So I decided the other day that the paint was getting quite chipped having not been done in about 3 yrs. I normally paint it in 3 sections and shift the stuff around and usually do it early summer when concrete warmer etc.

Anyway, did the middle strip last night after giving the existing stuff a good sweep and wiping off oily marks etc. used same paint as before (International) and put on relatively thick, but no more so than previous times. This morning it was still wet/tacky after 13 hrs, plus it has gone a weird tortoishell effect……….Hoping when I get home from work i can extricate the HT from it’s island in a sea of sticky poaint to go for a ride 😆 Wondering what went wrong – it is brand new paint, on top of same paint from a few yrs ago, and outside temp around 9 deg, so not that cold ?

it’s an integral garage so no dampness either

Contamination on floor?? Weather?? Only two possibilities i can think of

Not been fully stirred? We had it happen alot when we were painting floors at work.

What was the paint (beyond the brand?)

Numerous possible options.

Humidity has been high recently (foggy) and the temperature low which is never a good combination.

Personally I’d be wary of using paint outside below 10C as it adds to the risk.

Damp?

Sorry but I reckon you made 2 fairly basic mistakes

1 / Applied while air was damp

2/ More crucial .. applied in 1 thick ( ish ) coat

I would suggest you were lucky in the past when using this approach.

Best way to apply floor paint is in several thin coats using paint thinner to make it easier to apply and spread out.

Use approx 10 – 15% good quality white spirit, stir in well and apply using a roller on a floor which has been cleaned as well as possible.

Repeat several times allowing a few hours drying time between coats, if you have enough thinner you should be able to get 3 coats done in 1 long day.

A bit labour intensive and long winded but the end result will not only look better it will also last far longer

thanks for all the thoughts. back in from a ride and it’s all dry and ok now, but still weird tortoise effect so thinking it maybe wasn’t stirred right. It’s International garage floor paint so should be ok. Will leave it for a few days then go over with a well stirred light coat !

too thick and too cold. It is amazing how much difference a few degrees makes.

….so, for those of you who know about these things…

am I right in thinking that applying a second, thin coat tonight, when temp likley to go close to zero for next couple of days, is a bad idea ?

The paint tin says don’t apply ‘in extreme temperatures’, but I dunno what’s extreme 8)

used same paint as before

do you still have the old can? International make ‘Floor Paint’ and ‘Garage Floor Paint’ which are different formulations, not sure they’re incompatible as such but theres not much to tell the cans apart.

I don’t have old tin, but it’s deffo the same stuff. The application from this week has set ok, just looks like it seperated a bit just after applying. I have a suspicion that the floor surface might have had some tramped in lube etc on it even though i couldn’t see or feel it and did give it a bit of a wipe down with degreaser day before painting, but weird it’s over pretty much the whole area. Think I might leave till weather warms up a bit..

Don’t know if this helps anybody, but I remember when we painted the garage floor at my family home yonks ago, the paint bonded with the warm car tyres and tore little chunks of the concrete up with it when the car was driven off.

The paint was dry, perhaps just extremely clean. Might be worth brushing a handful of talc round with a soft brush once it’s dry?

the paint bonded with the warm car tyres and tore little chunks of the concrete up with it when the car was driven off.

thats what the ‘Garage Floor Paint’ rather than ‘Floor Paint’ is formulated to prevent. Its much slicker – fall on your arse slick in some instances. I worked in a unit that had quite rough old floors that had just been painted. I might as well have been on roller-skates. Trying to stand up sheets of ply and scenery was comical, they’d just gently float away from you

The paint was dry, perhaps just extremely clean. Might be worth brushing a handful of talc round with a soft brush once it’s dry?

Are you sure it was dry? Not just a day or two but a week or more in decent temperature weather?

and in reply to the OP: no! Don’t do any more coats. Extremes to me would be under 15 and over 30 but I would probably try and do it at 20 or so.

Can you get a heater in there to warm it up? If not then just wait until next year.

Thanks Andy – will leave till the Spring !