How to Protect and Decorate Concrete Floors

How to Protect and Decorate Concrete Floors?

Why Protect and Decorate Concrete Floors?

Concrete is one of the most durable construction materials around, however it still requires protection from abrasion, mechanical damage and impact by heavy equipment and heavy vehicular traffic.

Concrete Floors over time will create cement dust as the surface is eroded. This can become unsightly and contaminate pet foods often stored in garages and effect electrical equipment. To seal the concrete and reduce cement dust, it is best to apply a sealer for good housekeeping and a safe working environment.

The characteristic dull grey of a concrete slab can seem cold and unappealing, especially on floors. Coating a floor surface can help make it look more appealing with  good colour combinations that fit your style.

Floor coatings can improve the durability  and strength to the floor space, this extra coating will allow the floor to resist a significant amount of damage from heavy vehicles and equipment.

Most workshops store aggressive chemicals including paint strippers, solvents, fertilisers, weed killers, brake fluids and lubricants. Without protection these chemicals will penetrate the concrete, change the alkalinity and chemically attack the structure.

Also, if a workshop or garage is too dark as it lacks windows and natural light then painting a floor will help lighten the workspace and can also give it a sense of height and expansiveness. Glossy finishes will instantly brighten up the space and make the workspace or garage appear larger.
In major premises such as restaurant kitchens, warehouses, distribution centres, schools and hospitals there are additional factors that need to be   considered. Corporate Image and Brand Identity, Health and Safety in the workplace, industrial processes and forklift traffic are all new critical factors.
Good selection of floor coatings can increase safety in many different ways including making it less slippery, minimizing trips and slips. Bright line marking identifying safe walkways and hazardous zones, door swing areas and route markings can help increase safety and efficiency.

 

Read more on employees health concerns and other innovative ways of improving health and safety in the workplace here.

What type of Floor Protection is suitable on Concrete Floors?

Within the home concrete floors on the ground floor are protected and decorated with ceramic tiles, wood laminates or carpets. It is important to ensure the surface is level, so no bridging occurs with hard coverings. Often epoxy screeds are applied to ensure a smooth linear surface is achieved before laminating.
In garages, outbuildings, stables and workshops it is normal practise to source more cost effective and practical solutions. Where a decorative finish is not required it is often practical to simply seal the concrete to prevent cement dust, water and chemical ingress into the concrete.
Where economic decorative finishes are required specialist floor paints are the solution. These are normally air-drying paints either solvent based, or water based. Low odour low emission water-based paints are growing in popularity due to their ecological value and sustainability.

For abrasion, mechanical and chemical resistance two pack paints normally based on epoxy resins are recommended. They set hard to produce a tough durable easy clean finish.

In Hospitals, Schools, Food and Beverage process plants. Hygiene and easy clean surfaces on walls and floors are the most critical factors. Solvent based paints are not recommended for these applications. Water-based Epoxies are recommended, they produce tough hard-wearing finishes with excellent chemical resistance. Chemical resistance is important as walls and floors are regularly steam cleaned and detergents and other cleaning chemicals are used to decontaminate.

The chuckling cheese company

The chuckling cheese company is a privately owned food manufacturer based in Skegness specializing in cheese and other delicacies. They are growing rapidly with 12 new retail outlets. There new food processing plant and warehouse in Lincolnshire needed a floor coating system which protects it against heavy traffic, machinery and regular cleaning.

AVACE supplied their new food processing plant and warehouse with  Bradite HD Wall & Floor in RAL 7035 light grey. It was selected as it is an ecological and sustainable paint with low odour. A Hygiene coating which is tough, resilient and easy to maintain and clean.

How do I prepare a concrete floor for painting?

Preparation

Before starting, the concrete or cement screed must have a compressive strength of at least 25Mpa and a pull-off strength of at least 1.5Mpa.

The surface to be painted should be free from oil, grease and other contaminants.

On a new screed, power sanding or abrasive blast cleaning are the most common methods of surface preparation. This will remove any surface laitance and create a rough surface for adhesion of the subsequent floor coating.

On an existing screed, high pressure water blasting is recommended at a minimum of 250 bar/3600 psi equipped with a rotating zero-degree angle nozzle. This method will remove surface contaminants, loosely adhering existing coatings and loose concrete.

Also, ensure any existing paint is feathered back to a sound smooth edge and the coating is hard and not soft or flexible which could result in cracking of the subsequent hard epoxy floor coating.

System Application

Plan the path you will follow to apply the coating, so you have an exit way once the coating has been applied.

Which floor paint should I choose?

Floor paints fall into two main categories, air drying coatings, which rely on oxygen in the air to crosslink the polymers and two pack coatings where a hardener is added into the base material to catalyze the polymer. Air drying coatings are simpler to use and easier to apply. Two pack epoxies produce extremely tough finishes with excellent chemical, mechanical and abrasion resistance. You can read more about the full range of floor coatings here.

Fast Air Drying

Bradite Floor-IT is the ultimate fast air-drying acrylic water-based paint, it is suitable for all surfaces, has good chemical and mechanical resistance with low odour and low emissions.

It is ideal for busy production facilities where minimum disruption and speed of completion are critical factors. It can be applied by brush or roller, is touch dry in 30 minutes and two coats can be applied in an hour. It is ideal for use in internal and external workshops, schools, hospitals, public buildings and warehouses.

Two Pack Epoxy

Bradite HD Wall & Floor is the most durable water-based high build two pack epoxy floor coating. It has excellent mechanical and chemical resistance, is suitable for heavy traffic and is a low odour hygiene coating.

It is recommended in areas subject to heavy traffic and in hygiene sensitive areas such as hospitals and food processing plants. It can be used on concrete, steel and wooden floors it sets hard to a tough flexible coating in a gloss finish. If you are coating a porous concrete surface then it may be thinned and used as the primer sealer.

Both of these products are available in an extensive range of RAL, BS & NCS colours. To take a look at our full range of flooring products click here.

Inspirational Colours  

For Inspirational Colours and ideas on interior and exterior design, head over to Avacedesign on Instagram for top decorating tips.