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Best way to seal a very dusty concrete floor?


Blatman

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Echoing Damper man

The 2 on block garages I have done without electricity I have sweeped the floor first, dampened and mopped any remaining grit

Then then mixed a 90/10 mix of white spirit and floor paint to get the paint into the floor, once dry (which takes a few days) roll on the remaining neat paint from the can.

Pretty sure I used Dulux floor shield although looking at the spec sheet that does say don't use in car showrooms.

2nd garage I used cheaper wilkinsons floor paint which has stuck fine and was half the price but I used double the quantity.  

 

 

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Without sounding like a modern day health and safety executive.. please note that silica dust is the new asbestos..and I am sure there I'll be loads of claims in the building industry in the future..well at least from the non self employed!

Our local inspector says he does not sweep his garage floor with out a full mask on..and at work we have to vacuum rather than sweep because of the dust hazard..

So wear a decent mask if you are working in the dust..

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5 hours ago, Mole said:

Without sounding like a modern day health and safety executive.. please note that silica dust is the new asbestos..and I am sure there I'll be loads of claims in the building industry in the future..well at least from the non self employed!

Our local inspector says he does not sweep his garage floor with out a full mask on..and at work we have to vacuum rather than sweep because of the dust hazard..

So wear a decent mask if you are working in the dust..

 

It's a fair point and yes I do wear an N95 mask 'cos I have a few lying around...

I have also dampened the floor first to keep the worst of it down 'cos toxic or not, it's still pretty unpleasant. 

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Ive used this on my garage floor which was bare dusty concrete which also had damp seeping up through as its an old garage which I think has no dpm under the concrete, its has stood up pretty good after two coats no dampness any more and doesn't get dusty :yes:

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-trade-floor-paint-grey-2-5ltr/74591

 

 

 

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i have done the hoover and pva mix like others. its ok, does work needs doing again now. I also after this, used one of the strips and it stuck to the floor fine with the sikaflx it came with. that has held up very well

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  • 6 months later...

OK, so as per my OP, I want to stick down that weather strip.

After much Googling and Youtube-ing, and heeding the excellent advice here I settled on some Evostik PVA. Of course, I wanted to test it. So I also purchased some black solvent free polymer adhesive and stuck down one of my old trainers...

I mixed the PVA in a strong 4/1 mix of water/PVA, brushed a section of floor to clear dust and debris, spread the PVA solution and allowed it to dry. It darkened the floor quite significantly which I don't care about, but be warned.

Then I took my trainer and coated the ball of it liberally with adhesive and placed it on the gnarliest roughest bit of floor I could find. I weighed it down and left it to dry for two days. All I can say is that I now need to invent a use for the trainer that seems to be permanently attached to my garage floor... :durr:

 

The weather strip goes in tomorrow 😄 😄 😄

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Always used SBR as a bonding agent between existing and new. Maybe good to use a watered down primer then full strength for the bond coat, all according to the strength of your concrete. Just remember your concrete is fairly rigid and the stuff you adhere to it may be flexible so the difference in this must be taken into account.

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Well it's done now. If the adhesive does it's job the underlying PVA will never get wet. But we'll see.

We had to use tools to remove the trainer and the adhesive that remained is so far resisting our attacks...

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  • 1 month later...

Terry and Jim, you were right. The PVA dissolves pretty effectively and unsticks the weather strip :durr:

I shall set about removing the weather strip, washing off the PVA and using SBR before bonding a(nother) weather strip to the floor. I have to say, prior to the biblical rain the weather strip and the adhesive stood up very well, keeping everything out of the garage, but the sheer volume of rain we have had recently simply overwhelmed the preparation and water forced it's way in. So, plan B starts with SBR!!!

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  • 2 months later...

Ok, so PVA washed off, SBR applied along with copious amounts of black polymer bonding/sealing adhesive. They have survived the winter and snow etc with no issues at all, so no water coming in the door. However, now we KNOW that there is no water coming in the door we have discovered water coming through the breezeblocks from next doors garage (which must be epically wet inside) as well as possibly up from the ground.  I have tried to seal this already with Bostik Cementone but it cracked which was both annoying and also revealing as I hope can be seen here:

 

image.png.2b6901121dce0a9aa80f0d8549c40fb1.png

 

So my next thought is to seal this area with Bostick Flexacryl. Any thoughts or better options?

 

I don't want to lay a new concrete floor (yet) as the garage is rented, and the landlord is unlikely to spend any money on it (long story...) so repair to stop as much water as I can is what I am looking at.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Blatman said:

Any thoughts or better options?


Fill the neighbour’s garage with silica packs or ladies’ feminine hygiene devices to soak up the water?  Just as a temporary fix until it gets warmer.

 

/you asked for thoughts

//OR better options

///not necessarily the same thing

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This infiltration of water is difficult to seal and prevent. Any waterproof coating will allow any water to still find a way through.

The way I solved leaking structures was to render them using a product called "Xypex", this you can mix with a standard sand/cement mortar and screed over the blocks. It basically works by growing crystals into the damp areas and forming a waterproof structure, the wetter the problem the more the crystals grow and they stay active even sealing cracks that may develop later. In fact sometimes the repairs can produce a white powdery coating which is a sign that the material is working quite hard. Some of their products can seal up flowing water when applied correctly.

As with any product that works the costs are quite high but I can vouch for the stuff and I used to give a warranty on the finished work.

Xypex UK are based in Malvern, however they don't stock materials there, just contact them for advice.

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17 minutes ago, Scott Young (Captain Colonial) - Club Secretary said:


Fill the neighbour’s garage with silica packs or ladies’ feminine hygiene devices to soak up the water?  Just as a temporary fix until it gets warmer.

 

/you asked for thoughts

//OR better options

///not necessarily the same thing

 

Now that's the sort of thinking I like 😄 😄 😄 

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18 minutes ago, Jim RS said:

This infiltration of water is difficult to seal and prevent. Any waterproof coating will allow any water to still find a way through.

The way I solved leaking structures was to render them using a product called "Xypex", this you can mix with a standard sand/cement mortar and screed over the blocks. It basically works by growing crystals into the damp areas and forming a waterproof structure, the wetter the problem the more the crystals grow and they stay active even sealing cracks that may develop later. In fact sometimes the repairs can produce a white powdery coating which is a sign that the material is working quite hard. Some of their products can seal up flowing water when applied correctly.

As with any product that works the costs are quite high but I can vouch for the stuff and I used to give a warranty on the finished work.

Xypex UK are based in Malvern, however they don't stock materials there, just contact them for advice.

 

Thanks Jim, I'll take a look :t-up: 

 

But first, I wonder if Amazon will bulk deliver the feminine hygiene devices. It a good job they are thin these days. I can post them under the adjacent garage door...

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