Thread: Shipping container floor finish

Hi RedShirtGuy.

I would line your floor with plywood, at least 12 mil and screw it down.

Then paint the surface with marine deck paint, (non skid). In a very light Grey or Cream.

This should solve your problems.

Paul.

I agree with HookedUp about the color. The floor-level lighting in my shop is poor, I don't go there very much unless I've dropped something. Even bare concrete is "dark" when you need to find the lock washer that you've just dropped.
Might you add 12mm ply just in the high traffic areas?

Forgive a maybe silly question, but what purpose does the extra ply layer serve?

For some reason I thought the existing floor was a bunch of smaller boards, but it's actually just a few sheets of ply

I'm all for the light color on the floor too btw. Just not sure how much effort and expense I need/should put into it. I nearly surrendered to my impatience and loaded it up this arvo.

The pic is of the floor as it is, without having swept or mopped it after we emptied all the benches and junk that was stacked to the roof in it previously. (There are two containers and everything got sorted, rubbish thrown out and the rest consolidated into the other one.)

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

Forgive a maybe silly question, but what purpose does the extra ply layer serve?

A level, even surface.

If the container had boards (your next post negates this), the generally cup and warp and open up over time.

We did this to one of ours so we could wheel stuff around in it.

Thanks .

And yeh, sorry again for the misinformation about the boards. No idea where I got that from. Probably from the amount of screws already in it...and being an idiot

So it sounds like I should be right just to paint straight onto the existing floor as it's already a good flat area with minimal damage.

Unless there's any other suggestions, this week I'll give it a light 60-80 grit power sand just to clean it up a bit, whack on a sealer coat of paint (20-25% diluted with turps) then one top coat of full strength, and use up any remainder to go over the high traffic areas again.

I'm a huge 'fraidy cat and hate to do things without checking with more experienced people, so thanks for the input folks

Another little tip with containers.

Angle them slightly so that the water doesn't pool on the roof.

Looks as if your questions have been answered mate.

I still suggest you go with a very light colour, as your container floor will be in a lot of shadow, when you start moving your gear and benches in.

Paul.

Anyway...they are dark boards and kinda nice looking so it would be a shame to cover them over with a garage/workshop paint, although if that's my best bet, so be it. Being dark, they might have a bearing on the light reflectivity too.

They will be hardwood and with light coloured walls it should not be a problem with light.

Angle them slightly so that the water doesn't pool on the roof.

If your not going to place a secondary roof over your container, you might want to give it a heavy coating of roof paint. The steel on top of containers is not very thick and prone to rust. Quite often you only 2-3 years out of them before a few holes appear.

An alternative to paint is Bondcrete or similliar, from the look of it it looks like pva glue, probably is? not sure whether it is more or less cost than paint but dries clear and easily repairable mixes with water I ve done a concrete workshop floor with it before and it stoodup quite well, quite suitable for timber and then you can see your ply


Pete

I would suggest that you give it a light sand to clean and key the timber, then coat with a primer coat but max 10% dilution 20/25 is too high and will defeat the purpose, .

Also for a better non slip surface , if using paving paint, which will wear better than marine non-skid deck paint , do the following,
1 primer coat
2 1 top coat all over
3 with 2nd coat in high traffic areas, Mask the walk areas with a low tack masking tape
4 apply the 2nd coat then sprinkle with clean fine beach sand.
when the 2nd coat is dry remove that Tape and you are ready to go `

Jeff

Thanks for the extra ideas guys but I finished it earlier this month.

I can't for the life of me remember what it was now, but it was a workshop floor paint (maybe not so much paint as a kind of 1 pack solution) , designed for wood, with silicon sand mixed in. I gave the whole floor a run over with a belt sander and didn't do a primer coat (was in a bit of a rush) before putting on a couple of coats of the paint.

It might not be the perfect solution, but it's come up pretty good and is withstanding the traffic and wheel movement so far. It's been easy to sweep and wash clean too. When the summer heat really hits will be a test to see if it starts bubbling or coming away.