What color workshop floor would you do?

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
I have to pick a color for my new concrete workshop floor. They're going to use a solid color concrete sealer. I need to pick a color. What color would you do your workshop floor if you had the chance to do it? Thanks.

Pics if you have a favorite colored floor are always helpful.

Red
 
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JNCarr

Joe
Corporate Member
Sorry, Red, but not red.
Suggest mid-lighter gray. If you can find specs, choose a gray with high color rendering index. This will not alter the color of your stains/finishes (this assumes your lighting has high CRI).
 
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sandfarm

Joe
User
Use a color that your eyes like so you can find dropped nails and screws easily. Also use a color that does not eat light.
 
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Charlie

Charlie
Corporate Member
My floor is the old pressed wood which is sawdust in color by nature. Of course most is covered with rubber tiles.
But if I was to ever paint it I would choose a light gray.
 
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Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
Is this a thin, almost clear concrete sealer (which helps the concrete cure) or are you talking about a paint, epoxy, or rubber product?

Whatever you use, add a good, coarse, and durable non-skid material to the mix. My second story shop flooring is Advantech subfloor. It is a particle product but much tougher, rigid, and smoother than particle, but I made the mistake of painting it with an enamel deck paint. Except for stains the paint has held up well for 20 years, but, I didn't add non-skid grit and it is as slippery as snot when sprinkled with a little sawdust. Feeding planks into the jointer can be exceedingly tough. I have rubber mats in critical locations, but they slip as well.
 
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cyclopentadiene

Update your profile with your name
User
Epoxy and paint always wear and flake. Polished concrete is a much better option as it will be more durable etc. Just look at commercial and retail situations. Walmart and Lowes are great examples. Lowes has always had polished concrete floors and a 2 decade old store still looks as good as a new one. Walmart has tried linoleum tile, tile and carpet but more recently the new stores and remodels are going to polished concrete. In addition concrete is already gray as suggested in many posts above
 

Westpacx3

Jim
Corporate Member
I would donthe gray as well but epoxy is hard and slippery. My friend has some non slip texture in his epoxy and it is still slick. My floor is wood so I had better paint options but it did throw the flecs is to hide floor imperfections and offer some non slip. Picked up the bag of fleck at lowes and used the blue black white to blend with the gray like artic cammie
 

Westpacx3

Jim
Corporate Member
I found the photo of the floor
 

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Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Light grey or Light grey with a tinge of blue. The blue lowers glare and improve the whiteness of the ambient light.
 
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HITCH-

Hitch
Corporate Member
I like the polished concrete idea.
If you have to pick a specific color for a top coat I'd go with grey. Second choice would be gray.
 
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red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
Is this a thin, almost clear concrete sealer (which helps the concrete cure) or are you talking about a paint, epoxy, or rubber product?

Whatever you use, add a good, coarse, and durable non-skid material to the mix. My second story shop flooring is Advantech subfloor. It is a particle product but much tougher, rigid, and smoother than particle, but I made the mistake of painting it with an enamel deck paint. Except for stains the paint has held up well for 20 years, but, I didn't add non-skid grit and it is as slippery as snot when sprinkled with a little sawdust. Feeding planks into the jointer can be exceedingly tough. I have rubber mats in critical locations, but they slip as well.
It's just a solvent based concrete sealer with solid color pigment. Not a paint or epoxy and it's not slippery at all. Thanks

Red
 

tghsmith

tghs
User
consult the crypto biology dept of the unseen university to find which colors inhibit the propagation of shop floor monsters,, those nasty little critters that will drag any dropped part to the most unreachable section of the shop (mine got so bad I had to up armor Slim my 1/6th scale shop assistant).. I would go with a light blue or even white so things like nails and nuts show up well
 

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Chaz

Chaz
Senior User
Back in the Days of Sail, warships often had decking in the fighting areas painted red. This was to mask the blood of sailors blown to smithereens in combat.

It might lend a good idea for shop floor colors.

I was in Austin, Texas in '72 with my band. There was an ice cream shop on Guadalupe that had painted the walls, ceiling and floor flat black and then used condiment squirt bottles, filled with various colors of fluorescent paint and squirted it all over everything. They then lit the interior with black lights. It was really cool. Like a Jackson Pollack painting on acid. Would it be good for a wood shop? I don't know. Just sayin'.
 

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