Floor epoxy (garage use)?

[te72]

Guys and gals, I just picked up a house this week. Cleaned up the garage first thing, and have been looking into floor epoxy to seal the floor. Has anyone had any experience with the stuff? I've seen it in a few shops, and it seems really nice as far as cleaning up after spills and keeping your garage looking nice.

The most readily available stuff around here is the Behr garage floor epoxy that Home Depot sells. Garage won't see excessively heavy duty use, mostly just parking and maintenance work on the fleet of Supras. Thoughts, comments, experiences, warnings, better ideas, etc? Lemme know what you think!

Thanks!

-Brad

 

[Kai]

Just make sure the surface is prepped before you paint it. Best thing to do, is use muriatic acid to clean it. Neutralise it afterwards with baking soda and water, and then a rinse after that with straight water. Let it dry, and then all you need to do, is get busy painting

 

[toyotanos]

I would also say to add some fine sand to the epoxy for traction- too many guys I've worked with have slipped and fallen on smooth epoxy floors after a coolant spill.

 

[Kai]

^- what he said

 

[mkiiichip]

When i did a buddies garage, the kit came with this confetti type stuff. I think it was for color, to break up the solid color look (and possibly for traction). Anyways, it made the floor a pain to roll around on. Just sliding under a car was out of the question, you had to either roll, or do some crazy army shuffle.

Just a thought if you plan on spending any time on your back. Other than that its definitely an improvement over bare concrete.

 

[Kevin]

When i did a buddies garage, the kit came with this confetti type stuff. I think it was for color, to break up the solid color look (and possibly for traction). Anyways, it made the floor a pain to roll around on. Just sliding under a car was out of the question, you had to either roll, or do some crazy army shuffle.

Just a thought if you plan on spending any time on your back. Other than that its definitely an improvement over bare concrete.

buy a creeper?

 

[Flateric]

I've done this to 4 garage floors now and surface prep is CRITICAL. Follow instructions to the very letter. EXACTLY, no kidding. If you do you will get a fairly durable and long lasting floor that is even slip resistant if you sprinkle the grip stuff whiule it's still wet.

Or, you could go the way I prefer to nowadays. You know the flooring they use in hospitals? Tough, really tough. And if you damage a square you can simply replace that square. It's also far far easier to put down and is usable far sooner too. I will take a pic here of mine in a bit for ya to have a peek at.

You can even color a big logo onto either prior to clear coating/waxing.

Both types run about the same costs, depending on where you get them from.

 

[gurley0916]

Brad I recommend the quickrete brand 2 part epoxy brand. Ive used this at two houses now and is extremely durable just make sure to by the etcher acid that is recommended on the box. I had brake fluid, ATF, Oil, paint thinner, along with other numerous fluids and it never discolored or peeled. Also when I was doing my motor swap in my car we slide the pallet into the garage and it never scratched when we were sliding it. Ive used the behr brand and it sucks in my experience, always had tires picking it up after 2 years. The cost is 80 for the box kit and does a one car garage so you will need 2 boxes. As mentioned I would put fine sand in it in the high traffic areas like by the door so that you dont slip, but I could see it being a pain to clean up oil if you use the sand under the car.

http://www.quikretecoatings.com/quikrete/products/Color%20Coatings/2-Part-Epoxy-Garage-Floor-Coating.html

 

[shaeff]

And think about a lighter color with no cool flecks in it. Flecks make nuts and bolts vanish upon touching the floor.

 

[buckshotglass]

Behr is worthless. Water will make it peel.

 

[CajunKenny]

In for recommendations on this also...

 

[jdmfreak]

I install industrial commercial epoxy floors for a living ...
I have not worked with either of the products listed but I have heard the same ...
As far as prep goes if you can get a diamond grinding wheel for concrete that is the best... the main point on prep is you wanna get the seal off of the top of the concrete and open up the pores that way the epoxy will have a mechanical bond just be sure not to dig in cause any marks will show through in a thin mil system... also silica sand works great for traction the more sand you add the more tracton but too much and its a pain to clean... for light traction you ca use I belive its called shark grip its really fine and you can backroll it in ....

And don't forget to mix it well a drill with a jiffy mixer paddle works well

I will be happy to answer any specific questions anyone has or ask around work if anyone has any questions about a specific product that I haven't worked with
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[te72]

I would also say to add some fine sand to the epoxy for traction- too many guys I've worked with have slipped and fallen on smooth epoxy floors after a coolant spill.

Definitely, either that or the flake stuff...

When i did a buddies garage, the kit came with this confetti type stuff. I think it was for color, to break up the solid color look (and possibly for traction). Anyways, it made the floor a pain to roll around on. Just sliding under a car was out of the question, you had to either roll, or do some crazy army shuffle.

Just a thought if you plan on spending any time on your back. Other than that its definitely an improvement over bare concrete.

Not sure I'll be spending much time on my back, but if I were planning to do that, a creeper would probably be in order. Good to hear that flake stuff works well.

I've done this to 4 garage floors now and surface prep is CRITICAL. Follow instructions to the very letter. EXACTLY, no kidding. If you do you will get a fairly durable and long lasting floor that is even slip resistant if you sprinkle the grip stuff while it's still wet.

Or, you could go the way I prefer to nowadays. You know the flooring they use in hospitals? Tough, really tough. And if you damage a square you can simply replace that square. It's also far far easier to put down and is usable far sooner too. I will take a pic here of mine in a bit for ya to have a peek at.

Like paint, prep is definitely the important step here. Already taken steps to get as much gunk out of the garage as I can in preparation. I believe HD sells that super heavy duty floor tile too, hadn't thought of that idea. All I know is that it weighs about 80lbs per box. Used to work freight there, hated when that stuff came in. But I'll look into it. Have at least a few weeks to decide, still working on paint and cleaning the place up. Question though: how well does this hospital floor tile handle spills?

Brad I recommend the quickrete brand 2 part epoxy brand. Ive used this at two houses now and is extremely durable just make sure to by the etcher acid that is recommended on the box. I had brake fluid, ATF, Oil, paint thinner, along with other numerous fluids and it never discolored or peeled. Also when I was doing my motor swap in my car we slide the pallet into the garage and it never scratched when we were sliding it. Ive used the behr brand and it sucks in my experience, always had tires picking it up after 2 years. The cost is 80 for the box kit and does a one car garage so you will need 2 boxes. As mentioned I would put fine sand in it in the high traffic areas like by the door so that you dont slip, but I could see it being a pain to clean up oil if you use the sand under the car.

http://www.quikretecoatings.com/quikrete/products/Color%20Coatings/2-Part-Epoxy-Garage-Floor-Coating.html

Thanks for the recommendation Dustin, I'll look into it. How did you know I have a 2 car garage though? :aigo:

And think about a lighter color with no cool flecks in it. Flecks make nuts and bolts vanish upon touching the floor.

Ahh, I have a solution for that: it's called a magnet.

But I had thought of that, was going to go without the flake stuff, but apparently it's useful for grip. I guess sand would do as well though... not to mention, magnets don't pick up whatever creepy crawlies might sneak up on me when under a car... Friend of mine finally got to meet an Arizona scorpion working under his Porsche a few years back. Needless to say, scared the crap out of him. Leaning more toward sand simply for the bug reason.

I install industrial commercial epoxy floors for a living ...
I have not worked with either of the products listed but I have heard the same ...
As far as prep goes if you can get a diamond grinding wheel for concrete that is the best... the main point on prep is you wanna get the seal off of the top of the concrete and open up the pores that way the epoxy will have a mechanical bond just be sure not to dig in cause any marks will show through in a thin mil system... also silica sand works great for traction the more sand you add the more tracton but too much and its a pain to clean... for light traction you ca use I belive its called shark grip its really fine and you can backroll it in ....

And don't forget to mix it well a drill with a jiffy mixer paddle works well

I will be happy to answer any specific questions anyone has or ask around work if anyone has any questions about a specific product that I haven't worked with

So what would be your favorite product to work with, ease of use and durability being the bigger factors here... price, up to a certain extent, I can be a bit flexible.


Thanks for all the replies and advice so far guys!

 

[jdmfreak]

I typically use coatings that aren't available to the general public but the "industrial" coatings are usually a better way to go then the "garage floor" coatings atlike home depot... paint stores usually have their own lines of "industrial" floor coatings. If you can find an oil based epoxy that would be best but water based will work fine as long as its preped properly (make sure to get as much oil out of the concrete as possible if there are any soaked in oil spots) Issues with garages typically are due tohot tire pickup where the garage is cold then you pull in withhot tires. Or The concrete sweating moisture . but the chances of either of those things happening is greatly reduced with proper prep and warm floors when applying... any grease on the floor soaked into the concrete could also cause failure. Acid etching is a good way to go but do it a couple times to ensure a good bond

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[jdmfreak]

Any coatings you will be able to get will be fairly user friendly just make sure to look at the working time as some epoxy will start curing faster than you want if your putting it down by your self...

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[supra1008]

I'll be doing this once I buy a house in the months coming up. Thanks for posting this up!

 

[te72]

I typically use coatings that aren't available to the general public but the "industrial" coatings are usually a better way to go then the "garage floor" coatings atlike home depot... paint stores usually have their own lines of "industrial" floor coatings. If you can find an oil based epoxy that would be best but water based will work fine as long as its preped properly (make sure to get as much oil out of the concrete as possible if there are any soaked in oil spots) Issues with garages typically are due tohot tire pickup where the garage is cold then you pull in withhot tires. Or The concrete sweating moisture . but the chances of either of those things happening is greatly reduced with proper prep and warm floors when applying... any grease on the floor soaked into the concrete could also cause failure. Acid etching is a good way to go but do it a couple times to ensure a good bond

Acid etch twice? Not a big deal, just confirming. And I won't be doing this until the weather warms up anyway. Ideally I'll be installing a gas heater in the garage before winter if funds allow... Fortunately, there isn't much grease or stains on my floor to worry about, but any I find will be cleaned before the etching.

Also, talked with mom last night, she knows her stuff about paint (lot of experience and love of the job there haha), and she recommended the Rustoleum over the Behr that's readily available. She added that most all of the commercially available epoxies are going to only last a few years at best, so the peeling isn't uncommon. Her fix? Putting down the little rear seat floor mats where your tires sit when you park, and make sure you park on them in the same place all the time.

 

[jdmfreak]

Yeah just make sure its etched good (you want to get through any sealer so the epoxy can soak into the pores in the concrete) ...and the floor mats would help... hot tire pickup its caused by a combination of thermal shock (hot tire on cold floor) and not good enough prep so if its etched good and is a industrial grade coating that will hold up to some thermal shock(they usually say how they will hold up in the directions or spec sheets) your chances of that happening are reduced

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[MDCmotorsports]

I've heard good things about this...

http://ucoatit.com/pgs/main.htm

I tried the stuff from Menards made by Rustoleum products.

Basically I called Rustoleum and told them to come get their shit off my garage flood because it was exactly that - SHIT.
Needless to say they told me to go pound sand.

If you really want a good epoxy floor, call in a contractor that specializes in such floor coating.

 

[suprahero]

I did the floor at Bevill State Community College in the mechanics department with a Tile Clad Epoxy from Sherwin Williams. It's a two part A and B epoxy. I believe it cost me 85.00 for a gallon of each which makes two gallons and will probably cover about 400-500 sq. ft. It's lasted for two years already and that's with them having class in it four days a week with lots of foot traffic and lots of cars being pulled in and out every day.
It rolls on with a 9" roller, but make sure you wear a mask because the smell is horriffic while installing it. Good luck.