Garage floor question

That's what I have in my garage and I put down the epoxy 13 years ago. Yes, you can do it yourself. Make sure you have good ventilation and follow the prep. for the floor as it is the most important thing you do. The manufacturer will recommend the prep and do it as good as you can. I like the floor and it has held up well.

 

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_3000&L2=L2_3080&SKU=90013

and some instructions.

Not endorsing this particualr product, as Griot's tends to be a little pricey, but.. IT'S A PLACE TO START.
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I had these guys do mine:

http://www.floorguard.com

A little pricey but well worth it!

 

We have epoxy on the floor of our garage...installed it maybe 4 years ago? It's already cracked and I guess rubbing off in spots with heavy tire use. *shrug* Maybe we just got unlucky, but I really haven't been too impressed with the stuff. I mean, its easy to clean, but it still has flaws.

 

I had epoxy paint put down in my workshop. It has been down for 11 years.

Where there is no traffic it cleans up great and looks like new. Where I walk and work on a car, it looks scuffed up and dingy. When I drop wrenches and such it sometimes chips off chunks. On the whole I am happy with it.

I watched the guy do the install. He prepped it with an acid wash. It was wild seing this guy walking around the shop pouring out Muriatic acid on a wet floor. There were clouds of smoke rising up. He rinsed it out well with lots of water, let it dry and then put down the epoxy. I have had zero adhesion problems. But this was done on a new concrete floor, not one that had oil spilled on it.

 

www.ucoatit.com

 

Another recommendation for U-Coat-It.

Here are a couple of shots of my garage and floor. Sorry that the shots were taken at night, but you can get an idea of the floor.

The floor has been down over a year and I work off of it regularly. I have had zero problems and the finish is still very good. I did seal the floor with the clear coat which makes the floor a bit more shiny and less prone to staining.

The whole key to an epoxy floor is prep work. Lots of time needs to be spent getting the floor ready to paint. I spent probably three times more time with prep than I did painting the floor.
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Do your search here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

 

Lot's of good info here, but just keep in mind, an "epoxy paint" is usually nothing more than a paint. It will not hold up long term. True epoxy floor coatings are typically a two part liquid with aggregate (sand) mix and need to be trowelled down. They usually have a short pot life - 20-40 minutes. They are self leveling, will fill cracks and chips, withstand abuse, and once cured you can glide across them on your creeper like you were on an ice rink.

If your concrete floor is flat, chip and crack free, and clean, these speckled "epoxy" paints will work and you will may get 4-7 years from them. They will chip when you drop a wrench. And I don't think they will hold up to brake fluid or other more abrasive chemicals.

If your foor is pitted and rough, you may want to go with a true epoxy, or maybe one of the newer cement based "thin coat" resurfacers.

I have some expereince with epoxies, you need to work quick, and do a section at a time, but if the floor is prepared and cleaned correctly, it will withstand anything. Will run about $5 per square foot. If you want the entire floor done at one time, hire this out to someone that does this everyday.

Just my $.02.
Phil

 

I used this stuff on my garage floor at my lake house.

http://www.rustoleum.com/Product.asp?frm_product_id=56&SBL=1&dds=5

It doesn't get heavy use and has held up well for 5 years - and it's cheap.

 

I had mine floor done professionally. Here is a copy of what I posted (with some edits) in another forum about it:

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I decided to get my garage done professionally, since it has already painted previously with the Behr 1-step (from home depot) and was peeling. I was afraid that I might not be up to the task of proper preparation, which is why I decided to go the professional route.

The company I am using will guarantee the floor for 7 years.

FWIW, I thought I would describe what these guys did to put it down.

1) Used big-ass sanders on the floor to remove old flooring, and help get rid of oil that was seeped into the concrete.

2) Next was the acid etch step. After pouring on the acid, they took out the sanders again, so that they were basically wet sanding with acid.

3) Allow to dry using big fans/blowers.

4) Base paint layer was painted on. While paint was still wet, they applied the granite flakes in a very thick layer. Very thick.

(These steps were done very quickly by 2 guys. Started at 7:30 AM, and they were finished by 11:00 AM.

5) Following day, they basically scraped off the loose granite flakes, and painted with a clear coat. Let dry again for 24hrs.

6) On the third day, they painted a second layer of clear coat.

The guys doing this seemed to know what they were doing, had clearly done this before, and I like the fact that the company I am using has been around for a while and offers a 7 year warranty on the paint job.

The cost was not cheap. It works out to about $3.95/sq foot, plus they added a $130 charge because the floor had been previously painted.

But, after seeing how they did it, I think that if I had to do it again, I might try a go at it myself (and assuming I didn't have a previously painted floor).

The paint job looks great so far, by the way.

 

I know a little something about epoxies and garage flooring.

Anything that is cheap is going to be crap. Any real epoxy is going to be 2 part, is going to have limited pot life, and is going to cost a fair bit. Someone said $5/ft and that sounds about right. It seems like 95% of people wonder why they should pay that when they see "epoxy" for garage floors at Home Depot and they go and get it, and 95% of those folks end up unhappy with the job.

When I was shopping to get the floor at my shop done, the prices were around $15-25k for a 6,000 sq-ft shop. I could have done it for about 1/2 price if I did the work myself.

The prep is the MAJOR thing. If you dont prep right, the most expensive epoxy will flake right off. If its a large space I'd contract it out and get a warranty on it. Unless you dont mind it being slippery as ice when its wet, put the fleck own. The fleck ain't cheap!

 

What about something like a Pergo flooring? Would that support the weight of the car? I think it may look nice though.

 

Under the skin, Pergo is nothing but particle board. It does NOT like water and I doubt it is rated for the weight of a car.

 

I wound up putting down vinyl tiles from home depot at $.34 per square foot. They are not perfect but they have the following advantages:

1.) They are cheap!
2.) They look good.
3.) They clean easily.
4.) You can replace individual tiles very quickly and easily. Maybe the major advantage of the tiles. If you chip your paint or ceramic/stone tile. Big pain and or expense to repair or replace. With the vinyl tiles you peel the "bad" ones up and put the knew ones down. It is so cheap that I find myself replacing tiles rather than cleaning the really bad ones.
5.) It stands up to tires pretty well.
6.) You can clean it with spic and span and warm water.
7.) You can give it a shine with tile polish. (Do not use future floor polish! Not good for this use.)
8.) Resistant to oil, gas, grease, brake fluid, etc.
9.) They are cheap!

Down sides are:

1.) Cannot handle jackstands/jack "stress points". I put a 1/8" masonite board between jackstands (and motorcycle stands) and flooring. Works just fine. I no longer put masonite under the tires (As shown in pictures) as I found this was not necessary.
2.) If you let oil/brake fluid/carb cleaner sit for a while the junk will seep around the tile edges and loosen the adhesive some. As said-replacement of bad tile is so easy this is not an issue.
3.) Will get dingy and dirty with time. I clean with spic and span and castrol "Purple stuff' in hot water. Cleans up real well-takes 1/2 hour to 1 hour, with drying. I do this once a month at best and usually once every 2 months.

 

Here is floor.
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We have epoxy floors in our detailing room and HATE it, never again. On the other hand the rest of our facility is covered in porcelain tiles. Nothing looks better, cleans up better, and stands up to abuse better then the tiles. I was scared of cracking them in the beginning but have yet to have any problems. Attatched photos show both floor coatings.
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Was wondering if anyone has a stained concrete floor in the garage?

 

whats a good price for a two car and that checkerboard style? I know costco was selling that for a while...

 

If you are talking about the black/white vinyl floor with the 2 motorcycles in it then the flooring is available at Home depot for anywhere from 29 cents to 39 cents per square foot. So do the math for a 2 car garage, say 25 x 20 feet or so, say 500 square feet-so that means about about 200 bucks in material.

To that add cost for the following:

2 gallons of muriatic acid to clean the existing floor

some decent acid etch concrete floor primer paint to put down before laying the tile. This is important as it adds adhesion. (But is not 100% required.)

A gallon or two is good. Again-try home depot. Cost for this and Muriatic acid should be under 50 bucks.

So total cost is under 250.00 to maybe 300 bucks.

Pretty cheap. Even if you replace 10% 0f the tile a year you are looking at what, 30 bucks?

I have had mine down for three years, replace worn/scuffed or dirty tile before even cleaning them and buy one box of tiles a year for replacement.

 

I used the lowe's brand 2-part epoxy 6 years ago on the house 2 1/2 car garage and last year did my 2400sq.ft. toy box. It is $44 or less per gallon. I used 3 gallons at the house and 12 in the toy box. Prep, temperature, and humidity are factors. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. It really cut down dust and spills just wipe up, even dot 3 brake fluid.