[billfold]

i'm painting a floor that gets a lot of use in a tattoo shop and i'm looking for advice on what kind on paint i should use. its a clay tile floor that they have painted before but just used regular porch paint. what could i use that would last a long time and with hold lots of abuse?

thanks for your help.

 

[Humble Abode]

Epoxy

Wait until Wolverine or one of the other guys that knows a lot more about epoxy than me gets on...

 

[Rich]

A 2 part floor/garage epoxy will do the trick. There are a few real good choices on the market and then there are some that are ok. US Industrial Coatings http://floorepoxy.com/commercial_epoxy.htm and EpoArmor Garage Floor Epoxy http://www.garagefloor.com/garage-floor-epoxy.htm are serious ones. SW and Home Depot sell some cheaper, decent kits too. Keep in mind a tattoo shop needs to be clean/sterile/easy to clean/etc, so this may affect your paint choice as well.

The key to painting any floor is the prep. Make sure and follow the directions/dry times to the T.

 

[Wolverine]

Ow... Rich didn't even give our website... that hurts... lol...

I would NOT use anything from Home Depot or Lowes. Tatoo shops need to have an FDA approved impermeable coating... The kits that they sell are waterbased, permeable, and porous.

The coating also needs to be extremely resistant to heavy solvents and cleaning agents, abrasion, and slip resistant.

Next, I would recommend that the coating be a semi-ceramic. This does NOT mean that the paint supplier added ceramic microspheres to the coatings. That does not really make a coating ceramic! The coating needs to be packed with real ceramic particles. Don't get fooled by people who want to sell you spheres.

Last, a good 2K cycloaliphatic Clearcoat will go a long way in hiding scratches. There is a large concentration of people that wear big huge heavy boots filled with SAND and dirt into these places. That combination makes for some pretty crazy abuse.