Thursday, August 5, 2010

EFFICIENT BASEMENT LIGHTING WITH NO ADDITIONAL ELECTRICITY 08 02 2010

EFFICIENT BASEMENT LIGHTING WITH NO ADDITIONAL ELECTRICITY 
For many years while working in my work shop, I would accidently drop small parts on the floor and it would take some time to find them on the natural color of the concrete floor. This built upon the frustration of already difficult repair projects.  Having some experience with painting floors as I had painted a garage floor to make sweeping up dust easier, I set out to Wal-Mart and purchased 2 gallons of latex white floor paint for about $15. a gal. I prepared the floors of the workshop and wash room by using a floor scraper(model number #93292)  purchased from Harbor Freight for around five dollars and some excess acidic concrete cleaner that I had left over from another project. I poured a cup of this into my mop bucket and filled it with hot water and mopped the floors. I grabbed a second mop head-affixed it to my mop handle and rinse mopped the areas free of any acidic residue. I them thoroughly dried the area with fans and where needed with a clean microfrabic cloth.  The next day I grabbed the roller tray, roller extension handle, some nitrile gloves, 2 cotton balls, an old pair of shoes, 3M model  7500 respirator that I augmented with soft pipe insulation on the neck strap , and roller painted white the first coat on the floors.  When dry the next day, I did the same thing and used a 3 inch paint brush to edge the sides (wearing white socks instead of shoes). Three days after that, I coated it with a clear coat of acrylic paint to seal it.  And three days after that I carefully rolled back in my heavy tools I have mounted on casters purchased from Harbor Freight.  There was no damage to the new paint on the floor. I now have a floor surface that reflects and augments light as if it were a light bulb itself.  It is easier to find parts that fall on the floor and easier to sweep as the pours in the concrete that hold dust are sealed.  My basement workshop and laundry room are now much safer for me and my family.  I effectively saved on lighting and energy costs by efficiently lighting these rooms in this manner. If everyone in the country were to do this millions of dollars worth of time and energy would be saved. The naysayer says that you still have to turn on light bulbs and I say that you don’t have to add any additional electric lighting. Mercury and billions of pounds of carbon monoxide would be spared from the environment, if everyone did this.
For added safety you could add floor grit to the paint, Rustoleum manufactures small bags of this you can buy at the hardware store.
To be honest I have rubber floor mats placed in front of my work bench to reduce fatigue and I painted those white also.
Article originally published at:

God Bless Those Who Think

Thomas Paul Murphy
Copyright  2010 Thomas Paul Murphy

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