Located on the outskirts of Hook in Hampshire, Toy Stor-age opened in August 2015 for clients to store their most precious motor vehicles. Clients range from owners of cherished classic cars through to those who own modern day exotica and who want the convenience of a secure location within easy reach of London and the surrounding area. The premises can hold about 150 vehicles, and there are plans to expand in the future. 

In addition to storing cars, Toy Stor-age offers an in-house detailing service by James Richardson of Sportscar Protection and car maintenance by Sammy Denyer of Denyer Classic Cars, with both companies providing a high quality service for the maintenance, repair, modification and servicing of pre-war, classic and prestige motor vehicles.

To transform the premises into a premium facility for clients, Watco was given the opportunity to showcase the first of its new decorative finishes, namely Stellar Metallic Coating. From a range of six colours, cobalt was selected for the centre piece where the cars will be worked on in the detailing booth and a pearl finish was selected for the edging. These were chosen to complement the Toy Stor-age brand logo.

The first stage was to prepare the floor. A shallow channel needed to be filled prior to preparation of the concrete floor for coating. Watco’s FlowPatch was considered an ideal repair product for this particular job and this was supplied to Matt Coben, owner of Toy Stor-age, who was keen to undertake this part of the project himself.

Watco Flowpatch is easy to apply; all that is required is the addition of water and a thorough mix, before it is poured into the repair area and finished to a smooth surface with a steel float or trowel. Coben commented: “It was super easy to mix, especially with the supplied mixer. There was no mess and it also cured quickly”.

Adean flooring was appointed contractor for this particular project and its first job was to grind the floor, starting with the repaired channel and then the rest of the floor in the booth. Once complete, Watco Concrex fine filler was used to repair any minor imperfections; it is reported to be stronger than concrete.

Two colour finishes were chosen, so the next stage was to mask the centre area for the cobalt base coat. 

Two inner tins of the base coat were mixed separately, and then both were poured into the outer tin and mixed thoroughly together. The base coat was then applied to the centre section with a medium pile roller. This section was allowed to dry for at least 16h. Once dry, the masking tape was removed and then new masking tape applied so that the outer area base coat could be applied. The process for mixing, application and drying was exactly the same.

The top coat process is very similar, and again both inner tins (resin and curing agent) were mixed independently prior to pouring into the outer tin. The supplied colour pigment was added into the outer tin and all three components were thoroughly mixed together. The mixed components were then poured into a scuttle and then applied using a medium pile roller. The coating goes on white, but during the curing process, the top coat becomes clear to produce the metallic effect finish. It is recommended to wait up to 16h to dry, depending on the surrounding temperature. Again in this case the process was repeated for the outer ‘pearl’ coloured area.

The final floor was then given a polish with the simple-to-use Watco Protect Floor Polish to help preserve the life of the coating and to make cleaning easier. Watco comments that using any of the Watco Protect cleaners or degreasers will help keep maintenance efforts minimal but give a shiny floor.

Commenting on the finished job, Matt Coben, says: “It has improved the light in the Booth of Truth. It has a wow factor that will have instant impact with my customers and will be easy to maintain."