Garage

So whilst the engine was at the machine shop I made use of time by getting the garage ready. I wanted to improve the light and cut down on the dust. I'd previously painted the walls white which made a great improvement to the lighting, and also fitted a rubber strip on the bottom of the garage door which stopped a lot of debris blowing in from outside.

Next job was to paint the floor. I'd done some research and spoken with a few neighbours who had already painted their floor and realised that the standard garage floor paint from B&Q or Wickes was probably not the best and I'd be repainting it again in a year or so. So I opted for an epoxy paint. I ended up buying it from www.regalfloorpaint.co.uk after reading a number of recommendations.

I bought the following:

4 x Clean n etch
1 x 2 pack epoxy first coat
1 x 2 pack epoxy top coat

I also ordered a few disposable brushes and a metal roller frame and roller.

So first job was to clear out the garage. You have to get the epoxy down in one go so you can't be moving things around the garage.

Next job was to clean up any old paint and oil stains. I had a massive oil stain in the middle of the floor. I tried various things on this but eventually found brake cleaner and then cat litter worked really well.



This is the oil stain after a can of brake cleaner. I thought this would be okay to paint over.

I then removed as much of the old paint from around the edge of the garage with a wire drill brush. It was now time for the acid etch. The idea with this is that it gives the concrete a rough sand paper finish so the paint can bond to it. I used a watering can and made up a solution of 1 part acid to 4 parts water. I then just went the floor with it - doing a quarter of the garage at a time and then rinsing. I ended up etching the floor twice as I had enough acid left. The key thing here is that the floor has to be completely free of any acid before painting. I found I had to rinse multiple times and I used a large rubber squidgy from homebase to pull the water out.

Once the floor was dry I painted the first cost of epoxy. I was surprised when I opened the tin that it was green (I ordered grey) but it was too late so I painted it on anyway. I wasn't sure how far the tin would go so applied it sparingly - but I had loads left at the end so could have put it on thicker.

One thing about this paint - it really smells. Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth - not a cheap paper one - a proper one with filters in it. Even with the mask on, towards the end of the first coat I was struggling.

Next day the first coat was dry enough to walk on so I decided to do the second coat. Here is the finished floor. I left it to cure for 7 days before moving anything back in to the garage.