I am buying an Amish garage/shed, 14x36. It has 3/4 inch plywood floor. My old shed floor is pretty beat with tractor oil leaks and dirt over the years, so I wanted to try to keep this floor a bit better. I figure I could fool on sealer stain, or paint. What is good enough?

I'd probably give it a couple of coats of good deck/porch paint.

Off topic. What do they use for joists under the plywood? I'm assuming that the floor is plenty solid for lawn equipment, ATVs, UTVs, etc..., but not for heavier stuff?

When I try to make the surface of a wooden or concrete floor cleanable and resistant to such stains, I usually apply good epoxy based paint.

Whatever returned mismatched paint is at the local Ace Hardware or paint store that they're looking to get rid of cheap. Color doesn't matter, it's a freakin' shed floor.

Peel & stick rubber flooring, with the raised dots for grip.

I put two coats of Sherwin Williams floor enamel paint on my new shed floor 3 yrs ago. 14x24 shed that I keep a lawn tractor and atv in among all the other stuff. It is holding up very well, no wear thru at all so far. Sweeps out easy.

Epoxy is most likely the best. I like oil based . 30 years ago a did some handy man work for an old timer and oil based floor pain is what he used. Takes a while to harden. Paint is very expensive! I buy at the flea markets cheap. If you know a painter, they often will give you old paint to get rid of it. Another gig I learned about is my county has a toxic dump center where people can drop off stuff there. You can get stuff there for free there but has a limit. Good luck and enjoy your shed!

I used a good deck paint for a utility trailer with a 2x6 deck. It sat in the weather for 10 years and was still decent. I think I got it from Home Depot. It took a real beating with hauling trash, gravel, my UTV, and everything else. I'll repaint it with something similar.

Off topic. What do they use for joists under the plywood? I'm assuming that the floor is plenty solid for lawn equipment, ATVs, UTVs, etc..., but not for heavier stuff?[/quote]


They build them for different needs. A friend has one built for cars, pickups, tractors, etc. Joists I've seen are treated, and sized for the intended purpose. Check with builders if you need heavy duty.

For a garage they use pressure treated 4x4 with 3/4 plywood. I think it is 16 inch on center. A utility shed uses 3x4 and the plywood is 1/2 or a particle board. You really can’t drive a heavy tractor in a utility shed.

Try Latex single part epoxy floor covering. 18-24" rollers, with sand grit added. Let it set up for about a week. Latex gets hard as woodpecker lips. It will take pretty much anything you can put on it. Light grey still reflects a bit of light.