Author Topic: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??  (Read 8480 times)

savingtofreedom

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I have been looking into multiple ways to improve the current flooring situation in my house.  We have lots of nasty carpet that needs to go. 

I am not handy and I have seen some interesting painted plywood subfloors on the web.  I want something very modern and would maybe do white or grey. 

The other option would be laminate but I don't necessarily love that idea either as I don't know if I would ever get my act together to actually lay it down.  We have a lot of flooring that needs to be fixed throughout the house.  On the first level we have a mix of old laminate and carpet on a slab that I have thought about staining with a concrete stain.

Has anyone painted their subfloors after carpet removal?  Are there any paints out there that are low or no VOC that would be good for the job.  The good thing with painting is from my understanding I can always lay some kind of flooring over it at some point in the future.

Thanks!!!

KimAB

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2013, 09:50:06 AM »
Yes, I have.  It was definitely a temporary measure.  I used a porch paint (Behr brand maybe?) and it worked very well.  It made the floor washable, at least.  It is a subfloor not a floor so you'll see why it's temporary after you do it.  (It's too thin and noisy!)  We covered one room with laminate and moved out before the other rooms were done.  It lasted fine a couple of years, though.

And it was 100% better than the gross carpets, though!

nolajo

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2013, 06:05:19 PM »
I wouldn't totally discount laminate if I were you - when I was in high school we did the kitchen floor in laminate tiles (black and white on the diagonal) as a kind of temporary measure while my parents figured out what they wanted and sourced it and all. Once the sub floor was clean, which did take a bit of time, the tiles went down in about a day and lasted a couple of years quite nicely until we replaced them with ceramic. Depending on the state of the laminate you have, you might not even need to tear it up since, at least in my understanding, a couple layers of flooring is within the realm of acceptable for residential real estate. I'm sure there are also options that are in bigger pieces than a 16x16 inch tile and might possibly go faster than you could get a floor primed, painted, and sealed. Just a thought!

Gerard

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2013, 01:10:21 PM »
I was in the same situation -- horrible old carpet (the previous residents had an incontinent dog). Removing the old carpet and underpad and Pieces Of Wood With Nails In Them was more work than painting the subfloors. I went with white paint, which looks great but needs cleaning often. A few area rugs in high-traffic spots helps a lot.
One warning/issue: if your home's previous owners did cheap renos, you may find that the subfloor is dirty or previously used, and its dirty/greasy areas resist painting. I guess there are heavy-duty cleaning products (TSP?) that deal with that, but if you're looking for low-VOC paint you probably don't want to use such toxic cleaners. Also, if the previous reno was sloppy, there may be distressing gaps between sections of flooring, and that makes cleaning more difficult.

Spork

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2013, 01:33:13 PM »
On the first level we have a mix of old laminate and carpet on a slab that I have thought about staining with a concrete stain.


on the concrete stain (slightly off topic) - I've seen both really nice and really bad DIY concrete stain.  I think it really depends on the condition of your concrete under your old flooring.  My floors are stained concrete, but were done about a week after the slab was poured.  A friend just did his himself and spent a whole lot of effort grinding and smoothing the concrete, only to have the stain really take badly.  Some sort of carpet glue under the carpet pad stained the concrete in a way that it was not removable by chemical or mechanical means.  You might want to examine the slab and experiment with a few small sections before you commit to the whole job.

Rural

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2013, 02:43:36 PM »
Quote
on the concrete stain (slightly off topic) - I've seen both really nice and really bad DIY concrete stain.  I think it really depends on the condition of your concrete under your old flooring.  My floors are stained concrete, but were done about a week after the slab was poured.  A friend just did his himself and spent a whole lot of effort grinding and smoothing the concrete, only to have the stain really take badly.  Some sort of carpet glue under the carpet pad stained the concrete in a way that it was not removable by chemical or mechanical means.  You might want to examine the slab and experiment with a few small sections before you commit to the whole job.

I'll second that, adding that my highly worked new slab wouldn't take stain evenly about 30 days after being poured, even after I acid etched. Do a test area in a closet or something.

MountainFlower

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2013, 02:48:32 PM »
We painted our plywood subfloors to get our certificate of occupancy and our final bank financing.  It looked pretty darn good and held up quite well.  Sorry, but this is not low VOC

I first put down Bin, just the regular Bin and then 1 coat of True Value Floor and porch paint, which is oil based. 
http://www.destinationpaint.com/UGF-QT-Int-Ext-Gloss-Porch-Floor-Coating-p/112190.htm

My hardware store could mix it to any color you wanted.  I did it in a dark Mocha. 

I didn't use the Bin on one section and you could really tell the difference.  I only needed one coat of the paint.  I used a roller with 1/4" nap.  Don't use a cheap roller or you'll find your paint full of little "hairs" 

savingtofreedom

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2013, 06:54:12 PM »
Thanks for the feedback.  Does anyone have pictures of their painted floors or the stained concrete that they would like to share?

Spork

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2013, 08:10:13 AM »
Thanks for the feedback.  Does anyone have pictures of their painted floors or the stained concrete that they would like to share?

I could probably take some photos tonight of stained concrete, but ...  There is some amount of depth and variation to the finish that doesn't photograph well. 

A better idea: When we were building the house, the builder sent us to a store in town that sells concrete stain.  This place had stained large areas in multiple different patterns/colors/treatments as to give a bit of a "what can you do with this stuff" example.  You might see if some place nearby had something similar.

JanMN

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2013, 08:45:40 AM »
Good suggestion, Spork.

OP - I have painted sub-floors in my abode, and it's great - cheap wood flooring in an attractive color.  We used the Glidden porch paint (as others mentioned earlier) and painted in the window-opening season - definitely need air circulation.  I don't know of any super durable low VOC paints that I would use on flooring.  Good luck with whatever  you decide!

Spork

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Re: Painted Plywood Floors - anyone do this - low or No VOC paint recs??
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2013, 08:57:53 AM »

Another suggestion (on concrete)...  The guy that did the final finish suggested to not be afraid of higher gloss.  It's really disconcerting when you first put it down -- and EVERY SPECK OF DUST AND EVERY CAT HAIR SHOWS from WAAAY ACROSS THE ROOM.  But... in a matter of a few weeks, normal wear puts fine scratches on it and dulls it way down.  He was right.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!