Floor Paint

Photo courtesy Flickr

My first experience of floor paint was in a rustic beach cabin. The floor was covered with heavy canvas nailed in place and coated with surplus battleship gray. I loved the feel of that painted canvas under my bare feet. Years later, I rented the cabin over a record cold winter, and I still loved the feel of that painted floor under my bare feet, no matter how cold it was.

My current powder room had a sick floor. It was covered in genuine linoleum from the Thirties, but a slow leak from the toilet had marred the surface. None of the vinyl options on the market suited the space. I reasoned that, besides its resilient component of ground cork, linoleum has the same ingredients as painted canvas, so I might as well paint the floor now that sensible people no longer wear street shoes indoors.

It took a couple of tries to find and sand a water-proof filler for the deeper scars, but once that hitch was resolved and some coats of commercial-grade acrylic floor polish were removed, painting was a snap. I used oil-based floor paint left from another project, and it bonded with the lino as if it had been meant to all along.

A fresh coat of floor paint in a vintage house looks vintage, but revived. This is a development property, and it’s not rational to put capital into major basis improvements. I am delighted to sidestep the floor covering market in favor of an old technique that I have always preferred.

I have had a couple of long chats with the painter who looks after exterior projects on the property. She’s a gifted and conscientious craftswoman who considers the pros and cons of working with “environmentally friendly” paints. My advisor tells me that the shortcomings of current low-e paints leave her doubting that they reduce the overall burden on the environment. I don’t know whether this is so or not, but I trust her and will make the big pro-environmental decision on the next big project.

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