Floor Coatings and Welding

[brow318]

Are epoxy coated floors compatible in an environment with welding equipment?

I am about to complete the installation of floor and cabinets for a new home and I want to get the floors done prior to getting everything moved in.

I was considering either an epoxy floor or stained concrete (light color) but was concerned that the small of amount of welding that I do could damage the floor.

I don't weld much but I probably use the welder about 30-40 hours a year. I also have a plasma cutter that I use from time to time. I got rid of my RaceDeck floor because the slag from welding and plasma cutter burned the floor and would flame up a little when slag hit the tiles. Hard to weld when you are wearing a helmet and having to watch for small fires at the same time.

I have seen a lot of posts on epoxy floors on the forum but not much on staining. If you have experience with stained floors in a garage I would appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,
Kevin
Dallas

 

[c_mccann]

I weld on a piece of plywood on my floor. Cutting torch is an outside toy, so is a plasma. I'd recommend a welding/cutting table outside if you can help it. Epoxy floor will be a casulty. Maybe have a bare part of your epoxy floor for the welding area?

 

[bad_idea]

I painted my garage floor with the rustoleum epoxy kit available at home depot 2 years ago when I bought my house. In the last year I have ran 30 lbs of wire through my welding machine and the floor still cleans up just fine. I weld on a table though, with occasional on vehicle welding. When I first had the floor I would lay down fire blankets to protect the floor. After the 7th gouge in the concrete I stopped worrying about it. Come to find out, the welding doesn't bother it much anyways. Only big chunks of glowing slag seem to affect the epoxy much.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Like others say, welding really doesn't do anything to a floor. It's the molten metal that lands on it.

I don't know of a surface that can withstand red-hot slag, which I seem to generate more from long stretches of grinding than welding. I think bare concrete is the best option for this, or simply letting go out of the idea of any surface staying pretty.

Welding blankets are your other option. I use them to minimize the pinhole-type burns on my ceramic tile. But I'm lazy enough that I still get a lot of the little burn marks. And that's where that fancy French world 'patina' works its way into my vocabulary. It's a garage, after all.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Protect it against slag and weld off the ground and you will be ok.
Naturally, white might be a bad color choice.

 

[brow318]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I probably go with epoxy and install a welding table at some point. In the mean time I can work with my welding blanket.

 

[csp]

I use a large drip pan (47" x 25") placed under whatever I'm welding on to protect my epoxy floor. There have been times when I haven't used it and the little beads that drop when mig welding just leave tiny holes and brown spots around them. The brown wipes away, so you'd really have to be looking to see the pinholes.