Painting - Re-Painting Basement Floor

FYI I looked at all the basement painting posts and none really covered my issue, so I did research a bit before posting :) I had linolium on my basement floor, when I pulled that up I have red paint on the floor that is dusty in many places and chipped in others. I am wondering what I need to do to get an epoxy or paint to stick to the floor? I have a pressure washer that I thought might get the dust off the floor, or do I need to seal the paint that is on the floor now. Thank you all for your help.


Dean

The concrete would have to be completely bare to safely apply a two part epoxy...if not, it would lift at those spots...how about a polyurethane reinforced floor paint...oil or latex...oil would bond best with the old coating that remains.

paint would be fine too, especially if I would have to get to bare concrete to use the epoxy. I just want something that will stick and not be a problem. So you think I should clean and scrape the floor well, prime it maybe and use a reinforced floor paint? Do I need to do anything special where the paint is dusty? I don't know if that was from it being under the linolium or what, but I am worried that I wont get a good stick on it. Thanks for your time and advice.


Dean

You're welcome...scrape the floor or wire brush it to remove the unsound flaking and loose paint, or you could even pole sand it, then give it a good wash with TSP (trisodiumphosphate), rinse and leave to dry for a few days...apply two thin coats of an oil based floor paint...you can reduce the first coat 10% with mineral spirits (that is your 'prime coat' then) and the second coat straight out of the can...thin coats dry better than one big globby thick one. Don't paint yourself into a corner. :D