Floor show
Last time, I talked about shop wants and needs, and how they usually werent the same thing. This time around, though, they are: I want and need to do something…
Last time, I talked about shop wants and needs, and how they usually werent the same thing. This time around, though, they are: I want and need to do something with the spectacularly ugly floor in my shop.
My garage woodshop floor looks exactly like what it is a garage floor. Although our cars have never seen the inside of it, the previous owners parked both of their oil-dripping vehicles inside. How inconsiderate. In addition, they had apparently tried to coat the floor with some kind of sealant but evidently didnt do it right, because the coating has cracked and peeled everywhere. Think of an alligator with the heartbreak of psoriasis, and youve got an idea of what this floor looks like.
Now, I agree with what David DeCristoforo said in his recent blog about the appearance of things in the shop, and how its far more important that they work properly than look pretty. However, the aesthetic value of my floor isnt something I need and want just for myself (although I am sick of looking at it). I do a ton of photography in my shop for publication in books and magazines, and for the last couple years have been trying numerous ways of keeping the floor unnoticeable in photos. For those times it was unavoidable to show the floor, Ive resorted to Photoshop to clean it up a bit.
I simply have to do something. For those of you who have been in a similar situation, what have you done? Id like your advice, but keep in mind that moving everything out of the shop and doing one of those epoxy coatings which would be my first choice simply isnt an option.
Im thinking of cleaning the floor as well as I can without moving stationary equipment (and several permanently mounted floor cabinets) around. Everything else is on wheels, so I figure I can roll everything to one side, and then the other. And then my best option, Im guessing, is good old concrete paint. I used that in my previous basement shop and it lasted and looked good for years. That floor never had cars or any other kind of coating on it though, so I could have a few problems.
The way I figure it, even if it eventually starts to peel or come up in spots, I can always touch it up. And if that doesnt work, theres no possible way that anything I do can look worse than how it looks now.
What do you think?
Till next time,
A.J.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
