# Forum Home Renovation Concreting  Concrete floor paint for worshop, water or oil/solvent based?

## apples

Hey all, 
Well I'd like to finally paint the floor of my shed. 
So I am aware of these types of paints:  *Water based
Solvent/oil based
Epoxy* 
The epoxy option is out of the question due to cost. 
That leaves the other two.  What are the pro's and con's of either paint?  Bunnings have both "White Knight brand" water and oil based and the same again with "Berger" brand? 
The water one dries much quicker...but which one is more durable?  Surely ii must be the oil based one?   
Thanks,
Peter

----------


## nev25

I asked a similar Question  http://www.renovateforum.com/showthread.php?t=76028

----------


## skot

apples,
I painted the floor in my workshop with White Knite water based. It has been down for about 2 months and I did it in 3 sections by moving machinery from 1 part to another. I have been very impressed as I have dragged gear across it and has not shown any sign of wear so far. It is real easy to paint and blends well if done in sections. 
I even had a forklift come in and move my lathe around and it left tyre marks on the floor...I just mopped it down and the marks disappeared. 
In short, so far...Very happy with this paint. I got the standard dark grey colour and it looks good. 
Here is a pic of the finished floor

----------


## Bloss

skot - far too tidy a workshop  . . . a bit OC even  . . .  :Biggrin:  Looks great though!  :2thumbsup:

----------


## skot

It was a bit TOO tidy when that pic was taken...not so when I left it half an hour ago sawdust and crud on the floor and ran out of energy to sweep up. That can wait till another day.

----------


## apples

Skot, 
Thanks for that, shed looks great. 
I too am going to have to paint it in sections.  Did you acid wash first?  I have a half bottle of hydrochloric acid left over.  What ratio with water did you mix? 
Peter

----------


## skot

I didn't acid wash. The floor is about 4 years old and the paint bloke said as long as there was no oil or grease on the floor it would be OK. 
If yours is new concrete you may have to do a diluted acid wash..not sure of the mix. 
I scraped it with a 100mm paint scraper (the one which is like a long stanley blade...very sharp) to remove any lumps of crud, swept it a couple of times, mopped it down at least twice to clean up any cement dust missed by the sweep. 
The first coat should be a mix of 1 part water to 10 parts paving paint...this allows the 1st coat to soak into the surface of the concrete. 
The 2nd coat is undiluted paving paint.

----------


## apples

The floor is about 5 yrs old, no grease, which is actually rather funny.  I normally make a mess everywhere.  LOL.

----------


## SilentButDeadly

I used Crommelin Concrete Sealer http://www.crommelin.com.au/listPro.php?id=24 on the new floor in our shed about three years back.  It's water based, tintable (a light yellow makes dropped objects easier to find) and easy to use.  Two four litre buckets from the Big Green Shed covered the 84sqm slab no worries.

----------


## klinger

> Hey all, 
> Well I'd like to finally paint the floor of my shed. 
> So I am aware of these types of paints:  *Water based* *Solvent/oil based* *Epoxy* 
> The epoxy option is out of the question due to cost. 
> That leaves the other two. What are the pro's and con's of either paint? Bunnings have both "White Knight brand" water and oil based and the same again with "Berger" brand? 
> The water one dries much quicker...but which one is more durable? Surely ii must be the oil based one?  
> Thanks,
> Peter

  How did it turn out Apples?

----------


## apples

Yeah got it done ages ago, using a water based paint.  And It came up very good,  I'm really happy with it.  
Bought it from bunnings, I think it was a 10 ltr can and got two coats out of it and there is still some left over in case I need to touch up areas later on.  Shed is 6x9meters. 
Yes it is worth doing.

----------

