epoxy floor costs?

I found this photo of the garage where I decided to use a light grey epoxy paint. We park the “working” cars there, so I thought grey would be easier to keep clean. I did not think that the luminosity or brightness would change much from the white I used in the other garage, but the difference was dramatic. I should have used white here also.
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Was this an epoxy that was used or a urathane? Usually when there is a single coat, its a urathane. Which would also explain the price - which is great BTW. Here is the site of the supplier I use for flakes, and it shows some of the cool options which are available. Its cool is basements, or a wine cellar. Torginol, Inc.

Its totally confusing comparing epoxys. They're all the same, yet they're all different. Sadly, it comes down to the sales person and if they're trustworthy or not. I'm pro epoxy ( obviously) and would never consider leaving concrete raw. To me tile is just to Italian and over the top. Here in Toronto, its also really cold. In Texas though you might want that coolness on bare feet.


Shaun

 

Not to epoxy ( Or tile really) Its the slap temperature which is important as will transfer through. Tile will transfer the temps more than epoxy too. I love when we work in a garage with a heated floor, it makes epoxy cure that much better in the winter time. In Texas I would expect flooring installers to keep their chemicals in buckets of ice otherwise they thin out reducing the coverage rate.


Having it climate controlled is just preference really. If anything its worse for daily driven cars. Here in the great white north, I see people's tools get all surface rusty in heated garages, more even insulated ones too. Cars drive in all covered in snow, as it melts the moisture festers.

On the note of coverage rate. Thats one of the biggest differences of why coating fail, and price difference. Ideally 130-150 Sq Ft./ Gallon is preferred. Dont hold me to this, but I believe some of the old Premier Garage guys were putting it down at 200+ sq ft/G as per company instructions, and there was a lawsuit about it. ( possible hearsay) but that is a difference of %25+ yield on a floor. Always ask what the coverage rate is to compare pricing.

Shaun

 

Here is my floor. It is applied by Premier Garage flooring. I love the floor, holding up flawlessly. I think it was around $5,000 for a oversized 3 car garage but I can't recall exact price…They did my cabinets too. Cabinets we're around $3500 and I have other cabinets you can't see in the pictures.
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Nice garage Ryan. Those colours are one of the nicer combos. Bronze cabinets with the brownish floor (Sedona or Quatzite?). PG does use a fine product. For years they were the standard as they spend a ton on marketing. Price wise it sounds about right. $7ish a sq foot.

One of the cool options now is a sliding door option for the 4' wide cabinets (looks like on of the left of your work bench area) its nice as you can access the cabinets still if space is tight.

 

Thanks! Color is Sedona

 

I am in the process of rehabing a property to store my cars at.
I just finished doing the floors myself.
I used a high solids primer and paint along with clear coat finish.
I bought my products from Legacy Industrial Coatings and spent about $650 on the materials.
I also used a diamond brush machine, power washed the concrete floor afterwards and acid etched too. I bought the spiked shoes at Grainger and using the shoes are needed for sure since you need to back roll and will be walking on the fresh painted areas.
The total cost for everything was about 1200 bucks but I also bought a 10,000 BTU window A/C to help with the temperture and humidity since this was done on 4th of July weekend in muggy NJ weather.
I am very happy with the results. You can do it yourself if you have the patience and time since you need to do this in steps and a certain time frame.
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Ferris, this is what mine looked like when I did this last year in my desert house. Wife and I did it ourselves. Came out nice and cost about $300 for the Rustoleum kit. Had to go to SD county to find it because it is outlawed in LA, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties!

Next time I am paying a guy. It was brutal between the heat and the fumes. I lost 5 years of my life those 2 days.

 

Great option. Those things are recycled material too. Take em with you when you move on. Now what colors...

 

I just went around and around the decision on floor coatings and finally went with acid staining with a solvent based acrylic satin clear coat. Factors in my consideration were daily traffic, motorcycle side stands, weekend mechanic work and occasional welding, meaning that any thing I put on the floor was eventually going to chip, peel, or crack. I figured if I chose the right color to etch the floor and a solvent based clear, and stain or damage would be less noticeable, and the solvent clear would feather in nice if I needed to patch it up.
Cost was around $0.40/sqft including a respirator for acid gas and organics and a pump sprayer that is compatible with acids (both available at HD.) application was only a few hours, but between sweeping, pressure washing, and dry time, it was a weekend project with other chores done in the "between coats" time.
I'm sure others could do a more artistic job with with respect to colors and patterns, but I was looking for a "hide the defects" finish.
PSA: don't mess around with chemicals. Wear your PPE, most important of which are gloves, splash goggles, and a respirator with the correct cartridge.
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Rob,

I have Racedeck. I decided to go that route because my garage floor is pitched to the door (I did not have drains installed - huge mistake). I still have standing water in the garage from snow melting. The racedeck has allowed me to have a dry floor since the water flows under the tiles and I no longer have standing water puddles.

It's a decent solution. But, if I lived in an area with no snow, I'd never do Racedeck. I prefer a hard floor. Using a floor jack really sucks on Racedeck.

If I was you, I'd stay focused on the epoxy floor.

 

Cool thread. I want to do something to upgrade my garage floors. This thread helps a lot.

Rob - Did you decide? I am going to make some calls around Tyler and see if I can find someone who can do it for me(I have to time or patience for such a DIY).

 

These are the pro and cons of the tile floors. I did a townhouse condo development recently where a number of people wanted epoxy, but the board said each unit's floor was their property, and epoxy was not allowed as the grinding would compromise their floor.... All the floors were sloped to keep water in the garage. SwissTrax ( only 'cause thats what I use) was the answer. It kept the people from walking in the puddles of water. Then evaporated eventually.

The cons: are the no jacking thing- though to be fair I tell people not to jack up a car on epoxy -I tell them to put a board under the wheels, or under a jack stand. I find the chattering of the tiles a bit annoying too when you walk on them. The biggest downside though is the general fit and finish. The gaps required at the sides and back for expansion are unsightly - especially needed in Texas. Just the general tightness of the fit up by the garage door rails too is ugly

Though the tiles are cheap, (and can be resold) and install is very rewarding when you can put a down 200+ sq. feet in an hour!

From a business perspective, I do about 1 floor in tiles for every 50 I do in epoxy. Which is too bad, the money is way better in floor tiles.

 

What do they high end exotic dealerships and independent service guys use in their service areas? Might be worth contacting some.

I realize they might not all have pristine service areas but those are the most likely professionals who would have the same set of expectations of aesthetics and durability.

 

I have been researching this as well for my 11-year-old plain concrete garage floor. Helped my parents with their epoxy floor, which is holding up "OK" but sees a lot of abuse. Relatives recently built a shop where they used acid stain that turned out very nice. Mine would be a 3-car garage, right at 1000 sq ft

Leaning heavily toward acid stain with sealer. Colors are limited and on an old floor it looks like your ability to repair cracks is limited unlike epoxy. Lowe's has Valspar brand stain in three colors but I am not sold on that brand. Maybe a brand like Kemiko would be better. I like the idea of actually changing the color of the floor material rather than painting or tiling over the existing floor.
Acid Stain |*Eagle Sealer - Protect and Beautify Your Concrete! - Concrete sealer products for aggregate and decorative concrete
Valspar Etching Concrete Stain
Kemiko Concrete Products, Inc. - About Kemiko Concrete Acid Stain

From what I have seen, just like repainting a car, it seems surface prep is the key. Most of the work is before the "color" is ever applied. On old or dirty concrete you have to grind off the top layer to expose fresh limestone in the concrete for the acid to react.

Once other home projects are completed (might be next spring) this seems like the steps.
Day One:
1) Remove as many oil or rust stains as possible from the floor.
2) Mask off the walls as grit or stain will almost certainly end up splattered on them.
3) Grind the surface (saw the Home Depot rental tool mentioned earlier Concrete Prep Tool). Grind in one direction, then perpindicular.
4) Finish the corners with a hand grinder.
5) Clean, clean, clean the surface. Mop and re-mop with clean water until the mop head and bucket look perfectly clean after finished. That was very time-consuming with our relative's garage but is crucial as I understand it.
6) Let it dry overnight at least. Surface should be dry when stain is applied (although the stain itself is usually diluted with water, confused).

Day Two:
7) Apply stain mixed according to the directions in a hand sprayer. Like gridning, actually make two passes in perpindicular directions.
8) Allow stain to dry for several hours. It needs time to react to the limestone in your freshly ground concrete surface. The color of the stain is what salts are put into the solution of the stock acid stain. Dry stained color on the concrete will probably be lighter than the finished product. If the stain gets wet it will continue to react with the concrete.
9) Neutralize the stain once dry with a solution of baking soda and hot water. Vacuum the mess up (fairly sure I would not want stain, even neutralized, pouring out onto the driveway).
10) Clean with clear water again as with step 5.
11) Allow to dry overnight.

Day 3: This is where the pros seem to vary. Some apply another color of acid stain (with neutralizing and cleaning), some apply a conventional acrylic type stain with a mop or sponge and allow to dry, or a simple floor wouldn't apply a second color at all and proceed to Day 4.

Day 4:
12) Seal the clean, dry, stained floor with an acrylic sealer. Seems you have a choice of gloss, satin, or matte. Leaning toward this brand regardless of the stain I use:
Armor Seal |*Eagle Sealer - Protect and Beautify Your Concrete! - Concrete sealer products for aggregate and decorative concrete

Seems a minimum of two coats is a good idea, the second immediately after the other in a perpindicular direction. It will have to dry overnight at least before traffic on the floor.

Day 5:
This would be the fun part, seeing the floor really shine. Like buffing after a paint job. rent a buffer, apply wax, and see how many coats you can stand to put on before you wear out.

Did I miss anything (other than this thread was about epoxy?) It looks like this would be possible for under $1000 DIY, even renting the floor grinder and later the floor buffer. $1 per sq ft in my case.

 

Epoxy floors do not require a wax coat. VCT tile gets wax, no need with epoxy.

 

Heck if you wax an epoxy floor wouldn't that be a super slip hazard? Could you even stop your car before it rolled through the back wall into your den? What about breaking a hip? Even a wet epoxy floor is tricky to walk on. I do like the racedeck stuff, but I am not sure I'd use a jack on it regardless of what the vendor tells you.

 

In Canada in the GTA prices start around $6.00 and go form there dependent on any special finishes, logos in floor etc

 

The tile floor in the parking section of the garage, during construction. Grout lines have become more visible in the four since, but not too badly.
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Epoxy isnt for everyone. IT has a ton of advantages, and a few disadvantages. I personally love a garage with tile. A super polished tile, with 1/32" grout lines. It makes a floor look like a solid slab stone! Bad Ass! But it obviously costs a fair amount, is slippery, always dirty looking (if your car(s) gets wet)

Epoxy is super cool, can totally transform a space, with reasonable cost. Its pretty tough, and is really nice to walk on in bare feet!

Any decent contractor is going to walk you through the good and bad of each flooring option. That being said, you call an epoxy guy, and he will tell you epoxy is the best! You call a tile guy, and he will tell you tile is the best!

Send me a PM with your phone number ( This goes for anyone really), and I'll give you a ring to fill you in on the advantages and disadvantages of your specific situation. Whether you're looking for something temporarily, or long term. I've got nothing to gain and wont try to sell you anything ( heck I'm 1400 miles away!) I just hate to see an uninformed consumer.

Shaun

 

I'm neutral here, as I have tile in the parking area and epoxy in the work area. i considered Racedeck and similar, but decided against that route (what happens when you spill used oil on the floor?).

The advantage is of epoxy is that it takes spills and usual workshop debris well and cleans up up quickly. Here's what happens if you drain oil from a raised car without the usual drum with raised funnel (I have since bought one). It was a mess.

Andy
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Here's the floor with a quick clean-up. This is what I like about epoxy.

Andy
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