Re-finishing my workshop floor

[Pete.]

I'm just re-doing my floor and I thought I'd put up some pictures. It's been down about 8 years now and been painted a couple of times, but the surface keeps peeling up because the 'fat' of the concrete isn't so strong where it was worked a lot when laid. It was a day as hot as it is now and I had to keep adding water to the readymix to keep it workable.

So I've borrowed a machine from work which is used for grinding back small areas of concrete and I'm using that to remove the fat from the surface and give a much more durable floor to paint. It's a cup wheel on a 9" grinder with a silicone shroud and you attach it to a dust vac. We use top grade vacs and bags and it stops you producing a cloud of dust, though you do get a little especially if you run off and edge so I've covered my lathes with dust sheets.

Anyway, the pics speak for themselves. After I've done it all I'm going to re-paint it light grey, just so it seals the surface and stops oil soaking in.

 

[chunkolini]

Stuff that for a game, you must be having great fun.
Looks like a good result, but thirsty work?
The workshop I am hopefully moving into needs something doing to the floor; but not that! 16x7m.

 

[Pete.]

Thirsty work but to be honest it our kit is good and it goes quickly if you're not cutting too much aggregate. Mine is just 4x5m and if it were empty I'd do the lot in 2 hours.

A bonus is that my doors no longer scrape the floor like they have been.

 

[BChild]

Funny - That is exactly what I need to do to mine as I have similar issues - used one of those cutters at work on a concrete floor and thought sheesh I think I'll have to borrow that for a weekend

 

[the snooper]

are you going to use epoxy floor paint ?

 

[chunkolini]

A flat floor? that would be a luxury. Is there a hireable upscaled version? or is it easier to lay another top surface?
I know notheeng.

 

[Pete.]

No Snooper I still have at least a gallon of acrylic floor paint. It's good stuff just takes longer to dry than the epoxy. i've also painted a couple of machines with it and it sticks very well to metal too.

Chunko - there are larger machines for taking off large areas, but it's quite expensive work to have done.

 

[Maker]

I hope the dust extractor works well, your lathe won't like all the dust that will kick up.

 

[the snooper]

No Snooper I still have at least a gallon of acrylic floor paint. It's good stuff just takes longer to dry than the epoxy. i've also painted a couple of machines with it and it sticks very well to metal too.

Chunko - there are larger machines for taking off large areas, but it's quite expensive work to have done.

what ever you use it all wears off eventually

 

[captain-destructo]

is it a standard grinder? speed wise?
also what is it like to handle...keep flat on the floor

 

[chunkolini]

I will have to see how I get on. There a few lumps to be dealt with.
Tight budgets etc, lets see how it goes. I did wonder how long a fresh top layer would last and how much it would cost.

 

[Pete.]

what ever you use it all wears off eventually

That's true, and that I can handle. It's the softness of the top couple of mm surface that was driving me crazy. Now not only is it smoother it's harder too - ooer missus

C-D yeah it's a normal-speed 9" grinder. This work is hard on the machine though so you need to get a good one. It's not hard to use, you just have to keep moving. The grinder gets very hot so I wear a burning gauntlet if I want to keep going.

 

[Pete.]

I hope the dust extractor works well, your lathe won't like all the dust that will kick up.

The extractor does work very well. Its an expensive unit. The best ones give out no dust at all.

 

[Mr shiney]

I have exactly the same problem on my floor. Drippy surface that just rubs to dust. It's been painted several times and now has rubber mats but would really like to resolve the source of the problem.

What would I need to do in a 10x7m space?

 

[Pete.]

I have exactly the same problem on my floor. Drippy surface that just rubs to dust. It's been painted several times and now has rubber mats but would really like to resolve the source of the problem.

What would I need to do in a 10x7m space?

Same thing as here. A dust vac, collector shroud, 9" grinder and cup grinding wheel.

 

[vw1]

Wow results are good would like to the do the same , maybe you can rent them out .

 

[brightspark]

[QUOTE="Pete.,
C-D yeah it's a normal-speed 9" grinder. This work is hard on the machine though so you need to get a good one. It's not hard to use, you just have to keep moving. The grinder gets very hot so I wear a burning gauntlet if I want to keep going.[/QUOTE]im glad its not my machine and u were hiring it

 

[ukracer]

What's the larger machines called. My son is a tool hire supervisor for jewsons so he might be able to get one in for regional use if it was to get some use......

 

[Pete.]

A floor planer. There are flail-type planers which are the most common for hiring and rotary grinders that use different grades of carborundum blocks.

 

[captain-destructo]

What's the larger machines called. My son is a tool hire supervisor for jewsons so he might be able to get one in for regional use if it was to get some use......

here you go jewsons

or here or here or here hss

or here and here speedy hire