Anybody PAINT a checkerboard floor?

[Number21]

I'm moving into a new shop with a 24x24 concrete area painted various different colors from the body shop that used to be there. I was thinking about just painting it with the cheapest light grey covering I can find. But...I've always liked black and white checkerboard garage floors...has anybody painted such a thing? Wouldn't be that difficult with masking tape would it?

I'm going to lay black and white vinyl tile in the bathroom but I want real concrete as a work surface in this area.

 

[Irondrive]

It took 2 of us a long time to measure and mask just for this perimeter. I think it's easier to checkerboard the whole floor. After taping be sure to seal the tape line to avoid under bleed. I used my standard blue painters tape and had a lot of under bleed. I believe someone on this board can recommend a better tape.

 

[rsanter]

I painted the patio in my last house, but I painted it to look like it was tile

I first painted one color that was to be the 'grout'
then laid out the tape grid and painted the other color over that
and pulled up the tape

it came out decent looking

bob

 

[sanddrag]

I would recommend 3M Scotch 233+ green masking tape. It is used for auto body painting, and leaves a good clean line.

 

[Number21]

Thanks everyone - ironclad, that floor looks really nice!!

 

[thegarageguy]

There are two ways to do it. Tape off or saw cut. I like the saw cut because I can make it look like real tiles. Anyone walks up to my checkered floors swear its a tile. I recommend 36" x 36" tiles. The larger the tile the more expensive it looks. Think about it. What tile cost more?

 

[Number21]

There are two ways to do it. Tape off or saw cut. I like the saw cut because I can make it look like real tiles. Anyone walks up to my checkered floors swear its a tile. I recommend 36" x 36" tiles. The larger the tile the more expensive it looks. Think about it. What tile cost more?

Hmmm....I like that idea, and that could provide me some much needed drainage. Can you explain more about how you cut it?

 

[Randar68]

I painted the patio in my last house, but I painted it to look like it was tile

I first painted one color that was to be the 'grout'
then laid out the tape grid and painted the other color over that
and pulled up the tape

it came out decent looking

bob

Sweet jeeebus! Having done quite a bit of painting and tile setting, I'd rather just tile it compared to all that taping/painting effort! WOW.

 

[Randar68]

Hmmm....I like that idea, and that could provide me some much needed drainage. Can you explain more about how you cut it?

I presume he snapped/drew his lines down and then went over it with one of these (or something similar) set to a shallow depth...

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_detail.asp?productID=10236


Question is, did he then just grout the lines?

 

[groucho]

It took 2 of us a long time to measure and mask just for this perimeter. I think it's easier to checkerboard the whole floor. After taping be sure to seal the tape line to avoid under bleed. I used my standard blue painters tape and had a lot of under bleed. I believe someone on this board can recommend a better tape.

How's it holding up?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

There are two ways to do it. Tape off or saw cut. I like the saw cut because I can make it look like real tiles. Anyone walks up to my checkered floors swear its a tile. I recommend 36" x 36" tiles. The larger the tile the more expensive it looks. Think about it. What tile cost more?

Jimenez Crickets Man!! Excellent work.

Now that I have praised your art-work, I have a customer in Newark who needs some large scale patching, food processing floors. You interested? I'll give you the address, you could go see them yourself.

 

[jdoering]

A painter who worked on our house gave us the tip that you can avoid underbleed on trim by taping and then deliberatey painting the tape edge with the color of the trim to seal the gaps. Finally paint with your final color covering the tape edge. I'm sure there are a lot more "pro" methods but it worked very well for me since I have more time than skill on DIY painting. Seems like the same approach would work on a checkboard although there would be a lot of tape and edges!

-Jeff

 

[Kevin54]

One of the members on here painted a checkerboard floor in black and white. He showed the different steps in doing it. I can't remember his name right off but IIRC he has a black Vette. It showed the car sitting outside of the garage and the floor was taped off and had masking paper covering it if that rings anyones bell

Edit....Found some pics on my computer that I saved but I still don't know the members name

 

[thegarageguy]

Jimenez Crickets Man!! Excellent work.

Now that I have praised your art-work, I have a customer in Newark who needs some large scale patching, food processing floors. You interested? I'll give you the address, you could go see them yourself.

Hey Scotty, My office can be reached anytime or you can email or pm me the info anytime as well. Looking forward to representing your Company. ;-)

We sawcut our pattern with a blade roller and or a 4 inch hand grinder. We prime first, then pour a base coat, next we design the pattern, sawcut, tape off opposing squares and this time we roll on 2 to 3 tight coats, wait till it starts to set up, then pull the tape. Next day we grout it, the next day we seal. It takes us 5 days from start to finish. We are in the process of one now, designer color antique silver and speedway gray. 30x30 inch squares with a 12 inch border. I will post pics soon.

 

[Grumpy365]

I painted a 2 car garage with checkerboard.

I painted it white. Than i taped it and painted the squares one way.

After it dried i pulled the tape, and had to tape the squares the other way.

It looked good for a while. Then wear and tear took its toll.

I probably wouldn't do it again.

 

[Joe50]

Hey Scotty, My office can be reached anytime or you can email or pm me the info anytime as well. Looking forward to representing your Company. ;-)

We sawcut our pattern with a blade roller and or a 4 inch hand grinder. We prime first, then pour a base coat, next we design the pattern, sawcut, tape off opposing squares and this time we roll on 2 to 3 tight coats, wait till it starts to set up, then pull the tape. Next day we grout it, the next day we seal. It takes us 5 days from start to finish. We are in the process of one now, designer color antique silver and speedway gray. 30x30 inch squares with a 12 inch border. I will post pics soon.

I wanna see some pictures of the finished product, as I am thinking about using the same method on a 1800sq garage? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Joe50

 

[Hmrhead]

Here is a link to some pretty complete, straight forward instructions on painting a checkerboard floor. http://ucoatit.com/global/instructionmanuals/ucoatit-checkered.pdf
Used them to do a floor in a hunting cabin a few years back. Took a while to lay out. Floor looked great until we had an undersink water line freeze and burst. Replaced floor with laminate wood flooring. Sorry no pictures of painted floor or flood aftermath.

 

[thegarageguy]

I wanna see some pictures of the finished product, as I am thinking about using the same method on a 1800sq garage? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Joe50

Here you go....

Checkered epoxy floors takes alot of time....we prefer to saw cut, this gives us nice clean and crisp lines. Day 1 grind, patch and prime, Day 2 base coat, Day 3 lay out design and saw cut, Day 4 mask opposing squares and coat, Day 5 re saw cut, grout and seal. Of course this is in ideal conditions, sometimes we need an extra day or 2.

 

[Joe50]

thegarageguy

WOW that looks great! I have two questions though, 1. When all finished is it a smooth surface to the touch with a clear sealer or do you feel all the lines you cut? 2. What does something like this cost?

Thanks greatly for the pictures, You do a great job for sure!

Joe50

 

[thegarageguy]

Than you, you do feel the grout lines but very minimally, because we top coat over the whole floor with polyaspartic and texture for non slip. We charge from $8 to $12 per sqft, depending on existing condition, pattern and colors...some pigments cost more than others.

 

[dlively]

I am at the end of painting checkerboard on the floor of my garage/mancave. I used a product from Home Depot which is Acrylic epoxy. It does not have the gloss I would like so I may finish with a clear epoxy. My floor was not screted smooth and that caused some problems with bleed from tape. Like earlier posters, I agree this is a PIA, but the results have been good. I designed a "vanishing point" concept where each row of tiles gets smaller, giving the illusion of a larger room. Trying to upload pics but they are too large a file. Will follow up after compressing them.

 

[dlively]

I am at the end of painting checkerboard on the floor of my garage/mancave. I used a product from Home Depot which is Acrylic epoxy. It does not have the gloss I would like so I may finish with a clear epoxy. My floor was not screted smooth and that caused some problems with bleed from tape. Like earlier posters, I agree this is a PIA, but the results have been good. I recommend buying a good pair of knee pads. !

 

[toolman1967]

Great look, I have always liked the checkerboard look. If I keep thinking about this, I think I might get into trouble

 

[dlively]

Here are the final pictures of my painted floor. I will probably epoxy over the top because the concrete was not smooth. It tends to collect dirt down in the grooves.