[Guruman]

Fellow Jeepers:

I just bought a new place and converted the 50x80 horse barn into a shop by pouring a new, insulated concrete floor in it. Looking at it today completely empty, I thought that this might be my only chance to do something other than a bare floor. Once the concrete is fully cured, I'll be moving all the equipment from my old shop into the new, making it much harder to do something going forward.

Has anyone used a floor coating product that's stood the test of time? If so what?

 

[thedirtman]

I used a 2 part epoxy and it does not hold up to fire or dropping something on it. If you were just going to drive on it I think it would be fine but not for shop work.

 

[funfred]

If it were me, I'd stain, polish and seal.

 

[Uncle Sams Misguided Child]

I used the rust oleum epoxy shield professional last June on my new garage floor. Due not use just the regular rust oleum, I believe it is water based.

After a year of parking on it as soon as I get home there has been no hot tire pickup. My garage is 24 x 30 and it took 2 kits and 2 kits of clear.

 

[ExWrench]

It really depends on how "permanent" and how "presentable" of a surface you need.

As thedirtman indicated, epoxy will not hold up to abuse. Fire and impact will prevail always. I worked in a place that was "gentle" to their epoxy floor (large optics milling, grinding & polishing, all indoors, no sun exposure, definitely no fire or impact) and it crapped out at the 10 year mark. They tried polishing the 10 YO epoxy floor and it turned into a slippery shitmess (in an optics shop ) --> you wouldn't believe how quickly they got a crew in to grind and recoat 100,000 sq. ft. over a weekend .

Uncle Sams Misguided Child is spot-on in that you shouldn't even consider the latex floor coating. Hot tires can stick and lift sections off - that definitely won't happen with a good epoxy-coated floor. Not trying to scare you off the epoxy, just realize that polyester isn't "permanent". An epoxy floor looks killer, and you may get closer to 20 years than 10 with light use / no abuse.

If you're cool with the look, funfred's suggestion to stain, polish, and seal is the most durable.

 

[gt1guy]

I've come to this conclusion. If you're going to use the shop as a shop, leave it bare concrete.

I did a lot of research on coatings when I did my shop. Every coating needs to be taken care of, or gets slippery, or limits what you can do on it. In the end I just left the concrete as is.

Did they use a power trowel on your slab? Those seem to leave a better surface behind. I think there was 4 guys riding them around on my slab when I had it poured (my shop is the same size as yours).

 

[Guruman]

I've come to this conclusion. If you're going to use the shop as a shop, leave it bare concrete.

I did a lot of research on coatings when I did my shop. Every coating needs to be taken care of, or gets slippery, or limits what you can do on it. In the end I just left the concrete as is.

Did they use a power trowel on your slab? Those seem to leave a better surface behind. I think there was 4 guys riding them around on my slab when I had it poured (my shop is the same size as yours).

This is pretty much where I ended up. Mostly because I ran out of time an have to begin moving thing in. I did have them power trowel it smooth, figuring I wanted it at least to be easy to sweep. I hope I don't fall and bust my butt too much.

 

[gt1guy]

This is pretty much where I ended up. Mostly because I ran out of time an have to begin moving thing in. I did have them power trowel it smooth, figuring I wanted it at least to be easy to sweep. I hope I don't fall and bust my butt too much.

Mine isn't slippery at all when wet. I don't have any places where lots of oil has soaked in either though.........yet.