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- This topic has 13 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by Anonymous.
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- 12 July 2010 at 9:42 am #31338
A friend has had a concrete floor poured in a pottery workshop and asked me about sealers. She says it it dusty and absorbent. My experience is with polished concrete but I don't know what to advise for this.
Would like to avoid solvents and other nasties if possible but practicality important as is a workshop.
Thanks
Nick
- 12 July 2010 at 9:19 pm #37323
Chris
Yes, polished I have done!
Do you live far away?
We just used local readymix which we powerfloated. The hired a floor grinder and finished with water based wax sold for stone bathrooms.
Perhaps out of ignorance I'd put the UFH pipes direct in slab rather than screed. Avoid fibres as makes polishing impossible.
Nick
- 20 July 2010 at 6:56 am #37324
Can't remember the spec but is a reinforced structural slab. Very happy with the result.
- 20 July 2010 at 7:46 pm #37325Anonymous
Have you considered boiled linseed oil?
- 21 July 2010 at 5:21 pm #37326
Interesting idea but it's a friend's floor and she is some way away so I have not seen it. I'm wary of suggesting anything too experimental as it is a pottery workshop and it needs to be practical. I'd worry that using oil might prevent something else sticking if it didn't work.
After some tried and tested product!!
She may have sorted it by now but useful to know for others.
Nick
- 21 July 2010 at 5:56 pm #37327Anonymous
Its far from being experimental. But good luck in your search
- 22 July 2010 at 6:03 am #37328
Sorry when I saw 'have you tried' I assumed you meant as an experiment. So have you tried it? Could you recommend it? I did hear of someone using it on an earth floor near here but think it took them a long time to do because of drying between coats.
- 22 July 2010 at 7:18 am #37329Anonymous
I've used it on both concrete and wood. On concrete I used a mix of 1:1 of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits in 2 coats. It will darken the floor thou.
- 22 July 2010 at 9:33 pm #37330Anonymous
Thanks for the info Nick, now all I need to do is get the client to sign up to the idea…
Chris
- 23 July 2010 at 6:16 pm #37331
The earth floor Nick mentioned had 10+ coats of oil and white spirit 50/50 I think (owner did it himself). The oiling seemed good, but was onto a fairly brittle background and couldn't be expected to harden the floor that much. But if it was onto concrete, I would say it would be ok, certainly worth a test patch eg in the doorway? It would darken it a lot though as mentioned. I would blow off the floor with a compressor and vacuum together a few times to get rid of the dust (make a big cardboard extension for the end of the vacuum and blast the dust up towards it).
I have used os hard wax oil on flagstones and terra cotta tiles to avoid the toxic stuff. It's supposed to be for wood but 2 coats lasted 8 yrs on the terra cotta tiles before we cleaned vigourously and prob scrubbed it off them recently………… I haven't found any 'organic' purpose made floor sealers for conc and tiles.
Mike - 24 July 2010 at 6:23 am #37332
Thanks Mike
We use OS hardwax on polished concrete in bedroom and it gave a darker slightly leathery finish compared with the stone wax in rest of house.
- 27 July 2010 at 5:16 pm #37333Anonymous
Jean-Marc, why boiled instead of unboiled? And what does it do to wood flooring? We're going to be using end grain blocks
- 28 July 2010 at 8:28 pm #37334Anonymous
Tahir
I will direct you to the following site that can do a much better job of explaining linseed oil better than myself. But from past experience, light, thin and multiple coats is best. A wax finish on an interior floor if so desired is possible. But remember it will be a more labour intensive process but the end results are good and peace of mind achieved. I remember hearing an “old wives tale” with regards to the application of linseed oil: “Once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year and once a year for life” - 9 November 2010 at 6:30 pm #37335Anonymous
Thanks Jean-Marc
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