I just painted the garage and plan to put down epoxy in the coming weeks.

Any tips or tricks? I understand the prep work is very important, and making sure there is no moisture left prior to applying.

One question I have is around the edges I have a lip of rough concrete at the walls. Will the epoxy bond to that? It's a couple of inches wide, so leaving it would be an eyesore.

Is one brand better than another?

About 450 sq feet of area.


Any suggestions beyond epoxy? I'm not opposed to other options, but I'm not trying to spend 3 grand on my little garage, either.

Thanks for any advice!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chongosuerte,

This is a job that is best left to a professional outfit and is not much more expensive to go that route. Not sure how rough the concrete lip is, but with the proper prep epoxy should bond to it.

Prep work is the key.

If you have access to a pressure washer, use it!
Clean, de-grease, etch, rinse, rinse.
Yeah, I said rinse twice. Toss a fan or two in the door to get air flow through there and dry quicker. Prep & etch the lip too.

Make sure the floor is completely dry (and grease free) before you apply.

I used the "rustoleum" kit, so far, so good. Just started to show some wear right where the car tires always hit at the entrance of the garage. And I'm talking about 4-5 square inches that show wear. That's after 12 years of daily use.

There's probably better stuff out there, but can't beat Home Depot gift cards.
Color and design is purely based on your artistic talent.

I used a cheap brush to apply the epoxy to the seams, corners and the lips, then rolled out the rest. I went with 2 coats. Move quickly, it cures fast depending on the ratio of hardner.

I know you're in North Carolina, and I can't remember how cold the winters get, but....
The silica sand (gritty, no-skid stuff)- whatever it calls for, at least double it. I trippled it. Yeah, it's a pain in the ass to stir, but when the epoxy gets cold in the winter- Any little moisture, and it's like an ice rink! The silica sand really helps!

After that, let it dry and cure. Again, use a fan or two to get air moving so it can dry. DONT drive on it until it cures all the way. (IIRC, a week to cure)


Then there's paint with a clear coat epoxy over it.
That takes a while. The paint has to dry completely, then apply the epoxy over it, let the epoxy dry and cure...

When I had my house in Washington I did an epoxy floor. I used Sherrington Williams. It is a really superior product over what you can get at the local home improvement stores. The downside is you have to buy/use Reducer #45. It’s expensive and there really isn’t a substitute.

A respirator is required for the floor etching as well as the application of the product.

That said, I waited until July when it was warm in Washington. Emptied the garage and cleaned the floor. Scraped any paint or other crap. Took muriatic acid and water, and cleaned/etched the floor. The spots with paint, I poured a little acid directly on the paint until it was gone. Once everything was super clean, I rinsed very well. Let dry for two days with door cracked and fans running.

Once the floor was dry, I Mixed everything per SW recommendations. Started at the back and worked my way to the outside. Rolled some on an old pavestones as a tester. (Check this later to make sure everything is good) First coat was done, threw out the roller and trays.

Waited about 4 hours and mixed up the rest. This coat I went from one side to the other, back to front. Reason being, I didn’t want to “sand” the floor. I don’t like the feeling of the sand in the floor, or trying to scrub shit out of a sanded floor. Once I had the floor halfway done, I rerolled the first half with a fairly dry roller, adding a slight texture. Finished rolling all but one roller width at the wall and repeated this. Then did the one roller swipe against the wall.

It came out incredibly well. There was a slight texture so if you were wearing socks, it wasn’t like an ice rink. In the eight years I had the floor coated I had spilled paints, leather dyes, all kinds of crap on the floor. Simple wash with acetone and it was nice and clean. It never changed color, and always looked as good as the day I applied it.
I had dropped many tools on the floor, including a jack bar from a good distance. Corded drill with drill bit dropped from ceiling height. Drill bit hit the floor and broke. Nothing ever chipped the floor.

It was recommended by the guys at SW to not use a sand or color chips on the floor. Those are the areas that will cause a failure and the floor will have problems. That’s why I took their advice and textured the floor with the roller.

The other upside to SW, is that you can choose whatever color you want for the floor. I went with an off white. Made finding dropped stuff really easy and brightened the garage a lot.

The painters just applied this to my new garage. They did apply it to the lip around the bottom of the wall. It looks great, but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

I know they prepped with an acid wash followed by several layers of this gray paint looking stuff, followed by a glossy top coat and flakes. It sounds just like what CPD SIG described.

All I know is, it’s worth it!

DeVoe Bar-Rust is super tough and is "surface tolerant", so will stick to substrates that are not perfect.

This is very easy to do, no reason to hire a "professional". Use a respirator with fresh/new cartridges. Expect the epoxy to off gas for two days or so. It will stick to the side location you mentioned. Keep the windows open the entire time, and preferably run a fan.

Prep work makes all the difference, and will determine failure or success. Unfortunately, you won't know if the prep work was thorough enough, until the floor has already been epoxied.

Epoxy shop floors are wonderful...until they have a little oil on them and you step in it. They clean up nicely, though. Especially after bashing one's head on the way down, after slipping in oil on the floor...

Chongo,

Epoxy isn't difficult and can be done by the homeowner. Only time you might need a company to professionally is; you don't have the time to do it right, mentally incapable of reading and following directions, or you once heard/saw someone who did it (Bubba) and in part because Bubba couldn't understand words with more than three letters ("ah fuk" he say) you need someone with a high school degree thing to do it.

Prepping is the most challenging part. If your garage is more than ten years and/or has damage/stains to it, the prep work will be a challenge.

My personal observations; it's moving everything out of the garage for a week or two to prep, install, and cure. Between moving everything out, having a place to securely stow the stuff, and having fully dedicated time to complete without pause is the hard part.

Is this an older garage, does the floor have older stains, cracks, spalling...

If it's older in some cases it's best to have a company come in and grind off the top layer get a good surface, then coat it with a professional system. Chips aren't going to pull it up, what does kill floor systems are super hot tires on poorly prepped surfaces.

It will pull up any epoxy you put down if it's not properly installed on a properly prepped surface.

Check these guys out...

https://ucoatit.com/

Prep work, pressure wash very thoroughly and dry completely for a week in dry weather.
Also, epoxy is temperature sensitive and this is too early to get it to go off. A concrete slab is a big heat sink and it will take some extended warm weather to get to the correct temperature range, not ambient air temperature.
Get a infrared temperature gun to check properly.

If you can work a hose and a paint roller you can do it yourself.
Very easy, just follow the instructions and don't skimp on the cleaning and other prep work.

Good information. I'm changing the title because I'm reading in my research that mats or tiles have benefits as well. I remember someone here having an impressive tile floor.

Stay away from the mats. The vinyl material will quickly turn black from your tires. The black cannot be removed.

I purchased three 15'x28' specially made mats for my previous shop. Epoxy quotes were in the $5000-6000 range, professionally done. The mats were blue color, coin pattern, 'industrial' thickness. They were beautiful when they initially went down.

My thinking was they were less expensive, installed easily, and would be easily moved to the next house. The company that sold mine to me knew about the tire blackening issue but didn't bother to warn consumers.

If I were to do my current shop floors, it would be RACE DECK or epoxy, but the latter requires curing and leaving my vehicles and shop equipment exposed outside during that time.

My son in law and I did his 3 car garage in 2 days with the snap together tiles 9 years ago. It took extra time due to the pattern he picked with words spelled out in different colors. Still looks new and he does his own maintenance on his cars, trucks motorcycle.

I have used Legacy Industrial products in the past. Although I have not used it yet, I was looking at their Nohr-S polyurea coating for use on a restaurant floor. They market it for garage floors as well. Less expensive, faster and easier, and more do it yourself friendly than traditional epoxy systems. It’s also supposed to wear better than epoxies.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: a1abdj,

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
Good information. I'm changing the title because I'm reading in my research that mats or tiles have benefits as well. I remember someone here having an impressive tile floor.

Race Deck - top garage floor tile, it's used for a lot of applications, easy to clean, swap out tiles, make a pattern. Not Cheap stuff.

Buddy owns a motorcycle shop, they are doing a bunch of renovations/upgrades, new roof, new windows (double pane) and he had the shop floor which was installed 15 years ago from Race deck, cleaned, and he's finishing the floor with their restore product.

I'll add a fourth, Concrete Stain.

You can buy Concrete stain at Lowes, Home Desparate, basically clean the floor, spray on the acid etch, then use a large 2 gallon plastic sprayer to coat the floor with the stain, it penetrates into the concrete and will never peel up, delaminate, and doesn't cost thousands.

Lots of contractors are staining concrete vs putting down epoxy or other coatings as it can be easily restained.

I used Valspar Etching Stain

The stain can be applied in many variations and look beautiful, especially if the concrete is semi polished. Don't apply a seal coat over it though. The seal coat needs to be reapplied periodically and/or may crystallize and degrade. Ask me how I know. The only manner to correct it after that happens is grinding.

I am going with the tiles.
Far less prep work.

Just not sure if I want the diamond plate style or vented.
The ones on Amazon are made in the USA and diamond plate style for not a terrible price.

GarageTrac Diamond, Durable Interlocking Modular Garage Flooring Tile (48 Pack), Graphite https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075..._api_i_.rNCEbECH6NH5

Costco has the ventilated type but can’t find where they are made so I am guessing not in the states.

https://www.costco.com/plastip...oduct.100457737.html