I've never sealed, or waxed ,a concrete surface since then. Those I've had to deal with in industrial settings have only reinforced my position.

[Martin Wasner]

Sealing helps with curing. The longer concrete cures, the harder it gets. I'm pretty sure there was moisture still coming out of the floor when I kicked the heat on six months after it was poured.

If I would've had another nine grand to spend, I would've ground it down to the aggregate after it cured, then polished and sealed it again. My floor is nice, but not ground and polished nice.

[Wayne Lomman]

Every concrete timber shop floor I have worked on has self polished from foot traffic with sawdust as the polishing compound. I have at times sprayed a light coat of contact glue on floors so the guys didn't slip over when pushing timber through the machines. Concrete floor coating is for showrooms more than workshops. I very nearly came to grief like Mike's CDO last year when visiting the Borg Warner gearbox factory. Beautiful and lethal epoxy floors throughout. I was only saved from a severe fall by a quick thinking staff member. Spend the money on timber and machines. It's only a floor. Cheers

[John K Jordan]

Sealing helps with curing. The longer concrete cures, the harder it gets. I'm pretty sure there was moisture still coming out of the floor when I kicked the heat on six months after it was poured.


Another thing that works better for curing - keep the concrete wet for as long as possible. When I pour a slab I always cover it with plastic for at least a week, longer if I can. I have rolls of 4" wide poly. Every few days I ran water under the edges to make sure it stayed wet.

I use two or three layers under the concrete to prevent moisture from coming from the ground. Test cured concrete for moisture with a piece of plastic sheet, placed on top. Internet has instructions.

[roger wiegand]

I love my hardwood in the shop. I asked my hardwood supplier for what they had cheap and he supplied "mixed domestic hardwoods" -- odds and ends of probably 12 different species. It made up into a beautiful floor, and the cost was under $2/SF, much less than professionally done epoxy coatings, and not much more than other concrete treatments. Much easier on the feet and back as well. Finished with Bona Traffic HD, it has held up very well to all of the abuse it gets subjected to, like dragging heavy cast iron machines across it.

I used the DIY epoxy from the Home Depot in our basement and it is holding up fine after five years. It doesn't get very heavy use though. You want to incorporate some grit into the epoxy to keep it from being slippery.

[Mark Blatter]

My issue with concrete floors is that they create dust. I have worked in production facilities, not wood but money processing - mostly coin- and the amount of dust created is unbelievable. Perhaps I am worried about nothing though.

I am curious on the hardwood floors people have - do you just lay the hardwood on top of the concrete? What thickness are they?

I am pretty well convinced that I will leave them as is, with the exception of filling in the joints so it is a smooth floor. I get tired of sweeping out the joints all the time.

[Jim Becker]

Mark, a wood floor can indeed go over concrete and there are multiple ways to do it including a floating floor, on inch and a half "sleepers" with insulation foam board between them and on actual joists of variable thickness. The first two methods are more desirable from the standpoint of not reducing head room as much; the last one is desirable because it affords more potential space to put "utilities" under the floor.

[Martin Wasner]

My issue with concrete floors is that they create dust. I have worked in production facilities, not wood but money processing - mostly coin- and the amount of dust created is unbelievable. Perhaps I am worried about nothing though.

I've never heard that one. It wears, but foot traffic, some carts, and limited forklift traffic isn't going to do much.

[Craig White]

Euclid Super Diamond Clear. Easy application with a paint roller and long handle. Money and time well spent.

Craig

[Jim Andrew]

I covered my concrete floor with treated strips, styrofoam and T and G flooring. Easier on the body, and the shop heats easier. I put a couple tap con screws per strip, and put the strips on 16" centers.

[Mark Blatter]

I've never heard that one. It wears, but foot traffic, some carts, and limited forklift traffic isn't going to do much.

Martin - It was amazing how much dust we made and had to clean up. We had 5 or 6 high speed coin wrappers, metal pallets with pallet jacks running around, sorters and a walk behind lift, plus 5 - 7 people moving around. The dust is abrasive so it was permaturely wearing out wrappers that cost around $12K each. We put an epoxy covering down and it made a big difference. As I recall it was epoxy. We had to shift everything to one side on Friday afternoon, so the other side could be applied Friday evening. Then Saturday afternoon we moved it all to the completed side and the remaining part was done Saturday evening. Monday we reset all the equipment. Pain in the behind, but it cut down the dust by 80%.

In my shop there is no reason to expect such wear and tear, so as others have said, not worth covering it. Plus I have already had experience with how slick sawdust makes things under foot. A floating floor might be nice some day, but for now it will just be a wish.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

[Carlos Alvarez]

I don't have a pro shop, but my two garages see a surprising amount of traffic because it's the neighborhood hangout/project spot. I wish I knew what was on my floors. I'd like to coat some areas they didn't do (idiots coated AROUND the water softener and a couple other things). Is there some way to figure out what it is? It's got a color, and seems very thing but also very hardy. Zero wear, even in the one that has metalwork being done/dropped and motorcycles going in/out.

[Thomas Canfield]

The concrete floor in my shop was "steel trowled" for smooth finish and a coat of Thompson Water Seal sprayed on. That was too slick and the seal coat was wiped off best I could before bringing equipment and material into shop. The smooth surface can be real slick with sawdust and any shavings. A mat is useful for both cushion and prevent slipping. It does sweep up easily except for all the material and equipment in the way. I don't know how much good the water seal did but I would not do it again and just live with spills. Cat litter or oil dry with a little solvent help helps to remove any spills and stains are a problem.

[Mark Lawrence]

In my current shop I used those OSB tiles with a few anti fatigue mats on top, in the hand tool areas. I left the power tool areas bare concrete so I could roll around large tools more easily.

[Jack Frederick]

When I built my 30x34' shop a few years ago we cut the expansion joints the morning after the pour. I kept the floor wet and covered with plastic sheet. Once the roof was on I decided to use Rustbullet as the floor finish. It isn't Epoxy but the prep was to thoroughly clean the deck and then roll it on. Simple and I did it myself over a couple days. I used two coats with a roller and it went down easily and looks great. I avoided covering one section where I do most of my welding, as nothing stands up to molten metal. I used a sealer on that section. Three years in the floor is in excellent shape. It has a few chips that were entirely my fault. The floor cleans easily and is not slick. I would do it again. I expect that doing it on an older slab would be more problematic.