Unusual request: Potter needs advice for coating his studio floor - please help!

[FishTaco]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this board and have enjoyed reading the varied opinions about flooring for garages, specifically coatings. There is much to absorb and understand, and the choices are varied as well as the opinions - toss into that mix what appears to be several manufacturers volleying back and forth for the business of the customer... well... I feel more confused than ever.

I was hoping to present my flooring situation here in this thread and hopefully get some solid feedback to help narrow down my choices - only my situation is very different then what most of you are used to. I'll explain.

I'm not a "car guy" per se. I like cars, but that is not my "gig". I'm not a mechanic, and I'm not looking at coating a "garage" floor currently, but rather my basement floor.

I'm a ceramic artist. A potter. I work with clay as my profession.

In the coming weeks, and months... I'll be renovating and remodeling the existing finished basement of my home to make it into my new ceramic studio. One of the key elements of this project is to come up with a workable floor for my studio that is (a) functional (b) looks great (c) durable (d) cleans easily... and (e) can handle fairly heavy loads being rolled around on it by ware carts and work tables on caster wheels [wet clay can be heavy stuff].

I live in an old Victorian house built around 1900, and the basement floor is currently carpeted. I don't know what kind of condition the concrete is yet under the carpet, but will deal with that soon once the work begins and the carpet comes up. I live on Long Island, NY - so as far as putting down a floor coating goes, I guess I need to be especially mindful of the weather and climate.

Potters occasionally make spills on floors with wet clay or "slip" (liquid slurry-like clay), or from liquid glazes, and water. I won't be spilling any really harsh chemicals like what you'd find in brake fluid, or liquids typical in a mechanic's garage. Most of the chemicals a potter uses are just liquid forms of minerals from the earth, and are simply mopped up with water.

A potter needs to concerned though with breathing mineral dust (from clay and glazes) - especially silica. Breathing fine particles of silica can lead to silicosis of the lungs with can be fatal - so a potter usually needs to clean his floor and studio regularly with a wet mop to keep the dust from building up on surfaces.

These are my main concerns in flooring as how it relates to how I will use this space. Pretty simple concerns compared to what most of you guys are used to here. There will be no parked cars with hot sticky tires to worry about, no dragging of transmissions across the floor, and no dropped heavy tools (hopefully).

What I DO need to think about is a floor that can be easily mopped, and fairly frequently. I also need to have a surface that wont be too slippery if it occasionally gets wet (plus - I have two rowdy pre-teen boys running around the house). And finally, I'll have some pretty heavy steel ware carts as well as work tables that will need to be rolled around from time to time - all on caster wheels. In fact, I'd like to have pretty much everything but my potters wheel on caster wheels in my studio - for ease of cleaning the floor.

Also, this is a concrete floor in a basement and although I do not see any evidence of any mold or water vapor issues (been here over 8 years now)... I need to keep in mind that this floor is basically below the soil line. There are portions though that are right at soil line - as this basement is unique in that it has walk-out access to my backyard on one wall.

I am fairly handy with tools and such, and can do most DIY things from time to time... I've never coated a floor before or tackled anything quite like this before. I also should mention that I do have some spiked shoes that might be helpful - as these are my fly-fishing wading boots (Korker's - steel tipped for climbing around rocks while surf fishing) that may come in handy for this task.

I'm thinking of a simple sidewalk gray color (without the decorative flakes) as a floor color. I would like to reflect a decent amount of light back up into the studio but also do not want a stark white floor either. I like the look of the glossy floor, and think it might look very sharp. I will have some natural light available through a 4'X3' window on the south-facing wall, plus a 6' French glass door on the west-facing wall, but also have recessed hi-hat lighting throughout the 7'2" ceiling as well.

Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations for my flooring application would be immensely appreciated. Please excuse the long-winded post, but my aim was to supply you all with as much information that was specific to my particular flooring needs as possible. Hopefully that will help narrowing down the products that you could recommend to me.

Thanks in advance for all of your advice. I look forward to hearing from anyone that can help... thanks again!

- Ken

 

[trythis]

I would just go with fairly smooth concrete. The water from spills will soak in fast and not cause a slipping hazard. And speaking of slip, when you spill it, it will dry out fast and be easy to scrape up.

As far as resale value, when you decide to leave, and want to make it look good for the new owners, just paint it and your clay and glaze stains will disappear.

I think any sort of sealer or paint is a bad idea in a ceramic studio. When it starts to break up, it could contaminate your work.


I am not a car guy either, but a sculptor that uses the same tools they do.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

For ease of cleanup, resistance to staining, toughness and looks, I would think an epoxy floor with a plastic bead type of slip resistant surface added to the top coat and then sealed with a clear urethane would work. The top coat will cover the slip additive just enough to not rip up your mops but still be effective and if the top coat ever starts to get dull, scuff it up and add another coat in a few hours.

 

[FishTaco]

GeorgiaHybrid - Thanks for your input. I've been thinking something along the lines of EpoxyMaster, SuperCoat, or Wolverine products with the anti-slip resistant treatment. I believe that somewhere I read it is just granular aluminum oxide sprinkled on during the process (top coat I believe?). I hadn't heard of a "plastic bead type"... can you tell me more about that please?

trythis - I do not want to go with a plain concrete floor unless it's polished (which I read is quite expensive to have done), plus, even though you can stain a polished concrete floor... it's still not the same as a colored epoxy coated floor. I want a floor that is easy to mop frequently, and I think if it's really porous untreated concrete, that won't be as easy to clean. The clay dust is more of a concern than an occasional spill - I actually keep a pretty clean studio for a potter so whatever spills will be mopped up right away. Also, I mostly work with white clay... so staining is not going to be an issue either. I'm hoping that if I do it right, the epoxy coat wont "break up" as you say... this is a place that I have to be happy about going to work in every day... so I plan to keep the floor looking good. If it takes an extra clear top coat every 2-3 years to keep it looking nice - so be it. Unless it's professionally polished and stained... a bare concrete floor is not what I'm after. This concrete was laid down around 1898 or so... I'd be very surprised if it was in excellent condition once I rip up all the carpet and padding. We'll be finding out in the coming weeks. Thank you for your input though, I do appreciate all points of view.

 

[FishTaco]

Fred from Alpha Garage... you seem to be very knowledgeable in epoxy coatings for unique situations... care to weight in?

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

The plastic grip additive can be bought from a few places (I think) but this one is from Wolverine:

SuperGrp 300 and 850

The aluminum oxide will rip a mop apart unless topcoated with urethane or something similar.

 

[FishTaco]

GeorgiaHybrid - Thanks for that link... I might've guessed the product came from Wolverine... sounds like they have just about everything covered for every situation. I like the idea of plastic rounded edges verses the sharper shards of aluminum oxide. I won't be having any grease issues in my studio so I think that the lighter coverage they mention would suffice.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

The biggest problem I think you are going to have is the condition of your 100+ year old concrete. It might take a 1" or 2" "topper" slab to level out everything and get a good base to work with. Make sure you let us know what you find when the carpet comes up.

 

[AlphaGarage]

There are dozens of different types of grit; sand, aluminum oxide, polymer, stainless steel, etc. Of those the most common one for garages and small shops is probably the polymer grit.

It's engineered to provide good texture, but with rounded edges so it won't shread mops or other cleaning media. With heavy loads being wheeled over it it isn't as durable as AO or steel, but depending on the lbs/ft2 it may hold up pretty well.

If it does wear down over time it's not that big of a chore to freshen up the clear coat in heavy wear areas, it can usually be done in a few hours.

Our product in this class is SuperGrip, which sounds like it would fit well with your needs. SuperGrip 850 grains are smaller than table salt, white, and opaque. Against a solid dark epoxy it can be visible, but against light epoxies and floors with DecoFlakes it generally blends right in. We spec 0.5 lbs per 200 ft2 for shop floors, but for a floor that doesn’t see a lot of grease or oil, that can be stretched to 400 ft2. We also offer SuperGrip 300 – which is a finer grain, although usually the 850 is the better choice.

 

[FishTaco]

AlphaGarage - As it turns out, this basement/studio project is already behind schedule by almost 6 weeks... and the carpet hasn't even been pulled up yet. It's looking more and more like this project will get pushed into the late summer/fall for sure... My question is... how does the air temperature play into using your products since I live in the Northeast (Long Island, NY)??? In other words, at what temperature do I need to start worrying about taking on this project without screwing up the curing of this product and the overall results. I don't want to begin this project if it means that it's too cold outside to allow your products to work correctly. I would love to have this floor done before winter sets in... but will wait until next spring if I absolutely have to. I would like it done right.

Your thoughts?

Thanks so much...

- Ken

 

[AlphaGarage]

Figure about 40f on the low side, that would be for the slab temp, air can be a couple of degrees cooler.

It will be interesting to find out what lurks beneath that carpet!

 

[FishTaco]

AlphaGarage - Thank you for getting back to me on that information so quickly. It will definitely be interesting to discover what is beneath this carpet! I'll check back and keep you posted!

Best regards,

- Ken

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

There is a fine line between adequate skid resistance and a cleanable surface.
Be prepared to apply additional thin coats if you get too much grit on the floor.

 

[thegarageguy]

Hey Fishtaco,

Your options are limitless. First and foremost, you need to check for moisture. If you have mastic (glue) under the carpet, grind off a few select areas (1sqft), preferably next to each wall and a couple towards the middle of the room. This is critical if you are going the epoxy - polyurethane or polyaspartic route.

Another option is the decorative concrete way. Depending on the condition of your slab, you can stain and seal with an acrylic, then wax. This option does not need moisture testing since its a breathable system.

If the slab isn't stainable or just looks crappy, you can resurface it with a couple layers of a microtopping or overlay of decorative concrete. Then it can be stained and sealed. Again, a breathable system, no need for moisture remediation.

Being that you are a creative person, you can make your workshop an inspirational space by using stencils or engraving designs and or adding textures to it.

See these links for some cool seamless flooring ideas...

http://www.concreteideas.com/concrete/interior-floors

http://www.concretenetwork.com/photo-gallery/

Good luck!

BTW, a good texture to use with a poly and is readily available locally is Shark Grip from Sherwin Williams. 2 to 4 ounces per gallon. No fine line, no guess work, been using it for about 6 years

 

[Jack Olsen]

If your slab is 100 years old, there probably isn't a functional moisture barrier underneath it. This is going to make a lot of epoxy-type coatings a headache. It probably also isn't smooth as glass, under that carpet.

As a ceramic artist, you might want to consider a material you already know: ceramic. My garage had concrete from 1925 that had cracked and heaved through 85 years of California seismic nonsense. I used a few bags of vinyl concrete to make it slightly more level, and then put in inexpensive ceramic tiles. They were .59/sf at Home Depot and they've held up great. Oils and liquids clean up with a paper towel or rag. It's easy to sweep. It's not slippery like bathroom tiles might be. These are rated for commercial use in places like public malls.

Durable enough for carts filled with clay? I park my car on mine.

And jack the car up on it:

And do a lot of other kinds of work, too.

I'm sure some of these other options would be viable, but I'm frugal as all get out -- and I don't know that they would fit into the less-than-$500-for-the-project category.

You could also get porcelain tile, which is harder than ceramic. It can be found for $1/sf -- maybe less, on sale.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Ceramic is good! Which is why LiquaTile 1184 has ceramic content, a raw material that few epoxies available to the public contain. And the ceramic isn't just ceramic spheres either (been seeing a bit of that on the market recently), but solid ceramics. The benefits of the ceramic is that it allows the cured LiquaTile to be hard, but yet somewhat flexible. It's easy to make a very hard epoxy, in fact most quality epoxies are harder then the underlying concrete, but being hard does have drawbacks, like glass it can be brittle. If the cured epoxy has some flexibility also you have the best of both worlds. Dropped items transfer a lot of kinetic energy to the coating, that shock if transferred directly to the concrete can cause chip outs, cracks, and divots. With built in flexibility LiquaTile can absorb some of the energy and evenly dissipate it, reducing the chance of the concrete being damaged.

It will also cut down cracks forming in the epoxy coating. The BondTite primer will reduce the actual formation of cracks, but should they start anyway a hairline crack has less of a chance rupturing the coating since the epoxies can literally stretch with the movement.

(For really punishing environments the Wolverine Coatings' catalog has some formulations of LiquaTile with even higher amounts of ceramic content, but they get pricey and are overkill for most garage and shop applications. But if your floor is subject to really, really, nasty abuse, we can supply a LiquaTile that has titanium content along with the ceramics... at over $100 per sqft! Ouch.)