Garage Floor Coverings

[geoffinbc]

Well in 2 weeks I move in to my new house. The Garage floor is fresh and I want to keep it looking good and have something easy to clean. So has anyone here tried any of the floor coverings out there? How did they perform?

[ForcedFirebird]

I've used the concrete stain and concrete pait, both will disolve with solvents and/or oil, anti-freeze etc. Spring for the epoxy, a buddy has it in his shop and it's almost untouchable with chemicals and wear (and he is using only cutting oil in his screw-machine shop).

[Superdave]

x2 on the epoxy. I'm going to do my basement floor in it as well as the garage.

[Guest]

I haven't used epoxy, but have used other products (luckily never on my floors) and will NEVER put anything on the shop floor except for maybe a sealer, but nothing with colour that will wear away and show the usage. Looks worse IMO than a oil spotted floor.

[ForcedFirebird]

I haven't used epoxy, but have used other products (luckily never on my floors) and will NEVER put anything on the shop floor except for maybe a sealer, but nothing with colour that will wear away and show the usage. Looks worse IMO than a oil spotted floor.

And that my friend, sums it up. You have never used epoxy

I haven't either, but the guys who I know in the machining industry have, and it's awesome stuff. We couldn't afford it for the shop floor at the time and used te regular "heavy duty" concrete stain (colored sealer), and might as well have used latex wall paint

[geoffinbc]

Hmm know of any products specifically? Like name brands so I can check out a site. I am assuming the "Epoxy" Is a 2 part system correct?

[ForcedFirebird]

2 part and is about $75 gallon. It's available in a couple different brands like QuickCrete, Rustoleum etc...

http://www.google.com/products?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2004-50,RNWE:en&q=epoxy+garage+floor+coating&um=1&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

[geoffinbc]

Thanks. I'll check Home Depot or Rona (Canadian chain like home depot) on the weekend

[ForcedFirebird]

Yeah I've seen it at Home depot. You will need at least 2 gallons to get a good 2 coats on a standard 2 car garage. (aprox 18x20)

[geoffinbc]

My Garage is 15' wide X 40' long

[ForcedFirebird]

Actually looking at several brands, they can cover as little as 200 square feet per gallon, so you are going to have to read the can to see. You have 600 square feet in your garage. So you could be looking at up to 3 gallons per coat.

Couple tips on painting with a roller...

Use masking tape and wrap the roller, sticky side in, to pull all the loose fibers before starting. Try to wet an area and keep the wet flowing across the room, like spraying a car. And finally, make sure the prep is good. Use a solvent that evaporates for the final cleaning (denatured alcohol and acetone are awesome), and etch the substrate with a good acid. This is as important as painting a gloss part, and having to sand it for the paint to adhere.

Done right, this stuff acts a lot like powdercoating. You can scratch it a little, but definately not through the color, so it buffs out.

Be sure to post pics, and you could even coat a stepping stone or something to test it's durability.

[geoffinbc]

I saw the Rustoleum stuff at Home Depot. $99 for the kit with prep. I will need 2

[34blazer]

i was just browsing thru and caught this. epoxy is the way to go if you want a durable and great looking finish on the garage floor. preparation of the slab will determine the length of time the epoxy will stay bonded. the best way is to shot-blast the concrete and remove the trowling glaze. doing this will leave a nice and porous profile and the epoxy will stay for a very long time. the only downside of this is most of us dont have access to the proper shot-blast equipment. i believe some rental places will have a small shot-blast machine so its still fairly easy to find one. at the very least the floor should be mechanically cleaned and scarified to enhance the bonding surface. home depot carries floorbuffers(sanders) along with the scarifier plate, make sure the carbides or diamond plates are in fairly decent shape. the best stuff in the business right now is from a company called ARDEX. they have a wide variety of designer coverings. Koster also is another good source for epoxy coverings.

http://www.designerfloors.com/

http://www.koesterusa.com/products.html

P.S. heres a link to a shot blast machine

http://www.blastrac.com/en-us/pc-795-6-1-8dez.aspx

[Jim Rockford]

you want to make sure the concrete is over 60 days old, to cure, then being a new floor , you can just acid etch , I wouldn't shot blast unless i had a oily floor , mine had some bad stains on it and i used the degreaser and purple stuff , scrubbed and pressurewashed it, then hit it really good withthe acid wash. and pressure washed again. I used rustolium on one side and some stuff i got when i was in the navy called CANTOL they have a website, , the rustolium went on good, but i had to put a clear on top of it and it turned out a little darker than i wanted, but the cantol is just one coat and no clean and its just as shiney as the rustolium with a coat of clear check out http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/
for more info, Best thing about covering the floor is the 99%reduction in dust all over everything. and its nice to lay on and clean up of spills is soooo easy.

Rustolium W/O the clear

With the clear..

I used one kit for the one side for the base coat, and one kit of clear, figure that 1 side to be 15x30.

[34blazer]

you want to make sure the concrete is over 60 days old, to cure, then being a new floor , you can just acid etch , I wouldn't shot blast unless i had a oily floor , mine had some bad stains on it and i used the degreaser and purple stuff , scrubbed and pressurewashed it, then hit it really good withthe acid wash. and pressure washed again. I used rustolium on one side and some stuff i got when i was in the navy called CANTOL they have a website, , the rustolium went on good, but i had to put a clear on top of it and it turned out a little darker than i wanted, but the cantol is just one coat and no clean and its just as shiney as the rustolium with a coat of clear check out http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/
for more info, Best thing about covering the floor is the 99%reduction in dust all over everything. and its nice to lay on and clean up of spills is soooo easy.

Rustolium W/O the clear

I used one kit for the one side for the base coat, and one kit of clear, figure that 1 side to be 15x30.

60 days or the moisture level has to be under a certain limit. epoxy is designed to cover a slab with a higher moisture content shot blasting is also recommended to profile the slab to ensure a strong bond.