Right, after the garage floor painting threads I figured I should seal the concrete first and then paint it. Garage paint and sealing gunk is very expensive but hey, it needs doing.

So I walked out of B&Q with a 5 litre drum of something called B&Q Pave Seal. It says it seals concrete and stone. Then I painted half the floor. Then, because I’m a bloke, then I read the instructions. It does not say it’s suitable for painting over and it says it repels oil and dirt….. and presumably paint too.

It doesn’t actually mention paint at all but I’m now in a quandry.

Do I …

a) accept that I’m stupid and try and get it off the concrete, it’s not actually obvious now its dried, there’s no sheen or layer that I can see.
b) accept that I’m stupid but hey, stupid is as stupid does and just try and paint over it?
c) accept that I’m stupid and carry on using it to seal the rest of the floor before trying b)?

Thank you.

If it’s sealed, why bother painting it?

That’s a very good point scotroutes. I’m now in even more of a quandry. It’ll presumably look better with paint on? I like those pristine workshop floors people have.

If it’s sealed, why bother painting it?

My guess: so it looks nice 🙂

[edit]I wuz roit

I’d do c).

If you can’t paint over it, try wallpaper. Woodchip would hide a multitude of sins…

Wallpaper on the floor? lolz

Why not try painting over it, see what happens? Some kind of primer maybe?

Paint should still stick to it fine – it seals up the pores in the concrete and stops water etc soaking in, so it might even make the paint go further 😉

I think I should do a little sample then. I’ll paint a small corner over the sealant and then jump around on it a bit once it’s dried.
Thanks

sealing gunk is very expensive

erm

http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-pva-5ltr/57248

My Dad had his garage floor tiled with fat terracotta like tiles, it looks flippin mint.

I was my garage was like his, I’m not even sure mine has a floor.

You could use my approach, and just cover the garage floor with an inch thick layer of dropped nuts, bearings, and cut-down cable ties.

Leaves, dust and mud fallen from bikes was always my favourite look 🙂

Sealed ours before painting it. Worked OK

If it repels oil then maybe a water based garage floor paint would work? If you’re parking a car in there, be prepared for it to start peeling off though.

This is for my man cave. No cars, it’s only got a single doorway entrance

Nice paw prints Tracey 🙂

They are knocking down an old school near us,I am hoping for some classroom flooring going cheap 😉

Weeeeell if it’s for a man cave why not get the carpet down on half of it (having a brew area 😀 ) and then leave the rest to take the oil/crap falling off the bike 🙂

Try Here

Call or send email to above 😀

I asked about this a while ago and got no response so I did some digging around and some testing. The old floor was knackered with a could of cracks and no DPM.
Firstly I took an angle grinder to the cracks then filled all of these with Expoxy mortar repair. Then I sealed the floor with a SBR water mix of 1:3 for the first 2 coats then a 1:1. Because the old floor had no DPM there was always moisture and efflorescence coming through. So I sealed it with 4 coats of bitumen paint, primed it with Weber P301 then applied about 5mm of Cempolay Ultra self leveling compound. The good thing about this particular compound is that it can be used as a wear layer. Loads of good advice for this stuff on the detailing world www.

Nice paw prints

They look like tiger paw prints to me,

wonderful stuff Juan, thanks for that. The floor is quite uneven but I’ve no idea if it’s DPMed undeneath. If I had plenty of time and money and really wanted to do a perfect job, I’d do everything you’ve described. I’ll still do that in the garage when I get round to it though. very useful, thanks.

Brew/sofa area is imminent, I could include some carpet there 😉 I need to get the floor sorted first, then shelving and workbench, somewhere to put some beer making equipment. it’s going to be great.

If you havent already plumped for a paint yet, can I pitch in with http://www.bedec.co.uk/ floor paint. Just done the boiler room (on un-sealed concrete) and it’s gone on very well. Looks superb, but I havent given it a hard time yet, but it will be getting lots of wood/logs dropped on it over the coming seasons.

It’s a water based acrylic so you may find it will work with the sealant.

They look like tiger paw prints to me

That’d be a mighty big garage if they were!

Tracy – you have missed a bit around the edges…

I sealed mine before painting, it’s been fine for 15 years so far. I’d def paint it, it’s way easier finding screws and bolts etc. you drop whilst doing bike maintenance…

The paw prints are from when the garage was built, think it was a panther. Thought about painting them black. Floor is now finished, had to do it in three stages and used a big roller brush. Tip given to me from a pro was to talc where the car tyres go so as to stop the paint sticking to the hot tyres. its worked so far but is a bit slippy underfoot

Tip given to me from a pro was to talc where the car tyres go so as to stop the paint sticking to the hot tyres.

Coating the tyres in gloss varnish has the same benefit. 😉

If it isn’t for storing a car, then after you’ve sealed the floor fit inter-locking ’tiles’ made of dense foam. They’re insulating and less damaging if you drop things.

I bought mine from Costco and used cardboard as underlay.