# underground parking lot



## paintmanInc (Aug 19, 2014)

Hi all, new to forum! 

I'm putting in a bid to paint a new underground parking lot and I have a question about protecting the floor. 

Unfortunately the parking surface is finished ( painting should have happened along time ago) now so protecting it from paint is my main concern and how to go about it. 
The material I will be using is semigloss block filler. 

This is a massive garage close to 600,000 Sq ft. 

Ceiling height varies between 10-14'. 

Any ideas, plastic/poly isn't heavy enough and paint won't dry that quickly and I'm sure it wouldn't be long before we start tracking foot prints all over the finished surface.


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

paintmanInc said:


> Hi all, new to forum!
> 
> I'm putting in a bid to paint a new underground parking lot and I have a question about protecting the floor.
> 
> ...


Moving blankets, or cardboard.
From the looks of it your not doing any work on the ceilings. If you are spaying out the ceilings use the thick heavy duty Polly, section off areas, and whomever is working in those areas brings 2 pairs of shoes

Sent from my SGH-T989D using PaintTalk.com mobile app


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## paintmanInc (Aug 19, 2014)

Meant to put that, it is ceilings and walls. Thanks for the reply


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

I can't think that anything would be more practical then to do as JourneymanPainter suggested.

1.) I can't imagine anything would be cheaper to cover large areas then 6 mil plastic. 

2. It will also hold up better to a small electric JLG (20') then thinner mil plastic will.

Of course you'll want to use a dry fall material if possible, but without airflow, it may still be wet by the time it hits the ground anyway given the relatively short ceiling. However, you'll have to pay attention to avoid tracking paint from the plastic to other areas not covered.


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## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

Yes. I'm gonna have to agree with the painter of the month.  

#CAPainter #PainterOfTheMonth


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## Oden (Feb 8, 2012)

More likely than not the walls and ceilings are cast. The ceiling is for sure. No good reason to block fill cast.
Plastic and cardboard or roof paper or whatever is handy
You should hardly have any overspray on a cast ceiling and block or cast walls


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

ReNt A PaInTeR said:


> Yes. I'm gonna have to agree with the painter of the month.
> 
> #CAPainter #PainterOfTheMonth


Wait, didn't 'painter of the month' say I had the most practical solution? 

Sent from my SGH-T989D using PaintTalk.com mobile app


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## Roamer (Jul 5, 2010)

We have a garage painting division. We use plastic to cover the floor when painting the ceilings or pipes. However, we use roof paper when painting the walls. The roof paper can take more paint build up without getting soggy like cardboard does. The roof paper allows us to spray right down to the floor and it gives us a fairly clean edge.

Here's a pic of an elevator core in a garage we recently painted complete with graphics and striping.

https://www.facebook.com/1643515102...4351510282634/676708599046920/?type=1&theater


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

paintmanInc said:


> Hi all, new to forum!
> 
> I'm putting in a bid to paint a new underground parking lot and I have a question about protecting the floor.
> 
> ...


We do jobs like this frequently. Use canvass/plastic tarps - big ones. As long as it's not too humid (i.e. most of the overspray dries in the air) you should be fine.


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## akrause (May 18, 2010)

*"plastic/poly isn't heavy enough"*. Why? You can get poly in any mil thickness you want. We've done a ton of these things and the fastest, cheapest floor covering is poly - without question. Let it stay there at least a full 2 hours after your spray man passes over just for assurance. Have a small shoe changing (or shoe cover) area next to the work site for when you need to walk off.
This is our system and believe me it's fast. (a) drop your poly. (b) if you have a low ceiling (most do) get your tallest 2 guys or 2 normal guys on stilts to walk around with a roll of aluminum foil and squeeze a handful of it over every sprinkler head in your work area (must be removed same day) . You can use plastic baggies and rubber bands but it's slower. (c) spray out your product. (d) get your same 2 tall guys or guys on stilts to put on a paint mitt (yes a paint mitt) and dip his hand in the sprinkler paint bucket, wrap it 360 degrees around the sprinkler pipe and walk! 200 ft of pipe painted in under 4 minutes guaranteed. Will need to dip the mitt every 15 ft or so. Works like a charm! We always end up wearing a rubber glove under the mitt bec the liner usually leaks. Also, ...lol ..sometimes if we're sweating a lot we'll duct tape the color of the mitt to our forearm to prevent slipping. Sucks taking it off but hey, ...we're all men here right ?
One word of caution, *paint* (not so much block filler) over spray travels MUCH farther in underground garages than you think because of the high CFM air supply and exhaust fans that are running 24/7. They're our friend when it comes to vapor and odor dissipation , but they will lay over spray on the floor 30 yards away from where you are working so be warned. Cover BIG areas of the floor.


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## CRS (Apr 13, 2013)

I've seen this done a lot;
Floor paper along wall edges. Big blue plastic tarps (lot's of them) enough to cover large sections. The tarped areas are then moved section by section. It takes a lot of large tarps, the guys I've seen do this, do it a lot and have made the necessary investment.
They use large pumps, Speedflow 6900, 8900 and at least 2 if not 3 pumps. It goes quite fast.


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