I ended up painting the hangar floor with RustOleum Garage Floor Epoxy. So far, I really like the results. We will see how well it holds up...
For those considering, the same... It was not exactly trivial to paint the floor. but it is definitely do-able with about 10-12 hrs of work.
First, I swept and vaccumed the floor several times (~2hrs), removing what dirt I could... Then, I wanted to pressure wash the hangar floor... Unfortunately, we do not have water at the hangar, but there is water at the airport... so I rigged a 35 gallon water tank in a pickup truck and connected it to a ~3gpm farm/irrigation-sprayer pump from Farm and Fleet. The output of the pump was connected to a gas powered pressure washer.
I washed the metal walls of the hangar (quite a few cobwebs) and then pressure washed the floor twice. Next was degrease-ing using Behr concrete degreaser. I applied the degreaser in very strong quantities directly to oil stained areas, and scrubbed like mad. I then applied a weaker solution of degreaser to the entier floor, and followed by 2 more pressure washes and a squeegee dry. The degreaser did a good job of lifting the old oil and 5606 hydraulic stains in the hangar.
Next was etching the concrete. I used the dry/powder acid mix that comes with the RustOleum concrete, and mixed it with water in a 5 gallon bucket. I then spread the etch using a mop, and scrubbed it into the concrete. Again, it was pressure washed clean twice, and squeegee'd dry.
The pressure washing, degreasing and etching took about 8hrs, working almost non-stop. The time would have been about 2 hrs less if I had access to water at the hangar.
I then left the hangar to dry for about 7 days. Probably overkill, but we had several high humidity days, so I wanted to make sure that all the moisture had left the concrete. A good test for this is to place a 2ft x 2ft square of clear plastic down on the concrete with duct tape. If the plastic is dry after 24 hrs, then the concrete is dry.
The hangar is about 1000sqft and required ~4 gallons of exoxy mix... which was 2 'jumbo kits' of 2 gallons each, plus a single gallon kit. I mixed all the color tint together into a single 5 gallong bucket and then mixed all the hardener into the same 5 gallon bucket. This helped ensure uniformity in the paint color. It was about 80 degrees when the epoxy paint was applied, which meant less than 1.5 hrs from mixing the paint until it became unworkable. I drafted my brother-in-law to help with the painting, and we were able to finish in about 1.75 hrs. The paint was starting to thicken during the last section, but still seemed to adhere well.
We used a brush to edge the floor, and then backrolled with the roller. For the bulk of the floor, we worked in ~5x5ft sections, generously applying paint, and upon completion of a few 5x5 sections... sprinkled handfuls of the colored sprinkles that came with the kit by grabbing a handful and throwing it violently towards the area.
I then waited 7 days to move materials back into the hangar, and 10 days to move the plane. That is probably excessive, but I was paranoid about hot tires lifting the paint before it had fully adhered to the concrete.
End results can be seen in the photos attached. For those considering doing this to their hangar... I would definitely go for the sprinkles. They add a tiny bit of traction to the floor which is a bit slick (but not excessively so) when wet. Also, the sprinkles do a remarkable job of covering up the imperfections in the concrete finish, cracks, and roller/back-roller marks in the paint.
Captain Jack & Troy... are you still happy with the RustOleum Epoxy? I just purchased a hangar with a bare concrete floor, and plan on putting down an epoxy paint coating before moving the plane into the hangar.
From your reviews and a few others on the internet, the RustOleum seems to be a good choice.
