shop floors, what's your's like, what works

[Notarealsignguy]

I like polished concrete. Ultimately it seems to be the most durable. From there you can add a hardener, or just have it sealed by a commercial floor guy. Someone who does a lot of retail. It will be Pennies per sqft.

We have our guy come once a year to have everything looking new again. Our guy (Irish clean floors) does ours on a Saturday night so we don’t interrupt production.

Agreed. All you need is a floor machine to keep it up. That's all lowes Walmart and home Depot do. My next job is gonna be riding that thing around at home Depot. Big dreams.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

a few days back, i did a walk through with a different client, who had also rejected DIAMONDHARD because they would not be allowed to self install. i thought the floor looked pretty good for a self installed epoxy paint job, but, as i walked around i could feel spots where the epoxy was "lifting" and settling as i stepped on it. i assume they did not etch (and perhaps didn't even properly clean)

Being a polysiloxane, the issue I'd be worried about is overcoating and repair. You bury a silicone based product into anything and you're married to it.

 

[signheremd]

Agreed. All you need is a floor machine to keep it up. That's all lowes Walmart and home Depot do. My next job is gonna be riding that thing around at home Depot. Big dreams.

Home Depot hires in a company to polish the concrete floors about once per year or two. During the rest of the year they have cleaning contractors that run a fancy machine that essentially wet mops the floor.

 

[gnubler]

Home Depot hires in a company to polish the concrete floors about once per year or two. During the rest of the year they have cleaning contractors that run a fancy machine that essentially wet mops the floor.

Now that I have a bigger shop I'm faced with the task of keeping it all relatively clean. Are others here hiring a cleaning service to run those mopping machines? Wondering if it's something I can rent from a local rental place, but then I'm stuck with needing a helper to get it in and out of my truck. For now I'm just running a push broom and mopping by hand, but very time consuming.

Back to the topic of floor finishes...I wanted to decorate my lobby area with checkerboard flooring. My floor is painted concrete - ordered some sample pieces of rigid adhesive vinyl flooring squares, they didn't stick at all. Then tried a test of printed adhesive vinyl (from Signs365) which stuck a bit better but also pulled up paint when I removed it. I'm renting, so can't paint the floor myself and not sure if there's any other flooring options that won't cost a ton.

 

[JBurton]

Now that I have a bigger shop I'm faced with the task of keeping it all relatively clean. Are others here hiring a cleaning service to run those mopping machines? Wondering if it's something I can rent from a local rental place, but then I'm stuck with needing a helper to get it in and out of my truck. For now I'm just running a push broom and mopping by hand, but very time consuming.

Back to the topic of floor finishes...I wanted to decorate my lobby area with checkerboard flooring. My floor is painted concrete - ordered some sample pieces of rigid adhesive vinyl flooring squares, they didn't stick at all. Then tried a test of printed adhesive vinyl (from Signs365) which stuck a bit better but also pulled up paint when I removed it. I'm renting, so can't paint the floor myself and not sure if there's any other flooring options that won't cost a ton.

Rugs? Anything you stick on the floor will pull up paint if it's there long enough with enough foot traffic.
For the shop area, I'd start with a (battery) leaf blower, unless you have your printer & such in there. In our offices we just let a roomba run nightly and sweep up the inevitable 'never got touched' spots. Shop floor is dirty as it gets, print room floor is only swept.
Did ya ever post up pics of your finished shop? Or in progress?

 

[gnubler]

It's filling up quickly! I'll post some over the weekend on the other thread, so Gino has something to tear apart and ridicule come Monday morning.

Thought about some type of utility/outdoor area rug, but it would just be a dirt collector. My shop is one big space, a leaf blower would be a disaster...it gets dusty enough in here. My floor is kinda ugly but I may just have to accept it.

 

[JBurton]

I recall you were hoping to put up some sort of wall to divide off the work area. So yeah, nix the blower. Roomba is still viable and deductible as a business purchase, at least that's what I planned to do with the drone, I mean budget pole sign survey instrument. I'll let the CPA worry with that.

 

[netsol]

Rugs? Anything you stick on the floor will pull up paint if it's there long enough with enough foot traffic.
For the shop area, I'd start with a (battery) leaf blower, unless you have your printer & such in there. In our offices we just let a roomba run nightly and sweep up the inevitable 'never got touched' spots. Shop floor is dirty as it gets, print room floor is only swept.
Did ya ever post up pics of your finished shop? Or in progress?

yes, leaf blower is a great start. blow till you hit a wall.
then bresk out the shop vac
then follow up with wet mop

 

[Sky Bryan]

 

[Sky Bryan]

Our new epoxy floor with extra hard topcoat. Doing speckle flake on the other side.

 

[Signstein]

Have you tried any of the "workshop blowers" that the major tool brands have? They're lower powered - geared toward moving sawdust, light debris, etc. More like a sweeper. I have the Dewalt one and love it. It comes in handy for all sorts of things.

20V MAX* Compact Jobsite Blower (TOOL ONLY) | DEWALT

This 20V MAX* Cordless Blower is ideal for clearing debris from the ground and overhead. A 3-speed design offers versatility for a range of jobs, while its compact profile makes it perfect for use in ...

www.dewalt.com