garage floor coatings

rockyrunner99

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what does everyone prefer for their garage floor. I want to use something clear. I like the natural look of concrete. I was going to use a clear epoxy from local concrete material supplier, it had to be re-coated within a very narrow time frame and was a little expensive. They gave me some solvent based acrylic sealer, j35 instead, said it would work great.
 

tadawson

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My folks put down an epoxy based product (colored, not clear) over 10 years ago in a garage in snow country in which absolutely nothing else had held up. It had a bit of sand added for traction (plain is like glass . . ) and it looks the same today . . . Not sure the brand (other than it was a commercial product), but the stuff is amazingly durable. I would think it could be done in clear as well, but might be unacceptably slippery . . .
 

ZippyNH

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Epoxy type of product is commonly used in airplane hangers...good stuff.
+1 on have texture added....side walking area is hangers are typically textured...center area not..
Center area is like a skating rink when wet. Yes, easy to squeegee dry....but slicker than snot when wet.

Other products are vunerable to chemicals...
So epoxy which chemically​ "set" after hardening are generally supperior.
Think of the non-epoxy stuff as kinda like a paint...a thinner of the right type, be it brake cleaner can still harm it. Cheaper...but not as long lasting, and vunerable.
 
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BKmetz

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In 2010 my mom had a new garage built. After waiting a month for the cement to cure I coated the floor with Rust-Oleum epoxy shield. I added the color flakes and fine-grit sand for a non-skid surface. It looked good and worked well for a while. The coating didn't hold up to the winter salt they use here. After about 5 years the coating had flaked off where the snow melt mixed with road salt had pooled under the car. I used a power washer to blast the loose stuff off.

Here is a photo of all the product that I was able to wash off the floor.


There's a big bare cement spot in the middle of her garage floor now, but at least mom isn't tracking paint flakes into the house anymore.

:rolleyes:
 
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tadawson

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I would not even begin to compare commercial products with the big box store stuff . . . and not the prep/spplication work either . . . The stuff my parentsnhad done, I recall takingnanfull day or more to do a one car garage. The neighbors, iirc, had it done as well - also holding up perfectly, and in deep snow country. I just wish I could remember the name ofmthe mfg. and product . . .
 

kjclow

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Ok, here's the professional recommendation (30+ years as a paint chemist):
Some of the products at the big box stores will work fine but you will get better counter help at a stand alone paint store. You'll also pay more.

The outcome of the job comes down to proper surface treatment. Use proper rated gloves and googles when handling the acid and paint. If you're worried about wrecking your clothes, you will. If you don't care, you probably won't spill anything on them.
Here's the steps:
Clean the garage floor with degreaser and then soap and water and rinse well.
Acid etch the floor with muriatic acid and rinse well. Then rinse again. Not getting all the acid residue up will cause any coating to fail quickly.
Use a two component epoxy coatings developed for garage floors. The epoxy can be applied by roller or squeegee. Don't over work it or you can capture foam or possibly change the color in areas.

Follow the label recommendations for mix time, dwell time (time after mixing before starting application), cure and recoat time. Failure to follow any or all of these steps can result in the coating lifting.
Many epoxies can be top coated with a clear acrylic for a higher depth of image but you have to careful doing that as many clears will pull up from the hot tires (warm and wet tires are really the worst).

As has been mentioned, either mix texture into the epoxy before coating or broadcast it on to the freshly applied paint. Mixing it into the paint before application will give more uniform coverage but may reduce your pot life (workable time).

Some epoxies are sensitive to UV light and may yellow over time where they are exposed to direct sunlight. They may also yellow where the car tires sit on the surface. The higher sport rating of the tire, the worse the yellowing may be.

Single best recommendation? If you're not willing to put the surface prep and application work into it to get the best job out of the paint, either hire it done or don't do it at all.
 

rockyrunner99

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I feel like i am prepping it as good as can be done. i have diamond ground the entire floor. I plan to acid etch it still to try to get the couple low spots to match color wise and use a clear coating. I am thinking I am going with an epoxy. I will return the acrylic i have and spend the extra on an epoxy. If i cant get the low spots to match color wise with the ground areas then i will have a color mixed in too. thank you, for the help and recomendations.
 

kjclow

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Remember to rinse the heck out of that acid etch.
 

Oilerlord

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You get what you pay for applies. The coatings offered from big box stores are usually crap. In my experience, they don't stand up - regardless of how diligent you are in the preparation of the floor.

I think porcelain tiles are the best solution, and don't cost much more than a professionally installed, coated floor. With that said, not all tiles are the same. Look for ones with a PEI rating of at least 4, but 5 is better. Porcelain tiles are hard, and relatively non-porous compared to ceramic. You may also find closeouts and big discounts on tiles at HD or Lowes that bring the price down to about the same as a high-end epoxy floor.
 

aja8888

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You get what you pay for applies. The coatings offered from big box stores are usually crap. In my experience, they don't stand up - regardless of how diligent you are in the preparation of the floor.

I think porcelain tiles are the best solution, and don't cost much more than a professionally installed, coated floor. With that said, not all tiles are the same. Look for ones with a PEI rating of at least 4, but 5 is better. Porcelain tiles are hard, and relatively non-porous compared to ceramic. You may also find closeouts and big discounts on tiles at HD or Lowes that bring the price down to about the same as a high-end epoxy floor.
Agreed, best way to go if you can find inexpensive tiles with the right PEI rating.
 

kjclow

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You get what you pay for applies. The coatings offered from big box stores are usually crap. In my experience, they don't stand up - regardless of how diligent you are in the preparation of the floor.

I think porcelain tiles are the best solution, and don't cost much more than a professionally installed, coated floor. With that said, not all tiles are the same. Look for ones with a PEI rating of at least 4, but 5 is better. Porcelain tiles are hard, and relatively non-porous compared to ceramic. You may also find closeouts and big discounts on tiles at HD or Lowes that bring the price down to about the same as a high-end epoxy floor.
Make sure you use a polymer modified adhesive and grout so that the tiles will flex slightly with temperature changes.
 

Oilerlord

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Will do.

BTW, didn't intend to hijack...only that I've been researching garage coatings for a long time. There are some very high quality coatings available too. From what I've found the big savings are realized with how much of DIY is involved regardless of going with coatings or tiling the floor.

I'm fairly handy around the house I'll be contracting out the job to a friend who has a lot of experience with tile jobs, and is a perfectionist. We're going to tile around the bottom of the walls too to make cleaning easy with the pressure washer. Wife wasn't all that interested when I was first looking at coatings, but was suddenly excited about tiles when I showed her some cool designs. May have created a monster. Hope we don't end up with Hello Kitty in the middle of the floor. :)
 

rockyrunner99

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Grand Rapids, Mi
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so I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, probably 3 hours of continuous rinsing. I am letting it dry now and i walked out there barefoot. there was still a little grit in some spots. do i need to get that out, or will it just add grip? haha i might resort to mopping or blowing it out now.
 

kjclow

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Once it's dry, try using your leaf blower on it. That might get rid of the remaining grit.
 

rockyrunner99

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Grand Rapids, Mi
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well its done. It went ok. I spent a lit of money on sparta coat. The guys at the place i got it from told me it had an hour pot life I swear. So i mixed up the entire first coat of color and started rolling it on. half way through it was setting up. So I had to use what was supposed to be the second coat to finish the first coat. so it only has one coat of color and a clear. it looks good, it has a few places were the color is uniform from the only one coat, but it cleans up very nicely.
 
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