Painting - Paint basement floor

I want to paint a basement floor black. There will be trafic on it, so what is best kind of paint to use and what would be the quickest drying paint for the job?

black will show every bit of dust and dirt, hope you know this.
check into the type of finish that they are now applying to garage
floors if you want durability.

This article may help you: http://doityourself.com/paint/paintconcretewallsandfloors.htm

I have had great success with Ben Moore's Porch and Patio latex enamel
Most floor paint will, by necessity, dry quickly
I have been able to second coat BM's P&P the same day
I don't recommend that (nor is that the norm for me), but wanted to demonstrate that is does dry quickly

There is no unusual prep or primer needed, just clean the floor real well

If you've put down a wooden floor, then use the porch enamel.

If its still a concrete floor, forget the paint. Use a concrete stain instead. Yes, it is available in black. Sherwin-Williams has a black stain that also contains a sealer. I've not used it, but their other products are top-notch.

tips from another site. www.epoxyproducts.com/garage4u


TEST: put a rubber mat on the floor or tape down a 3 by 3 ft (or so) sheet of plastic). If water collects between it and the floor there is a moisture problem and any floor paint will probably ‘pop off'.

TEST: pour water on the cement. It should soak into the cement in a reasonable time. If it beads up or just sits there for a long time, the concrete has been sealed or is grease or oil contaminated. Could be problems. Badly oil saturated concrete will probably never be successfully covered with any kind of paint or epoxy.

TEST: try painting a test area with ‘regular' oil based enamel. If it stays down for several months, then it is likely an epoxy floor will also bond with satisfactory results

All good tests above.

I also agree with a stain over a paint or enamel.

Be aware that dark colors will burnish easily, showing scuffs from shoes, or anything drug across the floor, etc. Stain will alleviate some of this, but not all.

Hmmmm...sorry for the not too off-track swing here, but as I use, or refer, a mason contractor for staining concrete, I was wondering if you can you stain over "old" or previously painted or finished, or "condition unknown" concrete?

My guy seems to feel you can't, and the more I learn about it, the more I think that someone could

I'm wondering if a painter-type-person may have a better perspective on it than a mason-type-person

Just in case it helps the answer, he prefers a SWP product, I don't recall the name off-hand

I probably wouldn't ever try to stain concrete that had anything on it before (unless it has been sandblasted or comparable). Concrete is pretty porous, and anything in those pores will inhibit the stain from staining evenly. Probably hinder adhesion too, depending on the contaminant.

I've also had real funky results when staining after acid etching. Why, I don't know.

I spec stain if its new, or clean, or an otherwise untouched surface.

Whew...thanks PWG
I was thinking...well, as I do mostly renos/ remods and not new, you could guess what I was thinking
Thanks

I can't find the Homer Doh! smilie anywhere.

lol..
where are those...?
Thnx

If you want to stain a floor that had something else on it, resurface it. There are several products for doing that - elitecrete, increte, quickcrete all make products for that purpose. Your mason contractor should be able to help there.

I would add that if the concrete has the sealer [or whatever it is called] that is sprayed on shortly after the concrete sets, don't try and stain it. I found out the hard way long ago that it won't stain or dry right.

Don't paint the basement black. My basement was black before I painted it. It looked horrible. Dirt showed up everywhere. The floor wouldn't wash clean.

I painted my floor Orange with a latex floor paint. You have to like the color orange to want to do that. You can have floor paint tinted any color you want. Stock colors like red are suppose to be more durable because the pigment is heated into the paint.

Brighter colors add more light to a dark basement. Black absorbs light.

Latex paint isn't very durable. If you drop a wrench on the floor it chips. It's like a rubber band on the entire floor.

Orange and black, eh? Sounds like a Bengals fan to me!

Two kinds of dirt... black dirt that sticks on white things and white dirt that sticks of black things.