June 20th, 2009 | 
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We’re looking to redo the shop floor in our automotive repair facility. It’s 15 year old shop with oil soaked concrete and little to no downtime is a must. Cost is important, but longevity and durability is higher on the totem poll. I’ve found three main routes to take:
1) Epoxy — One or two part systems with primers, top coats, etc. Major problem is expense of the downtime required to shot blast and the week needed for the epoxy to completely cure before resuming heavy duty work on it.
2) Tile — Boss’s favorite, but I foresee it being prone to breaking very easily using floor jacks, jack stands and other regular use of heavy equipment. Plus it’s extremely expensive to install.
3) Interlocking PVC tiles. These seem to be the best option, but I can not find a good reference to get their long term opinions on. This is too expensive to be the guiney pig on. This material would be very nice on tech’s feet, very durable and easy to replace if damaged.
Your thoughts?
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Tile would be a bad choice, it will be chewed up in no time. I think you are missing a good option. Clean the floor with a high pressure sprayer, hot water and good cleaner such as Tri Sodium Phosphate. Stain the floor the color of you choice, and seal it with a penetrating sealer such as Impregnator 911. Low expense, sealer dries in hours, athough two coats are needed.
Firstly it is vital to deal with the oil in the concrete. Some may say that all you need to do is grind or clean the surface and then lay over. If you take this option i guarantee you that your floor will fail. It is important to understand that the oil in the concrete has penetrated deep into the concrete and will not be removed via these methods. As soon as you put a covering over the concrete, the remaining oil will then draw up to the surface and compromise the bond of any glue’s etc. It may take a month or two, but it will happen. You need to remove the oil from deep in the concrete. There is only 1 product that i know of that will achieve this. It is called Densi-Proof, and is designed for this purpose and also to act as a moisture barrier to ensure a successful floor covering installation. Further information may be found on the web site below. As far as a coating is concerned i would recommend something along the lines of an epoxy or polyurethane coating as they will be far more durable than the above mentioned. Also a lot less expensive.
Because you don’t have a long waiting time. (The epoxy is the best route to take, in the long term.) I suggest that you get a roll of reinforced rubber. The rubber should be at least 1/4th inch thick and no thicker than 1/2 inch thick. The role should be one large peice, like a rubber carpet. The tighter it is, the better. This is only a temporary fix though. When you have the down time, I suggest you and get the epoxy, furtura
stone. It is the same kind of surface that Is put around swimming pools.