Best garage flooring

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Use search option..... this has been discussed... over-and-over-and-over....and-over

 

Use search option..... this has been discussed... over-and-over-and-over....and-over

 

Its true! The search is your friend. I nerd out on garage flooring as its my business, and even I think that horse has been beaten.

For what its worth, I find Garage Journal is too full of people looking for an easy answer and not willing to read first. Its also dominated by a few suppliers who want to sell their product, so the information is often biased.

Just saying.

 

I went with EPOXY in my shop
Other option would be polished concrete.

You can clean the EPOXY quite easy to keep it looking fresh. Gives the shop a clean look

 

Ideally you want a polyaspartic. Its a fancy type of epoxy. IT doesn't yellow like most epoxy will. There are other benefits, but thats the biggest advantage. It costs more, but is worth the money.

There are sooooooo many companies out there making floor chemicals. Just make sure to get one thats 100% solid. Dont waste your time with any DIY products. They're usually watered down with solvents to make it use friendly, but you give up quality for ease of application.

The biggest thing to make a floor last is the preparation. IT needs to be diamond grinded, or shot blasted. Anything less, and you're wasting time and money. Even a ****ty epoxy on a well prepped floor will outlast a high quality epoxy on a poorly prepared floor.

My company does epoxy floors, so I'm speaking from first hand experience. Feel free to send me a message, and we can discuss privately. Or we can talk on the phone, and I can answer everything in 5 minutes. There are at least two long discussion on the subject, which would answer your questions.

Shaun

 

Excellent write up.

Everything Shaun wrote is 100% accurate

1) Pre clean concrete to remove grease and oils
2) Roughen surface (shot blast, grind, acid etch in that order of preference)
3) Apply coating (sometimes this is budget constrained, but if you choose a really good coating, it will be the last time you have to do it EVER!!!)

I would consider adding an antiskid agent to the floor, or at least to a section of the entryway to mitigate the effects of cold/wet boots on a smooth (icey smooth if you will) surface.

Best of luck

 

My old neighbor used floor wax over bare concrete. About as cheap as you can get and it always looked good. He had to re-apply it once in a while but it only took about an hour.

 

I am not sure, my friend works for a company that does it day in and day out.

He had 3 guys on it for 2 days in a 2000sqft area.

acid washed
all surfaces were hit with a grinder
most cracks and holes were filled with concrete putty material
base coat
color chips
clear coat

roughly 5 bucks a sqft all said and done

 

KM1959, What kind of wax ? Was the floor prepped any special way ?

Thanks, Edward

 

Thanks, for the advice, Shaun.

 

I dont want to be a downer here, but I'll give you my thoughts on this. Couple red flags. Not major... but still interesting...

1. Acid washing is really bad. The acid needs to be neutralized / diluted with water. Water is really bad for epoxy, and adding water to the concrete can impact adhesion -slim, but it happens.

2. Then they grind? Acid wash, and grinding do the same thing. Both, removes the top creamy layer to expose the capillaries of the concrete for the epoxy to "bite" into. Hopefully they used a machine(s) with some weight, as it will cut down the high spots and even out the floor. Hand grinders are too small to get nice flat floors.

3. They filled most cracks. Anything larger than pencil eraser ( 3/16" in diameter) needs to be corrected or it will show in the end result. The flake does work miracles in hiding imperfections thankfully. All cracks needs to be chased out, and enlarged. Then filled, and re-grinded.

4. For the price. Its a bit on the high side for the region, but not unreasonable. In Utah, and AZ, guys are struggling to get $4 a square foot for full flake floors. I'm lucky, here in Toronto, we're at $6.50 (Canadian) At that price point of $5 /foot they're probably using a 100% solid polyaspartic. so it will be a good floor. And sounds like the prep was decent too.

S.

 

He used an old school 5 gallon pail of Johnson's Paste Wax and had first used it when his house was new in 1984 - looks great today. Nowadays I see that people used some sort of sealer and then top coat with wax.

 

what type of prep work would need to be done on a new concrete pad? I will be building a garage addition and will be pouring a new slab.

 

Same as one thats 50 years old. You need to let the slab sit for 28 days after pouring ( so the concrete can cure fully)

After that, it needs to be prepared properly ( grind, or shot blast) cracks that are present need to be cut out and filled. Then coated.

A concrete company wants to finish the floor smooth, but a coating company wants a rough floor. ( think about pouring candle wax on a glass table, vs sandpaper. On glass it peels up in one strip. Sandpaper will grip the wax)

So the coating company need to take off the top creamy layer the finishers made smooth, and get down to the rough capillaries of the concrete. The top creamy layer is very brittle, and conceals a lot. So one thats off the true floor is visible. cracks and all.

Old floor or new floor. Doesnt matter. Prep is the same. IF anything, old floors have the top layer worn down already from age, cracks are present and settled as well, so they're easy to fix.

 

Thanks Shaun!

 

Shaun,

Could you please tell me what the cracks should be filled with?

Cheers

 

I went diamond polished and I love it.

 

Depends what the end game is. There are a few things you can use depending on the application, and the size of the crack.

I wouldnt do it as a professional, but if you just want to fill a crack , you could use a latex caulking, or bondo. Those are the most commonly available things to just solve the issue. Latex caulk is really for only hairline cracks to keep water out. Bondo would work with larger ones. If you want to spend some money SIKA makes some good and available products

We use different concrete repair products depending on situation, so its kind of tough to say whats best. Plus they come in large quantities, so its not really ideal for a non professional to buy. We also chase out the crack to get rid of any loose bits of concrete, and create a nice clean edge to bond onto.

Most things you're going to use will dry a different colour than the original concrete, so it will be a visible repair, and ideally should be ground smooth afterwards unless you can trowel it out really tight. Also make sure to vacuum the heck out of the crack, maybe even take a wire brush to really scrape out loose bits of concrete.

Does that help any? kind of a non-answer- answer.

S.

 

Thanks for the reply Shaun.

We're looking to have our garage floor epoxied and wanted to know what the correct answers are when I ask a flooring contractor. I believe you've covered all the other aspects to look for but this one.

Do you have any contractor recommendations in Seattle?

Cheers