# Painting MDF floor



## handyman bob (Aug 21, 2016)

I have a customer that wants her woodworking shop floor painted. The floor is MDF and in pretty good shape and does get some heavy traffic at times. I'm not general handyman and not a full-time painter.
What type of primer and paint would be best?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*DIY Chatroom*



handyman bob said:


> I have a customer that wants her woodworking shop floor painted. The floor is MDF and in pretty good shape and does get some heavy traffic at times. I'm not general handyman and not a full-time painter.
> What type of primer and paint would be best?
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


hb, I have a feeling that you will be directed over to the DIY Chatroom for an answer to this question. That being said, I hope this thread stays around so others will give some input. I also am curious as to what would be best for a protective coating on an MDF floor. 

How old is the floor? Does it currently have any kind of finish on it? Do you have some photos?

I read where Jack Pauhl used Gardz to seal primed MDF trim, so I did the same and it seemed to help a lot with preventing the water in the paint being sucked up into the MDF. I would have thought that a water based product like Gardz would swell the MDF, but it did not seem to swell the crown molding I used it on. I wonder if Gardz would be acceptable for MDF flooring. Gardz did start out its life as a concrete sealer.

Here is a link I found that might be of interest: http://www.familyhandyman.com/diy-advice/using-mdf-as-cheap-finished-flooring

futtyos


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## NACE (May 16, 2008)

handyman bob said:


> I have a customer that wants her woodworking shop floor painted. The floor is MDF and in pretty good shape and does get some heavy traffic at times. I'm not general handyman and not a full-time painter.
> What type of primer and paint would be best?
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


Is it smooth MDF? How old? Any dirt or grease? Define heavy traffic? Does that mean equipment moved, foot traffic, machinery, fork lift or tow motors? How many sq. ft? Acrylic works best on MDF. But primer and finish is dictated by some more info. Consider slip and fall if floor gets wet or greasy.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Personally, I'd consider the cons of painting it to be outweighing any plausible pros when the only pro I can think of is aesthetics.

It's a wood shop floor, so I assume it gets covered in sawdust, cutoffs, etc. on a daily basis as well as the occasional tool getting dropped on it. At this point she's got a relatively maintenance free surface with uniform colour throughout. Once it's painted, any dropped tool or decent size cutoff is going to leave a very noticeable mark. Within short order there's going to be quite a few of these given that MDF is a relatively soft material.

While I don't usually like to talk customers out of potential work, I also don't like to take on jobs when I know that within short order it's not going to look very good.

Just my opinion, but I'd leave it as is. It's just a shop floor and for the moment it's relatively maintenance free.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Never heard of MDF being put down for flooring. Particle board, _maybe_ even OSB, but not MDF.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

RH said:


> Never heard of MDF being put down for flooring. Particle board, _maybe_ even OSB, but not MDF.


Me either. When I first read this, I was thinking it wasn't a bad idea for a wood shop floor. More I think about it though I'd think it'd get pretty slippery with the addition of saw dust. Kind of like when you get saw dust on a laminate floor and it becomes a skating rink.


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## sayn3ver (Jan 9, 2010)

Not for nothing I wouldn't be surprised if its Masonite/hardboard and not MDF.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

May be HDF instead.


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## sayn3ver (Jan 9, 2010)

straight_lines said:


> May be HDF instead.


Thanks man. :jester::thumbup:


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## chrisn (Jul 15, 2007)

In any case, it just plain should NOT be painted,
OK, this thread is done.

Oh, wait, Gardz will not work either:no:


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