White Floor?

[Keith in Wloo]

I'm finally getting somewhere with the floor leveling. So now I am wondering what colour to paint it. The walls and ceiling of the shop are white. Not sure if a white floor glaring up at me is a good idea or should it be grey or something a little less stark.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Keith

[dan]

Originally Posted by Keith in Wloo

I'm finally getting somewhere with the floor leveling. So now I am wondering what colour to paint it. The walls and ceiling of the shop are white. Not sure if a white floor glaring up at me is a good idea or should it be grey or something a little less stark.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Keith

id paint it white, wont stay that way long anyway, id be more concerned with the finish texture as in slipping, i had a really bad floor(uneven salt rot etc) when i moved into this shop was going to rip it out and repour but got lazy and covered it with 5/8 t&g osb and couldnt be happier, dont cringe every time i drop a chisel and my chair rolls around the room real easy also a lot easier on the feet

[aussie]

Originally Posted by dan

id paint it white, wont stay that way long anyway, id be more concerned with the finish texture as in slipping, i had a really bad floor(uneven salt rot etc) when i moved into this shop was going to rip it out and repour but got lazy and covered it with 5/8 t&g osb and couldnt be happier, dont cringe every time i drop a chisel and my chair rolls around the room real easy also a lot easier on the feet

I was thinking about painting/coating the t&g osb I'm laying down but I'm not sure about what to do at the joints, especially the end joints. Even with proper priming I doubt that whatever I use will last all that long but I do want to protect the osb from the melting snow of the blower that is in the garage each winter. Any hints?

[Barry in London]

Originally Posted by aussie

I was thinking about painting/coating the t&g osb I'm laying down but I'm not sure about what to do at the joints, especially the end joints. Even with proper priming I doubt that whatever I use will last all that long but I do want to protect the osb from the melting snow of the blower that is in the garage each winter. Any hints?

Aussie, last winter, my first with a snow blower, every time I brought it inside after blowing out the driveway I ended up with a big puddle of water melting in the shop. This year I think I'm going to take some 2x3 and either put a tarp or some fish pond membrane in it to collect the snow. I'll put some bricks or something in it too for the blower to sit on so it's not sitting in the puddle of melted snow.

With osb I don't think there's much you can do to protect it. Water really turns that stuff to mush! I suppose you could have a section by the door that is removable for the winter. Pop it up and leave your blower in there. At the end of the winter put the floor back down and you're good to go. I'm assuming your osb isn't sitting right on the floor. If it is, that won't work cause the water will get into the ends of the osb.

[aussie]

Originally Posted by Barry in London

Aussie, last winter, my first with a snow blower, every time I brought it inside after blowing out the driveway I ended up with a big puddle of water melting in the shop. This year I think I'm going to take some 2x3 and either put a tarp or some fish pond membrane in it to collect the snow. I'll put some bricks or something in it too for the blower to sit on so it's not sitting in the puddle of melted snow.
With osb I don't think there's much you can do to protect it. Water really turns that stuff to mush! I suppose you could have a section by the door that is removable for the winter. Pop it up and leave your blower in there. At the end of the winter put the floor back down and you're good to go. I'm assuming your osb isn't sitting right on the floor. If it is, that won't work cause the water will get into the ends of the osb.

Yeah I was going to try something like a bed liner top put down on top of the osb for the blower to sit on but my main concern is going to be the ends of the osb. I'm putting down Delta-FL then covering that with Reflectofoil followed by the osb.
I think what I'll try is to paint the last 2' underneath of each piece at that end of the floor and also seal the ends somehow. I'm leaving a 1' gap from the end of the new floor to the garage door so I minimise the chances of water/snow/ice being driven up under the floor covering. Last year we had those rubber jig-saw type mats out there that went right up to the door and of course the sill is not level so apart from the stuff falling/melting off the blower we also had snow and rain driven under the door in places.
I wonder if any of the garage floor sealants/coatings would work over the top of painted osb? Probably not I guess. Pity you can't just plasticote the stuff!

[dan]

i bring my blower in to dry off before it goes out in the snow blower house, that way she dont freeze solid after use, i dont take any extra care except to throw some shop towels down, when they get wet hang them up, as you can see by the pics i didnt do anything special with the floor except block it at the edges so it dosent float or seperate at first a few loose pieces came off but now it is very smooth from wear, had lots off accidents with my old malamute and diarrea etc(pour buggers dead now), when it did happen i just cleaned it up and poured bleach on it that particular area is still whiter, it has been six years now and it will out last me, probably one of the smarter things i have done in the shop

[phil]

what about cheap lyno flooring, or the square tiles? That would have some give, keep the water off the OSB and brighten things up? maybe check the materials section on craigslist for some leftovers?
Phil

[J.P. Rap]

Aussie, That bed liner idea sounds neat. I also bring my snow blower in after use but my shop floor slopes slightly inward. I built a small ramp to park it on and covered it with an old tonneau cover. It worked OK but not great. I still got a fair bit of water sitting on the floor.
My OSB floor is primed and painted and the joints aren't sealed but it seemed to stand up to the water just fine.

I would say paint it and be sure to soak lots of paint in the joints. That will help protect the edges and partially seal the joints. Perhaps an oil based paint would work best. I don't see a problem with going white but it won't stay white for long.

[aussie]

Originally Posted by J.P. Rap

Aussie, That bed liner idea sounds neat. I also bring my snow blower in after use but my shop floor slopes slightly inward. I built a small ramp to park it on and covered it with an old tonneau cover. It worked OK but not great. I still got a fair bit of water sitting on the floor.
My OSB floor is primed and painted and the joints aren't sealed but it seemed to stand up to the water just fine.
I would say paint it and be sure to soak lots of paint in the joints. That will help protect the edges and partially seal the joints. Perhaps an oil based paint would work best. I don't see a problem with going white but it won't stay white for long.

Yeah I need to look around within the next week or so for a suitable liner for the job from the way the weather is going. I also like the idea of parking the blower on a couple of bricks to keep it from sitting in the mush. I was contemplating using the blue board osb from Lowe's for the floor because it's supposed to be less prone to rot and the like. Considering you can buy a can of the stuff to treat your cut ends etc... maybe if I paint the joints and ends with that first and then prime and paint that may help. I just have a feeling that pulling the tapcons and replacing damaged sheets is about as good as I'm going to get without resorting to some weird and exotic - read bloody expensive - means of sealing the osb.

[hwgill]

Why not just use plywood at the edge instead of OSB, you'll have a lot fewer problems that way, and for a temporary spot for the snowblower, have one panel, say 4' x 4', removable so that you can drop the blower on the concrete until it dries.

We don't have those snowblower thingies out here on the Wet Coast...not enough of the white stuff lands here to make that type of purchase worth while.

[phil]

the snow we get on the wet coast is more like a slurpee so it will clog those machines, they work great in dry snow.

[aussie]

Originally Posted by hwgill

Why not just use plywood at the edge instead of OSB, you'll have a lot fewer problems that way, and for a temporary spot for the snowblower, have one panel, say 4' x 4', removable so that you can drop the blower on the concrete until it dries.
We don't have those snowblower thingies out here on the Wet Coast...not enough of the white stuff lands here to make that type of purchase worth while.

About all we use in Winter back home are long sleeved t-shirts and less of the zinc cream on the nose when we're surfing.

Now about some of the ideas.......... can't pull a section out to let the blower sit on the concrete because under the osb is reflectofoil and Delta-FL. I could use a piece of ply to sit under the blower but the melt from the blower will still be a problem. Replacing the last 4' of the floor with ply means 2 sheets of 5/8" t&g ply so it locks to each other like the osb but then I have a non-t&g seam right across the end of the floor for any melt-off to seep into and/or destabilise the floor at that point.

[kcjones]

What about an end piece of vinyl flooring and try to form it over the edge of the OSB with a heat gun?

[davwho]

i may have an answer to the snowblower ,well it worked (works) i use a small pastic kiddie pool,
just cut a small entrance, leave a 2-3 inch lip and a small ramp,snow melts off stays in the pool,just pick up and dump
works like a charm
hope this helps

Dave

[hwgill]

Originally Posted by aussie

About all we use in Winter back home are long sleeved t-shirts and less of the zinc cream on the nose when we're surfing.

Now about some of the ideas.......... can't pull a section out to let the blower sit on the concrete because under the osb is reflectofoil and Delta-FL. I could use a piece of ply to sit under the blower but the melt from the blower will still be a problem. Replacing the last 4' of the floor with ply means 2 sheets of 5/8" t&g ply so it locks to each other like the osb but then I have a non-t&g seam right across the end of the floor for any melt-off to seep into and/or destabilise the floor at that point.

Throw a few pieces of blocking in between the sleepers. and you don't have any weakness in the floor.

[aussie]

Originally Posted by hwgill

Throw a few pieces of blocking in between the sleepers. and you don't have any weakness in the floor.

????????? What sleepers?

Delta-FL laid direct on the concrete.......

.....followed by Reflectix laid down on the Delta-FL.......

......and finally 5/8" T&G OSB........

.......all held down by Tapcon screws - the flat head style of course.

[J.P. Rap]

That kiddy pool is an interesting idea.

Unfortunately, this is the only pic I have of my sill. Since taking this pic I cut the OSB back another 4" or so for a bit more then the width of the door. I then poured concrete to level out the sill so the door would seal nicely and sloped it up on the inside to meat the level of the OSB. What I end up with is sort of a trough at the door opening. Once cured I sealed the joint between the concrete and the OSB and painted the concrete to seal it. As I mentioned earlier, I built a slight ramp inside the shop to park the blower on. It was sloped toward the door and the melted slop would run into the trough then slowly seep out around the door seal. I only did this because my floor is sloping slightly inward. It worked very well last year accept for the leaks in the tonneau cover that I used.

If your floor slopes toward the door you should be able to do the same with little trouble at all.

[matt.mackinnon]

Why not seal the seams with some paste wax. not as if you are going to apply any more finish to it. Wax does a wonderful job or repelling water and can be re-applied without any ill effect.

I put down some ten-test as an insulation between the floor and the OSB in my garage. The stuff is wonderful in protecting the floor from moisture that makes it's way into the garage in the winter time.

Matt.

[aussie]

I've got a 5" slope back-to-front in the floor so that's okay for getting the run off out of there. I'm starting the floor 1' from the door to lessen the risk of any dam backing up on the floor and also to lessen the blow in risk. I'm fixing the sill this weekend while young Mr. Graham is over so that should help with the blow in problems we had last year. I'm just concerned that being sealed properly the door will dam up the melt from the blower but a good broom should help there. I can't build up the sill to help with getting mobile tools over the floor lip but I can make a removable filler piece to do that. The wax idea sounds like something I might be able to try.