So going back to the weekend before last I embarked on a rather epic piece of decorating work in the coffee shed. Now while most of the warehouse flooring is concrete, it's also white clean perfectly serviceable concrete - nothing like the above photo. This area which we use for bagging green and roasted coffee is the intersection from the offices and demonstration room where you then pass to enter the main warehouse - so it's high traffic. But the concrete here is completely different to the rest of the warehouse - it always seems "damp" and can on occasions develop actual wet patches on top of it. It isn't spilt water or anything leaking from above - this is something that is coming from down below 🤔 Now you have to consider that the building dates back to the 1800's and no doubt different works have occurred throughout history for it to reach it's current state. My best conclusion is when the concrete was set in this area someone "forgot" to lay an impermeable membrane before the concrete and it is ground water soaking up. The other option is to the right is an external wall and the other side of it is next doors car park - which is all tarmac - I do wonder if all the water that hits it when it rains just runs down to where our building is and then soaks into the wall and beyond. Maybe I should just sneak round there one night and drill a few holes in the tarmac a few metres before my building wall to let the water drain.
So my original idea was to cover the not so attractive concrete with a commercial non slip rubber flooring which I had measured up and purchased. That arrived but it seemed a good idea to paint the walls before putting it down - because I tend to get paint everywhere and no point splashing my lovely new (expensive) flooring with paint. Plus the awful dismal brown someone in the past decided was a really good idea to paint the lower half of this area in needed to be gone.
So I moved the benches out of the area on the Friday night, along with all the coffee sacks ready for a weekend of painting and floor laying.
The painting went well, obviously it's pretty boring on your own on a Saturday painting so I set up a sound system to bang out some tunes and a little lazer light system that reacts to the music to make it a little less boring.
White on white isn't too bad, it goes on quick on just turns the slightly yellow off white old paint a nice fresh white. Getting onto that brown is a different matter, so I fell back to old faithful Sandtex Exterior Masonry Paint - it's not cheap but it covers everything and is designed to withstand every weather condition - so inside it's really good on the old stone walls still full of damp. Plus I'd rather pay more for paint and do one or at a push two coats - then get some cheap masonry paint and need to do three or four coats - no time for that sort of messing.
Behold the power of Sandtex, OK it's not going to win any decorating awards but I'm just hoping for clean looking not pristine.
Now we are moving, once you get high up you start to notice the years old cobwebs hence the hoover. Not to tidy around the glass - time is passing by and the real project was the flooring and I need to get it all back in once piece by Monday so work can continue.
The external wall is proper old stone, full of deep gaps in the pointing making it hard to cover well. This will take a few coats, but time is running away as Saturday afternoon is already heading near evening and I haven't even got to the flooring yet.
Finally I got to the point where I could roll out the rubber anti-slip flooring I had purchased....and discovered I'm really awful at converting feet to metres and back.
I did actually go back to my order because I was sure I should have had 3 sections this size - but measured it and what I ordered and it is spot on what I paid for. Good news it will cover the worst area I wanted to cover, but I wanted a solid run of flooring from the office right up to the opposite wall - so obviously I need to improvise - at 6.30pm on a Saturday night 🤔
Fortunately we have a big B&Q 5 minutes drive away, after looking online the cheapest lino they had that had available 3 rolls I needed to cover the remaining space I wanted to cover was this grey wood effect. I needed more Sandtex and Masonry Paint anyway so a 7pm Saturday night visit to B&Q and we are back on track. Plus the Lino was super easy to cut and lay - would not like to try cutting that thick rubber flooring. To the right there was still a gap of raw concrete - so I dug out a 20 litre tin of floor paint that is at least 15 years old, it had such a thick crust on top it broke the stick I was trying to break it with twice before I got to the paint. I've never used floor paint, but it certainly went down quick - kind of easy when you are just slopping it onto the floor lol.
It was a bit stinky, but getting on for 8.15pm I was really done for the day but wanted to get this floor paint down so it would dry for Sunday so I could put everything back on top of it.
The rubber matt obviously has no intention of laying nice and flat, so that's going to need screwing down to make it safe from trips - so Sunday is certainly going to involve a whole load of masonry bit drilling into the concrete floor to fit raw plugs to screw into.. Anyway by 8.40pm on a Saturday I had most of it down so Sunday would just be the trimming - home James.
This is everything put back on Sunday, but if the floor paint was a bit Stinky on Saturday night on Sunday it was hell. No windows open in this area, there is zero ventilation - I had to open the office roller shutter, leave the main door open, prop open a fire door and take regular walks outside to recover from the fumes. Plus the rubber matting took 40 holes drilled into concrete that was...well concrete hard so every one was an effort - then put in raw plugs, then screw the rubber floor down. All a load of effort in a pretty toxic environment.
It looks a whole load better, but the most walked path the rubber matting STILL wanted to raise up between the screws - it would be hard to trip on but not impossible so that is going to need some metal strips to make it safe and flat.
The sink area is next to revamp, replacing the grotty old unit with two new 1000mm units and new counter tops to extend 2.5m total and that old table will be gone.
Compared to the first photo I think it is a big improvement, although I have learned my lesson with floor paint - heavy duty mask is definitely needed nobody wants a headache that lasts over a week.
I got the first metal boundary strips down, even more holes drilled into concrete!
Still need to get the other side covered - nearly there just need to get rid of this damn headache.
Next stage is the whole area to the left needs floor painting too - although I'll definitely be getting well masked up for that effort.
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