For a working garage, there is a strong argument in favor of a plain, white floor. But, yes, it will be slippery when wet. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Andy, your garage is a castle I'm not a fan of tile in a garage. Seem less floors are the only way to go. Grout joints would suck.
I originally tried the "do it yourself" process by acid etching the concrete etc. It did not hold up. Lifted. Had a professional do it (sanding, epoxy, base coat w flecks, epoxy poly top coat) and it has held up very well. Durable and easy to clean. Highly recommend. I love that white flooring. Would do that if I had to do it over again. I think my cost was around $3500. for a 2 car garage. Image Unavailable, Please Login
There are hospital ORs that are not that clean and immaculate. Wow!!! Simply spectacular!!! So jealous....... As an aside, I live in a very cold, northern climate. Do any of you have experience with garage flooring products that can withstand the abuse of salt/sand/etc throughout a rough winter? Or do I need to wash the floor everytime it gets grungy? Thanks! Mike
Andy, That's one CLEAN looking garage & garage floor that one can eat off the floor!!! What was the cost for doing white flooring like that per SQ if you don't mind my asking? -Charles
I've had my epoxy floor for 15 years in Michigan winters. Salt and water all winter long. It has held up way beyond my expectations. The only issue I have had was on the apron just outside the garage door where it peeled up and faded after exposure to the sun & elements. The installer warned me they didn't guarantee anything 'outside' the garage & sure enough he was right & I was wrong. Image Unavailable, Please Login
My brother and I did this to our parent's garage, it holds up reasonably well but gets extremely slick when wet from snow melting off the car. A textured epoxy would be a good option to overcome this.
Epoxy floors, Garage makeovers, and Custom Closets are what my company does. Here is the scoop on epoxy to give you a quick primer. As mentioned by a few people, the key is the prep. The concrete needs to be mechanically profiled ( ground down, or sanded) to expose the capillaries of the concrete so it can bond properly. - I always explain it to people like pouring wax onto glass. It will peel right up. IF you pour it onto sand paper, its a pain in the butt to peel up. Thats the texture you want to achieve when grinding. IF a company says they acid wash the floor. RUN! Same goes with someone who rents their equipment. They're fly by night. Its not effective, and will fail. 1/2 the floors we do are re-pairs from DIY or crappy companies. It sucks to charge people to replace their floor, when they thought they were getting a decent product. Good epoxy is 100% solid. Meaning it has no chemicals to evaporate out when curing reducing the final thickness -Down side is the working time is reduced so its not a DIY product. A good epoxy company will not use an Epoxy top coat. Epoxy will yellow over time from UV rays. By using a polyaspartic top coat it stays shiny and clear, is also more scratch resistant, and durable. The flakes what go in the floor are really made by only 1 major company! Torginal. So if someone feeds you a line about custom chips costing more, or theirs are superior its a lie. Torginol sells their chips all by the pound. Assuming your not comparing metallic, with regular chips, price is the same. Any colour combo is an option. Though most companies like me do stock the more popular ones. I think the sample shown by Rob is called "Quartzsite" As for slip resistance. Sure its slippery. But so is concrete. IF you want it to have grip there is a anti slip additive which can be added. It makes it tougher to clean the floor as it will shred a foam squeegee in quick time. I've never had a problem with anyone claiming the standard top coat is too slippery. When getting a quote ask if they "dip 'n roll" or squeegee it out. A squeegee'd floor will look better and be more consistent for thickness. As well it will indicate they probably use a quick curing epoxy. I personally think epoxy's which cure in 4-6 hours are curing too quick, and dont give it a change to "bite" properly into the floor. Mine is 15-24 hours so it gives it a change to seep into the concrete and adhere properly. Myron commented about a slab on grade, and having moisture emission. Most slabs are poured right on the ground sadly. 4-6" thick. Usually with construction garbage thrown in. Unless its a new build where you have some say to ask for a vapour barrier, you're getting the standard slab. This usually isnt a big deal. If it is, you can always get a moisture migration barrier to be put down by the company - this obviously costs more. When I go out to see a garage, I usually look at the down spouts, to see if they're draining out far enough from the house. As for cracks... I factor crack filling into the price already. Mainly because I want a nice end result, and to get that, crack filling is necessary. If the floor is 50+ years old and all pitted a concrete overlay might be necessary - probably not though. That costs more.... Cost wise. Its all across the board! I charge anywhere from $5.50-7.00 a square foot. It depends on a number of factors. Though friends in AZ are getting $3-4 for the same thing.... Some reasons why my price changes: What other work are you doing with me -If you're spending 20k on garage cabinets, I do a whole lot better on the floor! Access to the site -Am I coating a pool mechanical room 15' below ground and have to bring all my equipment down, or a garage where I can roll right up. Colour you want - I sometimes get angry at holding inventory, and offer people a better price on a colour I have inventory of. Thats the quick primer on epoxy floors. I'll be happy to answer any questions for people to let them know if they're contractor is being honest, or trying to screw them. I use a software for my closet, and garage quotes, so there is nothing subjective. I dont care if you drive a Ferrari, or a Geo Metro. The price is the price. I'm honest that way, and want my customers to be educated, and love to talk about my business. Ask away! Shaun
Thanks, Dave, John, Mike, Charles. The garage looks good I think because it is so plain and the tools and things inside cabinets. And l cleaned up before the shot. The floor is some years old now, so I can't recall the cost, which was folded into the construction price. Anyway, the garage is in Manila, so the cost is probably not comparable or relevant elsewhere. I see Shaun has provided good answers. By the way, I have another garage for the regular cars. The floor there is epoxy too, but a light grey. The difference in brightness is tremendous. l should have used white, too. Best, Andres
Shaun - excellent reply/response! Thank you. I am looking at doing my garage and was gonna use one those Home Depot kits with the acid wash. I also looked at renting a floor scrubber/sander to surface the concrete (and hopefully remove some of the minor scratches in the surface. Do you have a recommendation on what type of scrubber to use, as well as where a DIY can purchase quality epoxy? Thanks in advance for your expertise.
I dont want to hijack this discussion but to answer Todd's questions. Stay away from the HD stuff. In 2 years you're going to be paying someone like me to come and re-do it. and you're not going to be happy. If you're a glutton for punishment, Home Depot does rent a machine called a floor maintainer. Its one of those old school floor buffing machines from old schools! They have an attachment either made, or called a Diamabrush ( I think thats how its spelled) ITs basically what my machine is, just way more simple, and less efficient. Its tough to get the hang of using it. Once you do, you're set though. To steer it you either lift up, or push down which putts pressure onto a certain part of the disk, and it takes off like a hand grinder does if you put it down prior to it stop spinning. Its fairly comical watching people use the machines for the first time. One of my guys must have been a janitor in a past life as he was a pro at it. - I use these machines with a different pad on it to renew an epoxy floor -Scuffing up the top coat to re-apply another top coat to make it shiny again after 5-10 years of abuse. The huge down side to that machine is that it doesnt have a way to collect dust. Concrete dust is nasty stuff what you dont want to breath, and a shop vac will clog up really quick. The dust is like drywall dust. Its super fine. So to keep the dust down, you'll want to grind the floor when its wet. Keep a hose running on the floor and dont let the slurry dry. It will clog the pores of the concrete and might cause the coating to fail. Keep washing and grinding, and washing again. Before you can apply epoxy though the floor has to be dry- bone dry. We use a poisture tester, but if you let it sit for 3-4 days without anyone going onto it and getting it dirty, you should be good. I'm not sure how efficient the machine is, so I cant comment on the time it will take. But to give you a reference point. My machine will grind a 2 car garage - 360-400 Sq feet in about 1.5 hours. Then there is usually some touch up by hand to grind too. So maybe 2 hours before the base coat goes down... to test if its ground down enough. pour some water onto the floor, and it should absorb right in. Here is a video of a guy using a machine like mine, and the special concrete vac like mine - turn the sound off on the video. Its not necessary, and annoying! Same as he does in the video. Once you get the hang of the machine you want to go left to right, then front to back. This way you get all the high and low spots, and good coverage of the entire floor. As for where to buy DIY epoxy. Maybe message me and I can inform you. I'm not sure how proper it is to give names on here.... As well, if you want to call me, I'll give you the scoop on everything you need and wan, and procedures. Shaun.
Rob, I see you are in the Great State of Texas as am I. Just had 1000 square feet of floor done using the technique Shaun described. The difference is the epoxy used. There is a new-ish product out that acts as almost a base coat clear coat. I had fine metal particles added to a (very) shiny silver based and the floor looks like the milky way. Its gorgeous. $3500 all in. He did it maybe 60 days ago. PM me if you want his contact. He is in Austin, but I am sure he would travel. Its a 2-3 day process depending on size.
I did mine with the standard HD epoxy kits and it was a fun project. Lots of prep work involved. I topped it with the clearcoat and it looks great. Getting consistent coverage with the flecks is a bit tricky, so either go very heavy coverage or not at all.
The pros who did my flooring wore golf shoes to put on the flecks of color - red on the base coat and gold flecks in the clear coat Image Unavailable, Please Login
The floor is also heated - gets pretty cold on a mountain ridge in the winter - we ran flex lines thru the steel before pouring the floor and the water runs thru a simple water heater - a closed system - inexpensive to install - its great in the winter to go to the garage and take your shoes off and feel the heat
I have friends that used Premier Garage. Great results and very durable. Garage Flooring Systems Garage Floor Coating Solutions
I used a product called Ucoat it .. In my shop it has been down about 10 years now and looks like new. It can be done in either smooth or speckled , They have a website and is something that can be applied by anyone that can paint. It is very durable .. Price is very reasonable check out the website.. We have done several garages for friends ..
I'm going to try to address a bunch of posts on here to save time... To get consistent converge, it takes a lot of flake.. in the biz, its called "flake to rejection" basically throwing a ton of flake onto the floor until the basecoat of epoxy cannot absorb any more flake. To give some perspective. On a 2 car garage, we put down about 100-120lbs of flake! Granted we reclaim half that, to use on random projects like steps, or stem walls, but a lot gets tossed out. The DIY kits give you a ziplok bag full! Yup, Though there are actual special spiked shoes for this. Not actual golf shoes. It makes the contact area super tiny, and that little tiny dot gets covered with flake, so nobody ever sees it. There are a ton of great products available for the DIY. Its pretty gratifying to transform a floor yourself. When I look at a product. I always want to see the MSDS forms, to see how thick the floor will be, and how much solvents are in the mix. IF you got 10 years out of a floor, thats awesome! I tell people they should expect 10 years from a floor before it starts to show obvious tire marks. So they must have a decent product. Their prep directions are suspect however. Acid washing is proven not to hold up. So you might be the exception to the rule. It does depend on the environment of the floor. some peoples garages are straight in and out.. Others are 65 pt turning to get the car into position... Shaun
I'm getting frustrated and confused with the epoxy products and costs, almost ready to just go back to Plan A... tile! It is the ultimate in classy look and durability. Downsides are cost (not as much more than epoxy as I originally thought) and slick floor (my showroom isn't a working garage, but I do put a dripping boat in there now and then).
Rob, there are non-slip tiles. If you have time, browse through Garage Journal. They have a section just on garage floors, discussing epoxy, ceramic tiles, Racedeck, etc. One of the most popular and well-regarded garages featured in that forum is Jack Olsen's two-car garage. He used tile. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55006&highlight=gauge+garage+Olsen Andres
Rob, just my opinion, but I think tile is a bad option. Grout lines will get dirty and the floor jack wheels will get caught up. Seemless is the way to go
Thanks, Dave. ☺ Okay, here is a good argument for tile floors. Even just the first page is fine. Note the floor jacks on the floor and the note that tiles are recommended for areas where heavy traffic, abrasive dirt and moisture is a concern, such as building entrances, swimming pools, or retail centers, and Ferrari and Lamborghini repair facilities. Unfortunately I read this after I finished my garage. Show me your ceramic/porcelain tiled floors. Good? Bad? Ugly? experiences? - The Garage Journal Board Anyway, epoxy works well too, and I am happy with mine. I just wonder whether tile would have worked better in the workshop (I have tile in the parking area). Best regards, Dave, all, and good luck, Rob. Andres
