Need advice for garage floor coating

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00blkgtp

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So my girlfriend and I are closing on our first house, in 2 weeks. One of the first things I want to do is epoxy the garage floor. The concrete isn't in bad shape (few random cracks) and that's why I want to do this before I work on anything in there haha. I know a few of you have coated your floor and I'm just wondering what brand and process you used. It's a 2.5 car garage (not sure how many sq.ft. that is) and I am working with about $500. I like the look of the flecks and want a high gloss finish, as well as one that will last a looong time. So, any advice you can give me would be much appreciated. These are the brands I was looking at... Thanks!!

Garage Flooring | Garage Epoxy Flooring | Industrial Epoxy Floors
Armorclad Epoxy Floor Coating
UCoat It Do-it Yourself Floor Coatings for a Durable, Protective Finish
 
I prefer the polished and stained look myself. It won't ever peel.


John
 
I'm not a fan of the flakes because if you drop something small it can be really hard to find. A nice solid gray is what works best for me and looks clean.
 
I am a flake fan. Just like the look. Word of caution, be careful with spilled or excess product on the floor. The grit you put in is fine for water but mix a little ONR (or worse sealant) and you better be one hell of a flexible guy (think doing the splits when detailing). If you search some of my old posts I have one just of my garage. Best home makeover I ever did.
 
Oops forgot to mention I think we used the Behr brand.
 
detailjohn said:
I prefer the polished and stained look myself. It won't ever peel.


John
Click to expand...

:iagree: Polished concrete would be the best choice in longevity and looks. I dont understand why people epoxy coat their floors when they are really finicky to do and it wont be long until they start to peel and chip.
 
I like the Autogeek garage,i'm just saying. They seem like vinyl tiles though...am i right? :)

Back to topic, i'd go with polished concrete too, especially if you're planning to move or keep heavy objects such as cars on it, since this is a garage.
 
I just finished mine today

Back in 05 I used the rustoleum reg garage floor kit. Well to keep the story short I had some areas that started to peel (from tires mainly). I did all the adhesion tests etc and talked with rustoleum.

Now on to this week. I ended up going with the rustoleum PROFESSIONAL kit. This stuff is much better than the regular kit. Much thicker and seems like it will hold up better. I then bought the clear coat to put over the top. I had about 625 sq ft (3 car garage). It ended up being $89 X 2 for the epoxy and $89 X 2 for the clearcoat kit. All in all well worth it. Took 3 days (1 to clean/degrease the floor, 1 to epoxy, and 1 to clear). It is currently drying as we speak. Please see the attached photo (1st is one section done compared to the old side)

My only advice is to do it before you move all your stuff. After living here for 5 yrs it sucked moving everything around. I have all my power tool stuff and toolboxes in my hallway
 
ryanbabz71 said:
I just finished mine today
Now on to this week. I ended up going with the rustoleum PROFESSIONAL kit.
Click to expand...

:xyxthumbs::props::dblthumb2:

I'm looking for the same advice. That Rusto Pro kit looks very god. I doubt polished crete would shine like that but Idunno I never did either.
 
Lasthope05 said:
...I dont understand why people epoxy coat their floors when they are really finicky to do and it wont be long until they start to peel and chip.
Click to expand...


Not totally true. If you prep the floor properly and, most importantly, choose the right epoxy product (not the cheap box store ones), you can end up with a very long lasting, very durable floor. I did mine, and when we moved 3.5 years later it looked like the day I did it. I had no problems with hot tire lift, chipping, peeling, etc. I dragged motorcycle jacks with steel wheels across it loaded with a motorcycle and never had a problem.

Colin
 
I do this on a commercial level and not sure on products available to public or regular home owners. For home garages that are not used as a mechanic shop we use buffered hydro-chloric acid prep and rinse with a costic soap and rinse with water and allow drying for approx. 24 hours and apply two coats of polyurethane. The acid prep should be about that of around 80-120 grit sandpaper for the coating to adhere properly. If you are planning to use jacks and jack stands and drop heavy parts the best prep would be shot blast floor for a 40 grit or better profile and apply epoxy at about 16 mils or thicker and topcoat with one or two coats of urethane. We use National Polymer primarily for epoxies and urethane, but also use Tennant, ValSpar, RustOleum and others depending on specs. The best is Polished concrete with dye or stained implemented in the process. If you guys need any info let me know. I will be researching some products for prep and coatings for the consumer in the meantime. Also here is a site for you to look over in the meantime
Find Decorative Concrete Contractors, Decorative Concrete Info
Also here is a link to a polished floor we did awhile ago.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/24940-my-type-polishing.html
 
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