Hanger floor finish

Does anybody know a good and inexpensive finish for my hanger floor (bare concrete). I just can't see spending what it would take to lay down the epoxy finish. Plus I heard that prepping the floor with the acid will rust up the iron beams and anything else in the building. Joe

I'm in the same spot, bare concrete, I want to hear what others have to say also. How about outside also, what should be used there? Dave

Answer, the cheapest stuff you can get at home depot. Don't do ANY prep, just kick the can over and smear it around a little. This is to duplicate what happens when you spill paint in the garage. Can't ever get it up, no way, no how. Its there forever. But go pay lots of money for epoxy and it will come up in sheets the size of a doormat.
I too am interested in the real answer if someone has a good idea. The epoxy is very expensive and everyone I've ever talked to has had problems with it, sure looks nice when it does work though.

Bill

3 years ago I put Van Sickle brand floor paint on my new concrete garage floor. It is still holding up ok inside the garage and makes the floor much easier to sweep. The area just outside the door exposed to the weather is peeling up and a few days ago I moved a rubber-backed floor mat and discovered the paint was softening, no doubt similar to "hot-tire pick-up". The garage is my workshop so I can't comment on how this paint holds up to tires. I used two gallons to cover a 20 x 20 garage and it seems like I got three coats on it.

I did notice yesterday that Lowes has two different types of DIY epoxy floor finish, one was $50/gallon and the other around $35.

Another finish to look into is the Sherwin-Williams concrete stain. This is the type of finish used around pools, on sidewalks and in a lot of commercial buildings now (stores, etc.) so it must be pretty durable.

Cheapest to most expensive - floor paint, stain, epoxy.

I used a sealent on my floor this last winter. My floor still looks like concrete but it sweeps up nice with no concrete dust. I am vary happy with it, it is not slick, it went on like water, I can buff it to a shine if I want to, Best of all I can't tell if it is chipped.

Cub_Driver

We are geting ready to try the Sherwin Willams stuff,

I will get to watch the prosess and give a full report!!

Wup

My neigbor up the river paints floors comercially, does a lot of hangers. He bead blasts the concrete first to get a clean, and ruffed up surface for the epoxy to adhere to. Just like painting anything, it's ALL in the prep work. The best paint in the world won't stick to junk. It may be worth checking with a local pro to see what it would cost to have them do this step for you, or maybe you could rent a floor blasting machine somewhere. If you don't do it right and it peels up in a couple years, what have you saved? The sealers seem to be a nice low cost alternative in low traffic hangers.

A builder gave me a tip (not tried by me yet) Is to seal the floor with a PVA glue and water mix. So when you paint it, the paint will go further as it doesn't soak into the concrete.

Pete

I just painted my hangar with Sherwin Williams' "Tile-Clad HS"
This is their high solids epoxy. They'll mix up any color you want. Pick a light color for reflectivity. They even had a color sample book that gave the light reflectivity values.
So far I like the stuff. Two planes have been on it for about 6 weeks. I have driven the tractor and pickem up truck on the paint with no problems.
My concrete was new (75 days) so I did not do the acid cleaning. Though, I did clean it with a mild soapy water solution.
The regular price of the stuff is about $30 per gallon, but a couple of guys in my airpark got together to buy more and they sold it to us for $26 per gallon.
Coverage for one coat with a roller was just over 250 square feet per gallon, but I found that it needed a second coat. With two coats the coverage came out to about 185 square feet per gallon. Cost for the 2500 square foot hangar was about $350. Pretty cheap if you ask me...
Best Regards,
Barefootpilot

I am in the same shape, 1800 sq feet of fairly new concrete floor and still trying to decide what to do.

There are sealants and there are coatings. All coatings are eventually problematic so I will go with a sealant. If you like color, they can be tinted but nothing will be brighter than clear.

There are some good water base sealers that penetrate about 1/4 inch into the concrete so that is a consideration. I checked with a couple of heavy equipment shops and they recommended a product brand called Tennant, still checking on availability, etc.

As a follow up to my earlier post, the Sherwin Williams epoxy was recommended by a guy with the stuff on his commercial helicopter hangar floor. He has had it on the floor for 20 years with no problems. This includes rolling heli's in and out, forklifts, trucks etc.

A friends floor in Girdwood, AK is done in the Sherwin Williams stuff. A very nice hangar, with a beautiful floor.

He says materials cost about 300 USD to handle his place.

I'll be doing a floor with the Sherwin Williams stuff in about a month. ....gotta strip ENAMEL before the epoxy goes on, though. Can you believe it? ENAMEL, on a floor!!!!??

By-the-way...anybody out there ever poured a 'pigmented' concrete floor? I guess you can choose fromplenty of color options.

DMC

Big AK said:

By-the-way...anybody out there ever poured a 'pigmented' concrete floor? I guess you can choose fromplenty of color options.

DMC

Click to expand...

I haven't done a hanger floor but my 28' x 8' front porch on the house is poured in grey cement and then matted to look like stones.

All the guys did was dump a bag of dry powder colourant into the cement truck when it arrived (after convincing the driver that they cleared it with his boss) and then let it mix for awhile and then poured the porch. The trick on a large floor would be getting each load the same colour.

Wayne

I've seen lots of colored concrete floors applied. The process I saw is that they pour the concrete and rough finish it, they sprinkle on the colored powder and machine it in. The finish only penetrates about 1/4 of an inch.

Another thing I would fear about a coating as opposed to a sealer is that when it gets wet you will bust your butt trying to walk on it. Typically, a sealer will not change the texture of the concrete.

The whole coating thing just doesn't sound practical to me.

OK Guys-This is only my opinion, (I'm a sandblasting and painting contractor) 23 yrs ago my 1st product rep said stay away from two kinds of paint work- floors and pools- mainly because they get the worst abuse, and like aircraft maintainance, if it isn't done right, it doesn't work.

First off- you get what you pay for. Cut a corner and you'll wish you had used a clear sealer. Ever try to remove that peeling paint after it was installed wrong?

MD was right-prep is THE most important.

Second- Usually anyone can get a proper job if they just read the instructions on the can-don't improvise.

Third- If you want a color- A polyamide epoxy (like tile clad) is the most cost effective way to go and still get good wearability.

Here's the way I do it:
If the floor is dirty or has oil stains on it, clean it with a STRONG detergent, use solvent (cheap laquer thinner-scrub) to get the worst oil stains (muratic acid won't touch oil).

Acid etch with a strong solution- One gal acid to 3-4 gal water. Dump on floor, move around with a broom. The acid is like a sander, roughing up the surface, removing the creme. You want a rough surface- like 100 grit paper, to give the surface a profile, or anchor pattern for the paint to adhere to. Rinse with water (it neutralizes the acid) Vacumn up the water till it's dry.

I just did the bathroom in my hanger and the short time the oak trim was exposed to the acid and water didn't hurt it a bit.

Next step- application- mix your two part, let it sweat in (sit for 30 min.) re-mix, and add in 3 qts epoxy solvent to the 2 gallons mixed. Stir in. (This makes the paint as thin as beer, and it will soak into the surface better - it'll go a long way when it's thin- maybe 400 to 700 sq. ft. per gal depending on how you apply it)

If you have some spike golf shoes you can get back on it for the first full coat in 3 to 4 hrs without leaving foot prints.

Apply the second coat (first full coat)-simple as that.

OKAY- This may help determine how you do this:
1-Add in the time it takes to clean the hanger out.
2- The time it takes to clean and etch the floor, and mat'l.
3- The time it takes and cost of mat'l to apply the two coats.
LOT OF WORK, PAIN IN THE ASS.
Now add 20% for the cost of the epoxy, and know all that work wasn't for nothing.

Also, if one thin, and one full coat give you a comparative 8-10 years before it wears thru to the concrete, putting on one more full coat will give you comparativly (sp) 13 -15 yrs. (Dad's went 18 yrs and only wore thru at the entry door). And that next coat will make the floor look like a million.

Whew! I'm headed to the hanger! Need any more, call me at 815-742-3648.

Wilbur

Thought this looked interesting.

http://www.southernfloorservices.com/

Wilber is my new best friend

Hey Wilber,

Your gonna be my best friend when my new hanger is finished at C77 this fall!

Kaney

Jeff, Give a jingle and stop by Cottonwood if your out with the SC. Going to try to be there the rest of the week. Going to start the engine switch on the J-3 friday afternoon.

Wilbur

Cub is down for annual MX with Darrell.

We'll talk next week.

Jeff