The best floor paints on the market today

The best type of floor paint is dependent on your floor’s requirements and needs.

Trying to find the right floor paint for your project can be a minefield of contradicting information. This article is designed to simplify that processes and help you choose the right floor paint for the job!

A good quality floor paint will provide wear resistance and durability, as well as giving that grey dull concrete a new lease of life!

Before getting started the first questions to ask yourself are:

• What substrate are you looking to paint?

Concrete, Wood, Metal, Asphalt and Tarmac can all be easily painted. Many floor paints will be suitable for all of these substrates with a few exceptions; water-based floor paints such as Coo-Var’s Acrylic Floor Paint are better suited for tarmac and asphalt as they are flexible enough to move with the asphalt and not damage the surface underneath.

All floor paints will need a suitable primer when being applied to metal or wood to provide added protection and extend the lifespan and durability of the coating.

Check out Coo-Var’s Primer range here

For bare concrete floors, such as garages and warehouses simply prime the surface by applying a thinned down first coat of the floor paint chosen. Thinning the first coat will improve the absorption on the paint into the concrete. To thin down floor paint, simply pout the paint into a separate container, add 100ml of water for evert L of paint and mix thoroughly.

If choosing a two pack epoxy coating, make sure to prime the surface first with an appropriate epoxy primer.

• How much traffic will the floor be subject to and what is my budget?

Choosing the best paint is dependent on how much traffic the floor will be subject to each day and what your budget is.

Low - Light foot traffic.

Medium - Medium foot traffic, with the occasional vehicle.

High - Heavy foot traffic, pallet trucks, forklifts.

Below is a quick simple table to help you choose the right paint to fit your requirements:

Do I need to prepare the floor before applying the floor paint? For heavy traffic industrial environments, prone to oil spillages two pack epoxy coatings are the best floor paint coatings for the job. Two pack epoxy coatings require you to mix a separate hardener/catalyst into a base material. They chemically cure rather than air dry and leave you with an extremely tough and durable finish designed to take a lot of traffic and abuse.

Each different substrate has its own properties and as a result needs to be prepared accordingly. Bare concrete, etched, to remove any dust and laitance, this can be done using Coo-Var’s Acid Etch solution, bare wood should be sanded and primed, bare metal should be degreased and abraded, Tarmac should be thoroughly cleaned and power washed down.

All substrates should be checked for oil and grease. Oily/greasy floors can be a problem, especially if the oil has penetrated into the surface, this can be removed using a Oil Remover or Degreaser.

Previously painted substrates should have all loose flaking material removed with a test area completed to check for compatibility.

Two pack epoxy coatings should only be applied onto previously painted floors that have the same type of two pack coating underneath. Any previous unknown paint should be Mechanical ground away from the concrete in preparation for the application of epoxy coating,

• How much floor paint do I need?

This is dependent on the product and size of your project, porous surfaces such as rough concrete will tend to absorb a lot of the first coat of paint so it’s important to go on the lower end of the manufacturers square meter guidance. The best way to check the quantity required is to check the technical data sheet of the floor paint you are intending to use; this will have a square meter coverage guide to help you work out how much paint you need for your area.

As a guide, a standard single garage is around 18 sqm.

The minimum size of a double garage is around 27.5 sqm.

If you're in any doubt, all of this can be discussed with the Coo-Var technical team who will help you select an appropriate coating system on 01482 328053 or at info@coo-var.co.uk