Concrete Floor Pain/Sealer ?

I've got a concrete floor that's painted/sealed. Fire Hall. Fairly good size with loaded water trucks 24/7 waiting to fill the call. The paint is pealing bad looks like heck. Flaking off. Unknown on brand of paint. What would you guys recommend on removing that stuff and reapplication recommendations? Oil base maybe. Primer needed? I want this done once. Money is not an object. As i will be doing it. Thanks.

well i would start with a high psi pressure washing. Hang tarps or rip a couple of sheets of plywood down the middle lenght wise to make containment walls. Alot less messy that way. if there is any paint left after that use a heat gun or propane torch to burn it and hit with PW again. Careful, dont set off the fire alarm. As for what to paint it with, i would use a oil base but recommend you ask your local paint supplier.
Pete

A friend of mine who has a three bay auto repair shop did his concrete floors with an industrial epoxy floor coating. I think the stuff he used was U-Coat-It. www.ucoatit.com There are many brands out there. He put it down about 9 or 10 years ago and has had no problems with it despite spilling all kinds of automotive fluids on it including battery acid.

I talked to a guy this morning. He was a little sick from using a grinder to grind the concrete floor at work before they put epoxy down. The good epoxy is very expensive. You will have to work harder to grind your paint off first.

Our Kroger store removed the tile and ground the concrete floor. Put a clear layer of epoxy. Looks like a layer of glass. Looks neat too, you see the rocks in the concrete. Lots of work, not cheap.

If the paint is peeling because moisture is coming up from below, you will have a hard time keeping ANY coating on the floor.

An epoxy coating or epoxy paint will probably be the most durable, but removal of the old paint is probably necessary.

An acid-etch using muriatic acid may be necessary to provide "tooth" for any new coating.

While most coatings are resistant to oil, some are attacked by solvents.

From what I understand, damage/discoloration from hot tires is the toughest hurdle to overcome. ...Some coatings can withstand this, others can not.

I would go to a Sherman Williams paint supply. They helped me on my project.

Rust Oleum makes a very durable epoxy 2 part product that we used to use in the chemical plants. Inside or outside. Ellis

I put Rustoleum epoxy on a 40 year old two car garage floor and it's held up really well, even under where the car tires sit. But the preparation took a lot of time. Epoxy is very fussy about cleanliness and dryness. The instructions recommend taping a 12"X12" piece of plastic on the floor and leaving it sit overnight. If there is moisture on the underside of the plastic the next morning, don't paint. Plain and simple.


The floor had the usual dark oil stains under where the car's engines were and that's something I didn't think I would get cleaned up well enough, but I perservered. I started with a 4000PSI 4 GPM hot pressure washer with a rotary nozzle and I went slowly over the whole floor. Took two hours for an average sized double garage floor running the nozzle so close to the floor that it only covered a two inch wide swath. Then I took a commercial de-greaser and scrubbed the floor with a stiff brush. After that I hit it hard with the pressure washer again. Then I threw the muriatic acid/water mix on it. After that I flushed it off with clear water. Then I walked away for three days with fans blowing on it. This was in August here in humid Iowa. Then I applied two coats of epoxy. It popped up in two real small half-dollar sized places that must have been a little wet. It's working really well for me but epoxy takes a LOT of preparation if you want it to stick.

For your peeling paint I'd try a rotary nozzle on a pressure washer that puts out at least 4000 PSI. Maybe you could hire a company that washes hog buildings to do it. They have power washers that will get the job done and the guys running them have the muscle and stamina to handle it. Jim

Sounds like you need a shot blaster or maybe a grinder. I would be worried if its lifting due to moisture or just poor preparation.

any thoughts on using a concrete stain. i believe it doesn't peel.

(quoted from post at 17:49:42 03/06/13) I would go to a Sherman Williams paint supply. They helped me on my project.

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That is what I would do. Actually I would go to Hallman-Lindsey, but I would still go to a "real" paint store. They will tell you how to prep the old surface to get good results.

Check this out. I"ve just bought some for staining purposes:
LastiSeal

No moisture. Just poor preparation!!!