The Ultimate Guide To Floor Paint

Floor paint remains one of the most popular options for coating floors in commercial, industrial, and residential buildings. It is an affordable way to seal, protect, and enhance the durability and wear resistance of a floor.

However, before you buy floor paint, it’s important to understand that there are a wide range of products with unique characteristics. You will need to find the paint that is ideal for the requirements of the area in which it will be used.

In this guide, I am going to identify the most common types of floor paint currently available, to help you choose the right product for your property.

Floor Paint

If you visit your local hardware store, you may find a variety of products are labeled ‘floor paint’. You may need to read the description on the paint tin to find a product which is suitable for your needs.

In most cases, products marked ‘floor paint’ are oil based paints that are designed to paint timber or cork floors. This type of paint will make your timber floors dust proof, mark resistant, wear resistant, and water resistant.

Some products will also feature mould, mildew, or stain protection. This type of paint is easy to apply and extremely long lasting, which makes it a popular choice for both homeowners and businesses with timber floors.

You may also come across products labeled as ‘Paving Paint’ or ‘Paving and Concrete Paint’. As the name suggests, the paints can be used on concrete surfaces including driveways, paths, patios, and garage floors.

Paving paints can be applied directly on top of previously painted concrete surfaces and work with oil and water based topcoats. They often have a semi-gloss finish that is resistant to scuffing and marking.

Garage Floor Paint

As the name suggests, Garage Floor Paint is designed for garage floors. It will usually be made from a polyurethane alkyd resin or two-pack epoxy, which provides exceptional abrasion resistance and durability.

Most garage paints are also moderately resistant to water, solvents, salts, acids and alkalis. It is common for garage floor paints to contain fillers which reduce how slippery the painted surface becomes when wet.

Industrial Floor Paint

An industrial floor paint is designed to tolerate extreme work environments in industrial and commercial operating environments. However, these paints can also be useful in domestic environments when you need an ultra-durable floor coating that will last for many years and provide excellent protection.

Industrial Floor Paint is often used to paint floors in factories, showrooms, warehouses, car parks, garages, boiler rooms, corridors, store rooms, and other high traffic areas. Most products are made from one of the following:

Epoxy
Creates a seamless, chemical resistant, abrasion resistant, and UV stable surface.

Polyurethane
Similar properties to epoxy based products, with improved UV stability. The downside of polyurethane paints is that they are more sensitive to moisture and extreme temperatures than epoxy.

Polyurea
The toughest floor paints contain polyurea. These products are extremely durable, chemical resistant, and abrasion resistant. They fast cure speed and heat required during application means specialised equipment is required to use these paints.

Polyaspartic
This is a new type of epoxy coating which cures very quickly and is UV stable. It is more water resistant than other products, which makes it a good choice in environments when moisture can become an issue.

High Build Epoxy Floor Paint

A high build epoxy floor paint is a two-component concrete epoxy coating. Usually high-gloss, this paint creates an attractive and ultra-durable epoxy floor surface.

High build epoxy floor paints have moderate chemical resistance, strong abrasion resistance, and strong impact resistance. They can be applied to metal, concrete and wood surfaces. High build epoxy floor paint is a great choice for garages, commercial and industrial building interiors, corridors, store rooms, and other high traffic areas.

Anti-slip Floor Paint

Anti-slip floor paints contain fillers which are designed to improve traction. They are ideal for creating durable, slip resistant surfaces. This type of paint can be made from polyurethane, acrylic, or epoxy.

Most anti-slip floor paints will be designed for work environments like garages, factories, show rooms, and shopping centres. Anti-slip paints are also useful for ramps, staircases, and other surfaces where the risk of a slipping is higher than usual.

Anti-static Floor Paint

An anti static floor paint contains fillers which allow it to conduct electricity. When someone walks on the floor and generates a static charge, it is immediately dispersed or carried through the paint and into the floor. This prevents the buildup of static electricity from occurring and reduces the amount of dust attracted to the floor.

Anti-static floor paint is useful for any environment where static electricity or dust are a problem. This includes factories, laboratories, shopping malls, computer shops, and so on.

This type of paint is water repellent, highly durable, seamless, and dust proof. Most anti-static floor paints are also moderately resistant to acids, alkalies, corrosive chemicals, and UV radiation.

Asphalt & Tarmac Paint

Asphalt & tarmac paints are extremely durable products that are designed for use on car parks, driveways, warehouses, playgrounds, roads, and balconies. They are heavy-duty paints that are designed to offer long-term abrasion resistance and water resistance.

Most asphalt & tarmac paints are made from acrylic polymers and UV resistant liquid pigments. However, some products will use coal tar paint, oil-based paint or water-based latex paint. Asphalt & tarmac paints do an excellent job of preventing the underlying tarmac or asphalt surface from cracking or degrading due to weather exposure.

Acid Resistant Floor Paint

Acid resistant floor paints contain special fillers which increase the acid resistance of the paint. They are useful for operating environments where acids may be spilled, like factories, garages, and chemical plants. Most acid resistant floor paints are also water repellent, highly durable, seamless, and dust proof.

Line Marking Paint

Line marking paint is used to create line markings in car parks, walkways, warehouses, sporting grounds, factories and other locations. It is extremely durable, UV resistant, and capable of holding its colour for a long time. It is available in a wide range of colours and is often sold in spray cans for easy application.

 Car Park Deck Paint

Car park deck paint is used to create lines, symbols and other markings for car parks. It is a very durable paint that is scuff resistant, mark resistant, and UV resistant. Most car park deck paints are also slip resistant to keep car park occupants safe. It is available in a wide range of colours.