Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Garage floor coatings

We just bought a different house and I finnally have a heated garage I'm wondering what type of floor coating to use. I tried the Rustoleum water based stuff at the old house, needless to say, it sucked!
What are you guys using, and how is it holding up?
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
FB

I used some epoxy stuff that you had to mix before you applied it. Stunk like he11 but lasted twenty years. Not bad considering I park salty cars on it every winter and drag stuff over it. It's time for another coat.

The epoxy stuff is great but if you have a smooth floor throw some sand on it when done. After it dries sweep up any excess.

I used rustoleum 'cause i was afraid of the epoxy. It kept the dust down in the summer but it's pretty much flaked off over two salty winters.

Will the expoxy stuff stick to crappy concrete?

scrub it down really well, maybe even with a little diluter muratic acid and rinse. That gets rid of any loose stuff. then paint. There are premixed floor paints too.

I bought the kit from Home Depot ,,complete with decorative sprinkels.....followed the directions on the box and 4-years later still have a "sparkely" Pine Green floor...very pleased.....If I go over the top and "mop the garage" it actually looks pretty good out there. I think the Home Depott kit came in 3 -or- 4 different colors....

The key to it, like anything, is in the prep work.

Use muratic acid diluted to clean the concrete. Don't waste your money on any of the namebrand preps or cleaners - they are all mostly re-labeled muratic acid.

I painted a slab at the back of our property with Dutchboy concrete paint after cleaning it twice with diluted muratic acid, and the paint has held up good to winter, lawn chairs, and firepit.

My bro-in-law did his garage floor with epoxy, but his prep work sucked and it was peeling in a year. And he had no texture to it, so it was slick as snot when wet or oily. Sprinkle it with sand or something to give it a little texture/slip resistance if you plan on working out there.

I used a lucite 2 part water clean up epoxy once, 2 years later I used a 2 part epoxy with the sprinkles I thought was rustoleum. holds up the best so far.soaked it down twice with the muriatic acid till I saw the floor was getting porous. At work some pros were doing a stretch of floor with the epoxy and he said the acid actually compimizes the epoxy because it is hard to flush away completely. They had a special sandblaster/vacumn machine that roughed it up real good and they used a comercial grade and put it on thick and then poured a plastic bead equivilant to coarse sand real thick on top. When dried they swept and vacumned the beads that weren't stuck and then put 2 coats of clear epoxy over it.It ended up being bumpy or dimply, shiny but not slippery. So far it has held up and the guy said for them to do it they would charge about 2500.usd for a 24 by 30 garage. OUCH I do have they name of the company that makes the stuff at work but I bet it costs a lot more than the rustoleum stuff did.

mike

I use gravel.

Yeah, we did my lab with that after a cheaper epoxy compound. I work in a spray lab so the floor always is getting wet as well as various chemicals that are real slick. The stuff works fantastic. Not even slick if you spray fantastic on it. I think we got it done for about $7/ft^2. Not a bad price but would put it in the out of my price range for the garage. I have dropped 24in. pipe wrenches on it without it chipping. Tough stuff. Took 'em two full weekends to get the full coverage done but we were able to work on it during the week in between and just wash it down the night before they came in to finish. Good stuff.

I used the two part epoxy but now regret not using a nonslip additive... I did not like theflakes they gave you but you need to use something when wet it is mighty slippery

Our shop at work has the epoxy (don't know what brand, but it was a two week project to install it on new concrete). fifteen years of heavy use, chemical spills, driving heavy equipment on it. The only damaged places are where some heavy iron like cutting edges has been dropped or where somebody got too close to the floor with a cutting torch. Welding slag doesn't seem to phase it though I'm sure it could over time if concentrated in one spot.

I've seen some home garages with diamond plate looking lock together tiles. Seems to be very good. Some type of plastic.

U Coat It

This is the system I'm leaning towards, about $1.10 / square foot. Any concrete prep materials are extra.

I'd love to see before/after photos.

One of my neighbors used indoor/outdoor carpet, He puts large aluminum pans under the spots where he thinks he might get an oil leak. He sweeps it out now and then and vacuums once or twice a year. He used a medium gray color so it doesn't even look too bad after 5 years or so. Snow and salt dropping off the car makes it look nasty in the winter but he just scoops it out the door and hoses it off in the spring.

Thanks for the ideas, if I figure something out I'll let you know how it goes!