Prepping floor - Rust isn't the problem

[AqueousPistola]

I'm lucky in the fact that I don't have a big rust problem to speak of. There's only a small spots that I can easily take care of. My issue is that the floor was originally painted white, then had a rubber mat glued down to the painted floor. So when the rubber floor came up, some paint came up with it, some didn't, and some paint that didn't come up still has old glue attached, and some doesn't.



My question is, how in the world to I prep the floor in an efficient way? Scraping seems IMPOSSIBLE- I've had some luck with an angle grinder and a grit wheel but there's possibly another issue. I'm not sure whether the metal floor is galvanized. It looks like it is...



So my second question is should I be concerned about preserving that galvanized coating? or just say screw it, sand it all down, prep it right, coat it/paint it and it should be as good as galvanized?

[EastCoastCB]

If it was previously painted you don't have to worry about galvanizing.

[musigenesis]

If you don't have rust on your floors already, you can pretty much do anything and your floor will be fine. You might want to grind off the glue wherever it's sticking up enough to interfere with whatever subfloor you put down, then clean thoroughly, prime any bare metal and paint the whole floor. There's no point in going to town and trying to remove all the original paint and galvanizing first.

[AqueousPistola]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

If it was previously painted you don't have to worry about galvanizing.

The paint is coming up though, exposing the bare coating.... ANDDD more importantly, im not sure if it actually is galvanized....is it common to do that? It's just a plain international 3800

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by AqueousPistola

The paint is coming up though, exposing the bare coating.... ANDDD more importantly, im not sure if it actually is galvanized....is it common to do that? It's just a plain international 3800

Its almost certainly galvanized. If paint won't stick then etch it with ospho.

[AqueousPistola]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its almost certainly galvanized. If paint won't stick then etch it with ospho.

I'm not trying to argue with you, but what makes you so sure?

It's not so much that the paint is coming up, it's that I have to take the paint up, and I'm trying to find a way to preserve the galvanization if ya'll think it's worth it. Is it worth it?

If not, i'll just grind down the paint/glue, clean, and it'll be a mix of shiny steel and galvanized where the paint and glue pulled up clean. Then I'll paint over the floor.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by AqueousPistola

I'm not trying to argue with you, but what makes you so sure?

It's not so much that the paint is coming up, it's that I have to take the paint up, and I'm trying to find a way to preserve the galvanization if ya'll think it's worth it. Is it worth it?

If not, i'll just grind down the paint/glue, clean, and it'll be a mix of shiny steel and galvanized where the paint and glue pulled up clean. Then I'll paint over the floor.

I've pulled the flooring up from 5 buses and all have had galvanized steel flooring.
If yours was painted it might not have been but it doesn't matter. If you want to paint it. Or repaint the areas that its peeled up in.
Paint doesn't like to stick to galvanized steel, so you etch it with ospho.

[enigmamdw]

Large floor style orbital buffer/sander with a sanding pad. You can rent them from a lot of HD/Lowes stores.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by enigmamdw

Large floor style orbital buffer/sander with a sanding pad. You can rent them from a lot of HD/Lowes stores.

I'd just wire brush any exposed metal then proceed. its just a floor, so the way it looks isn't crucial. It just needs to be protected from the elements.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by AqueousPistola

It's not so much that the paint is coming up, it's that I have to take the paint up

You don't have to take the paint up everywhere. If you have large areas where the paint is adhering to the floor just fine, clean it and scuff it and paint over it and save yourself a lot of work.