Lanai flooring
 

We are getting our lanai glassed in. The current floor is some kind of epoxy and it is stained. We had it power washed and still not very clean in places. Can the floor be painted over? The Custom Windows guy said it was a mix of cement flakes and other stuff and cement flakes are probably what is not coming clean. Has anyone painted over this? I know it would be cheaper to paint over it than tile over it. I plan to put a large area rug down.

We are having our front porch (and driveway) painted/treated by Edison. The Village builder already "painted" the small porch on the front. Edison is going to "grind" down the porch to the bare concrete so we can paint/treat the front porch area to match the driveway since it is all on one level.

Maybe you could check with Edison or one of the other driveway design companies to see if they offer grinding services to get you down to bare concrete again?

Grinding was expensive--but certainly less than tile.

Good luck.

The short answer is that without knowing exactly what the old floor coating is no one is going to be able to say yes you can paint over it. Also, floor painting can be very tricky, you must use specific paints made for this purpose, normal inside wall paint will not work.
IMHO, I would have the old finish removed BEFORE your lanai is enclosed. This is very messy work and if done before it is enclosed cleanup will be much easier. Once the old finish is removed then you can choose what type of flooring you want and have it installed AFTER the lanai is enclosed. If you choose to have the floor stained (painted) you could probably do this before the lanai is enclosed. We had our lanai tiled and were able to go over the old finish since the crack barrier was glued down and the original concrete was in perfect condition, no cracks.

Tinker, would you have a recommendation for who does this type of work? I've seen a few places for sale with painted concrete patios (outside) and was wondering how to get an estimate to get the paint removed back to bare concrete.

TIA!

Most of the companies that refinish concrete either do this work themselves or have contacts to have it done. When we had to have the original builders finish removed Driveways by Jay arranged to have this removed so he could refinish the concrete. I do not have the name or contact info for the party that did the refinishing.

Thanks, Tinker!

Our home has tile in the living area, when we glass enclosed our lanai, we had them lay the same tile.
A bit more expensive than a paint job but will last a lot longer.
Check to see if they can lay tile over what you have and if not see what it will cost to strip what you have and then tile.

Call Apollo Floors at 810-407-0437. They offer modular flooring that is a great alternative to paint or epoxy. It will lay directly on top of your current floor and perfect application for an enclosed Lanai.

I read about concrete painting/sealing, etc. and see it on all the social media sites, particularly regarding The Villages.

Quite honestly, it's strictly amateur hour stuff that gets done in TV. "Consumer level" bandaids. Epoxy? Paint? No one would use that stuff in a 1st class commercial environment.

If you want to do it right, use a process like Retroplate (Retroplate System).

Stores like Home Depot, Wal-Mart and other big boxes, use processes like Retroplate to finish their concrete floors.

We put down vinyl plank flooring. You could also do rolled vinyl if you want something cheaper. Ours has the cork backing which makes it softer and dampens the noise. No echo’s whatsoever. It all depends on how much $$ you want to spend.

Why not do your lanai right when enclosing it: build up the floor to the same height as your home floor and then use the same tile/carpet as you have in your house so your lanai looks like the rest of your house? I did this and while they poured the concrete, I added power in the floor and in the columns in the lanai.

I agree with grinding it down. Painting over it will work, but it will not have a strong hold.

Painting lani floor
 

I initially had the Lani painted by a professional and decided to tile it. Let me say, the tile floor is exceptional and makes it look like part of the home vs being an outside room.

Tile it. Once and done. That is what we did. Very happy with the results.

I agree with the suggestion that you consider LVL planks. Home Depot has a large selection of colors and likely has the one matching your existing house flooring (assuming you have it in your house as most do). It is very cheap (about $2.5/SF). Putting it down is a one-day job. It is usually floated. If you decide you don't like it and want, for example, ceramic tile, then just pull it up.