Textured Floor Paint vs Smooth Floor Paint – How To Make The Right Choice

Whether you need to paint an outdoor parking area, a school playground, warehouse floor or car garage, there are plenty of options of paint to choose from. The most important factor is selecting the right type of paint for the floor type. For instance you may need a different type of paint for bare concrete floors than you would if painting asphalt or cement screed. Is important to check cross compatibility before making a purchase, and to ensure that your surface area is properly cleaned and prepared. Once you’ve narrowed down the broad type of paint, you may need to make a decision between a textured floor paint and a smooth floor plate. Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages, and are suitable for different circumstances. In this article we take a quick look at what the two types of paint are and when you might choose to use them.

Smooth Floor Paint

A smooth floor paint can be either a single or two pack paint with a range of different application qualities. As the name suggests, smooth paints create a smooth, often glossy finish, as you might see on a warehouse floor. Choose this type of paint when you don’t want the flooring to cause any resistance, for instance when you want to make it as easy as possible for people to wheel trolleys around a warehouse. Smooth floor paints cause the minimum of traction, making them easy to navigate around. They also make a floor easy to clean, and can be imbued with additional water and/or oil resistance to make spillages even easier to remove. A well-maintained coat of smooth floor paint will make almost any surface appear clean and attractive. To lay a smooth floor paint you need to pay special attention to preparing the surface. You may need to degrease some surfaces and put down a special primer before applying the main coat. It is also extremely important that smooth floor paints are applied to a completely level surface. Choose for: Veterinary centres, indoor car parks, warehouses, hospitals, laboratories, school gymnasiums, kennels/categories etc.

Textured Floor Paint

A textured floor paint can also be purchased in a wide variety of formats and colours, the difference being the addition of a texturing agent – usually sand or grit. The purpose of this is to provide an anti-slip surface. Textured floor paints are available with levels of coarseness ranging from fine to large grains, depending on the desired result. Commercially prepared textured floor paints offer exceptional anti-slip properties and a far more effective distribution of texture than home mixed paints. Textured floor paints are commonly used in garages, workshops and other commercial settings where spillages are common, or where floor surfaces are uneven – such as access ramps. Not only do textured floor paints reduce the slip hazard, but they also add a protective layer to the floor, reducing wear and tear on concrete flooring and cutting maintenance requirements. Textured paint is easy to apply to a wide range of interior flooring types and is also a cheap option for painting external floors. The downside is the increased surface area of the floor makes it tricky to clean, especially when dealing with oil and grease spillages. Surface preparation is less critical when laying a textured floor paint, although adequate cleaning is still important to prevent blistering and flaking. In hard wearing areas, such as garages, a textured floor paint will need to be renewed every couple of years. Choose for: Workshops, domestic and commercial garages, storerooms, maintenance sheds, outside spaces etc.

Making The Right Choice For Your Building

Ultimately your choice of floor paint depends on the type of surface you need to paint and its condition. If you need a safe, low maintenance and durable floor covering, a textured floor paint is a good choice. However, consider a smooth floor paint if you want to give your flooring an attractive appearance and you won’t be dealing with slip hazards. At TA Paints we have a wide range of hard wearing industrial floor paints of all types, available at attractive trade prices. Click here to visit our online store. For more information, please download our FREE Ultimate Floor Paints Guide, by clicking here.