www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi,
I've recently moved into a disabled home with a wetroom. The flooring is a textured vinyl that is covered in stains that won't come off and the Council refuse to replace it.
I wondered, bearing in mind the high cost of removing then fitting new flooring, if anybody knows of a paint that I could use to paint over this vinyl? I'd be very grateful as it's really hideous and no cleaners will remove the ingrained dirt and stains.

Many thanks.

I think you'll need to degrease and clean the surfaces before you start. I've used TSP (tri-sodium phosphate, anhydrous) on commercial kitchen floors and walls a few times - very effective but needs to be used with care (goggles, gloves, no bare skin, etc). It will degrease almost anything and can even strip some wood finishes, so use with caution near wood and paint finishes.

Although I've never used it myself, I have come across floor paint which can be applied over vinyl flooring (after cleaning and abrading to provide a mechanical key). A quick call to a deco mate of mine and he says the approach after degreasing is to use something like drywall sanding mesh which is about P120 to P180 to get the surface sheen down (these are designed to be used on a drywall sanding pad, but I doubt that it's critical for your application) with a coat of Zinnser deglosser applied over the top before you paint which will also deal with any spots where you can't abrade into the recesses in the pattern. For durability he suggested floor paint, although the range of colours is hardly inspiring (e.g. grey, yellow, brick red, green, blue and black). No idea how long this will last, though

Thanks Job & Knock, I really appreciate you taking the trouble here. It sounds a very thorough preparation - and after all that, as you say, there's no knowing how long the paint would last, especially when I'd be washing it a couple of times per week, as it doesn't slope that well into the drain, so the floor gets water-logged. Maybe there is a specialist paint out there that could withstand this? If not, I guess I'll have to get in some quotes for new flooring.

Flooring paint is designed for concrete and ply floors in places like factories and workshops so it does last quite well in a high traffic areas. I've had the concrete floor in my cellar painted for the last 5 years (we use it as a kitchen store) and so far no major signs of wear . Providing your vinyl is a fairly hard one (i.e. commercial grade, glued down) I can't see that it would do any worse. I Googled the web just now and it seems a lot more common to paint vinyl flooring over in the USA than here - but over there they also repaint kitchen worktops and splashbacks in rental apartments but I know that the intention is only to get a 12 month lease out of that (then the tenant moves on and they paint yet again)

You might want to ask the Mods to move this over to the Painting and Decorating Forum - maybe some of the "brush hands" (only kiddiong guys!) will know of a better solution

Hi again, thanks so much for your info and help! Can you tell me please how I contact a moderator, found a list of them but can't see how to message them. Many thanks.

I'll move it to Painting and Decorating in a mo.

what a star!

I recon it will be more cost effective to replace the flooring instead.

missred wrote:Hi again, thanks so much for your info and help! Can you tell me please how I contact a moderator, found a list of them but can't see how to message them. Many thanks.

Just so that you know...if you click on the red exclamation mark at the bottom right of a post, that will send a report to the moderators/admin ..you may need to fill in a quick description of why you are "Reporting" the post.. IE please move this to/delete coz im an idjeet or whatever.....

Think that you're right :-( Can't live with it for much longer, it's such a hideous colour and with other people's stains all over it.... Anyone have any idea how much the fitter would charge to remove the old and fit the new? The actual non-slip vinyl isn't expensive but the labour will be.

Specialist primers & paint are expensive plus the labour costs..goto your local carpet shop & ask them about the flooring & how much it would cost to fit it.

Would a carpet and lino fitter have the right experience of wet room flooring and how it slopes etc? I've put a call out on the website ratedpeople, to get some quotes...

missred wrote:Would a carpet and lino fitter have the right experience of wet room flooring and how it slopes etc? I've put a call out on the website ratedpeople, to get some quotes...

Do not rely on rated people or chuck a trade..

Your local trading standard office may run a similar scheme......whereby the trader is actually checked out..

Please believe me rated people et al are not rated by anyone other than friends and family...

Thanks a lot for the warning!! Very useful to know they are rubbish. My local trading standards refuse to deal with any public queries - in fact that goes for the whole of Kent, but thanks for the suggestion. I think that as a pensioner, there is some scheme locally, but I'm new to all this so need to ask around. Thanks again for your help

Err.. a quick Google gets this...

http://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pd ... ndards.pdf