Rob
I seem to have taken up residence as the local concrete expert.... ( could
be cause I own a concrete business... hmmm )
I have not read the instructions for painting a floor... and would submit to
thier expertise before my own... follow thier instructions... not mine...
So with all that said here is what I know...
1. If you paint that sucker... your going to maintain that paint as long as
you own the floor... no issues with that as long as you want to maintain
concrete... which requires No maintenence. ( keep in mind Rob... since it's
been painted before someone else made this decision for you )
2. if they require you clean or etch the floor remember it will never again
be a quality non-etched slab... to determine if it was prepared with acids
before inspect the surface structure closely.... if you can see sand grains
it's most likely been etched with some level of acid.
3. Acids are not bad for the actual strength of the floor they only break
down the very surface of the concrete to give it teeth the paint can adhear
to.... the most common acid is Muriadic ( sp and no my spell checker isn't
up on this machine ) The level of strength is directly proportional to how
much it is diluted prior to being poured on the floor.... Rinsing the acid
off immediately instantly dilutes the acids.... ( I use this stuff all the
time without a mask... but only in a VERY VERY well ventilated area ) just
keep in mind your going to have to FLUSH Muriadic acid with Lots of
water.... don't try keeping anything dry...
4. I have had a large front porch that I took the paint off of with paint
stripper and a pressure washer.... without destroying the surface of the
concrete with acids.... seems the previous owner didn't prepare the concrete
up front and the paint was peeling.... Perfect... now the concrete looks
great....
Keith
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Munn" <Robert.Munn@peregrine.com>
To: <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 6:59 PM
Subject: cleaning an aged garage floor for painting
>
> I recently bought a 40 year old house with a well-worn garage floor. The
> garage was used by the owner of the house as her shop for basket-making,
and
> was occasionally used by her son for car repairs. The floor has numerous
old
> oil stains, duct tape remnants, and the remains of green garage floor
paint
> that looks totally trashed- chipped, faded in many spots, totally gone in
> others, still somewhat ok in a few areas.
>
> I would mostly like to use the garage as a shop, though I might
occasionally
> park a car in there.
>
> I have read through many threads in the archives here about painting
garage
> floors with epoxy for a tough finish, but I didn't see any posts about how
> to prep an old floor. I did see that proper prep is EVERYTHING, so I want
to
> make sure I get this right.
>
> One person referred to using a concrete grinder to grind off the top layer
> of concrete and gunk in extreme cases. Is this my best/only option to
> properly prep the surface? The last thing I want is to do a bad job and
have
> the whole thing peeling and bubbling in a few months.
>
> I live in San Diego near the coast but high up away from the water table,
> temperature and humidity are moderate year-round.
>
> Any thoughts are appreciated.
>
> Rob Munn
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