Re-doing a painted basement floor

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Burgs

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I'm in the process of re-doing part of my basement in hopes that I can end up with a nice place to store my brewing equipment and one day perhaps build a little bar.

What I'm dealing with now is a painted-but chipping concrete floor that I want to either:

Scrape up completely, maybe sand over some rough spots and clean/dry/use a clear sealant on.

-or-

Scrape up partially (all the really loose stuff) and apply several coats of heavy duty primer to and re-paint.

Do you guys know of a clear sealant that would be good for this job?

If I were to go with re-painting instead, how forgiving is something like Kilz primer if I don't scrape up every tiny little piece of paint. If I use enough, can I get away with painting over what's currently on the floor?
 
I don't know much but I do know you want to at least scrape up any loose pieces or areas starting to even look like they peel. Primer won't do any good if the paint below it peels up taking the primer with it.
 
Yeah, I'd say it's like 80-85% completely removed down to bare concrete already. Most of what is left doesn't want to come off easily - but I'm still hesitant to paint over it.

I kind of think that the bare concrete, with a glossy finish if possible would look pretty cool. The more I think about it, the more I want to go down that route - I just don't know what the best product would be to seal the concrete up.

*edit* Another thing I'm noticing is that the reviews for a lot of the concrete etching/staining products at Lowes, for example - have AWFUL reviews. Hmm..
 
RustOleum makes some cool products. I used the garage one and it turned out great.

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=15

Sidenote: I looked into doing stained concrete in my bathrooms and it's a pretty involved process. There are some good videos on youtube of the process if you decide to go that route.
 
I saw the garage one - I wonder what the difference would be between that and this basement one. I'm gonna look for that stuff online - thanks man!
 
Maybe try using a floor scraper and if that doesn't work, a concrete sanding block. That's probably not the exact term for the product but it's a sanding block made out of sort of a rough stone specifically for masonry work. I used one to sand down the seams on the wonderboard for a granite tile counter top that I did.

Once you get a good surface painting concrete floors is super easy. I did a mid size basement by myself once in two afternoons.
 
Heat often loosens stubborn paint - a heat gun or a blowtorch might solve the 20%

Concrete is a tough customer. You will probably want to re-etch (assuming it was done on that first coat). Then you gotta get the etchant out - several rinses with clear water - once dry for a week or so, (thoroughly dry!) you have something to work with.

my 2 cents - reaching into my past (20 years ago) life as contractor.
 
Heat often loosens stubborn paint - a heat gun or a blowtorch might solve the 20%

Concrete is a tough customer. You will probably want to re-etch (assuming it was done on that first coat). Then you gotta get the etchant out - several rinses with clear water - once dry for a week or so, (thoroughly dry!) you have something to work with.

my 2 cents - reaching into my past (20 years ago) life as contractor.

What's the purpose of the etcher, just to clean and prep the surface?

I might try the heat gun. For whatever reason, it seems to come off easily when it's really dry. If I aim a box fan on it all day, I'll have areas that were tough before start to come up easily.

I think the Rustoleum epoxy stuff for basements is what I'm going to end up using, but I'm definitely listening to all suggestions that will help me get the surface prepped properly.

Thanks for all the replies so far!
 
Clean/degrease, and etch the floor with an acid. Let it dry VERY thouroughly (sp) and the use the 2 part epoxy floor covering. I did this in my old house in MO and it turned out beautifully! I did the gray with paint specks in it. I tried a few other colors and just did not like it.

After 5 years of HARD abuse it held up very well!
 
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