I bought a new home. It's still being built. We plan on moving in a week after we close. During that time, I want to paint the garage floor. Please let me know what products are good and which to stay away from.

Thanks,

Tony.

The Sigforum of garages:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

I recall you wan to give the floor 60days AFTER the pour to cure well -
before coating

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
The Sigforum of garages:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

The internet is an INCREDIBLE tool.

Surface prep..surface prep..surface prep

Typically the garage is troweled smooth, make sure to etch and use a bonding primer before any coating you use

Follow the instructions to the fullest

I've had very good results with Rust O'Leum. Easy to apply and I usually only have to recoat it every five years or so. But heed the advice a previous poster gave you regarding curing.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
Surface prep..surface prep..surface prep

Typically the garage is troweled smooth, make sure to etch and use a bonding primer before any coating you use

Follow the instructions to the fullest

Ditto that ~ PREP is everything .
In the case of a new poured garage floor then make sure it is FULLY cured whatever that time may be (could be weeks or longer).
Check with whatever product you get (assume it will be a two part epoxy paint or similar).

As others have noted, it's all about the preparation.
The floor needs to be dust free, old enough since the pour, the correct temperature and as low moisture as possible.
Moisture underneath will result in big blisters.
Remember that the concrete is a big heat-sink that takes at least a month or more to rise above the winter temperature. Check it with a infrared heat gun, don't just look at a room thermometer. The warmer it is, the quicker it will cure.
Epoxy is very tough if done right but if the concrete below has defects they will show up.

Take a look at this as well....A buddy got tired of his epozy peeling up, so went with the Swiss Trax.

http://www.swisstrax.com/

We did ours. Here's the process. New concrete with no oil.....ever. Etch the surface with muriatic acid. Pour acid on surface and spread around with a push broom. Don't spill acid on yourself (long and funny story). After allowing the acid to open the surface, pressure wash the acid off. Water neutralizes the acid, but I washed the water/acid all the way out to the street.

Allow the surface to fully dry. It was August when we did ours so it was dry in a couple of days. We used a two part epoxy from Rustoleum (IIRC). We applied two coats. One thing to watch for is catalyzed paints set quicker if you mix with already mixed paint. So if you have to mix a little more to finish, you've got to move real fast if you use the same container and applicator. After the second coat was completely dry we applied a catalyzed clear. We did this because we wanted embedded color chips. We did a three color mix. I applied the clear to one pad of concrete at a time and then walked out onto it with these funny spiked shoes. I used my brass sifter to spread the color flakes. What is a brass sifter? It is that device made to separate freshly cleaned brass from the tumbling media . Anyway, I let the whole thing dry out and cure for a week before we parked on it. It never peeled nor chipped ever. I think the color flakes added some surface protection that floor paints really need.

ETA: While wearing the funny spiked shoes, do not step too close to the expansion joints in the concrete. You will learn the hazards of wearing stiletto heels and turn your ankle. At that point and since you are a man, instead of falling down, you will try to save yourself and flail around. Your other foot will slip on its spikes and you'll do a cringe-worthy splits. Somewhere between initial reflexive correction and impact you will toss the container of flakes up and back down on yourself. Flakes will be in your hair, on sweaty face and stuck to those areas where the clear has smeared on your clothes and hands. Fair warning. Tread lightly, use mincing steps.

Thanks!

The garage floor has been poured over a month ago and we're not moving in for another 5 to 6 weeks. The house will be done early at the end of the month, but we're sticking to the original close date of May 19th and moving in on the 26th. I wanted to take that week to prep and paint the garage floor.

On moving day, my 800lb safe will be moved into place. I'll have to drill some holes in the concrete to bolt the safe down. Other than that, the rest will be my wooden bench and shop tools.

Tony.

Not to hijack th OP or OT, but any pointers for applying to older floors? House is 40 years old, floor looks prestine with no cracks, chips, or damage. Just a few minor oil spots.

So I am about 1.5 weeks from putting down a new floor. The technology and options have changed since I last did this on my old house 15+years ago.

• You need to decide if you want tiles, epoxy or the "new" Polycuramine or similar coverings
  
• Technology has changed - I don't want tiles but epoxy is not longer the standard. You can get some multi-part mixes from the sponsors over at the GarageJournal or you can get the RockSolid Polycuramine (now owned by Rustoleum)
  
• I really fell in love with the Metallic look floor - check out the pics from RockSolid, Pure Metallic, etc.
  
• Figure out if you want to do it yourself or if you want a professional to do it. If doing Metallic myself, there were two options with RockSolid being one of them. The advantage of paying someone...well let's just say it is a lot of work with some risk it won't come out the way you want and if a company is doing it it is their headache.
  
• The "new" stuff is a bit more expensive than the old (Twice as much) but is supposedly a lot tougher than epoxy. I went with RockSolid Metallic Copper Pot for 800 sqft and it cost me a bit under $1000 in materials.
  
• Prep, prep, prep is critical. Repair cracks, loose concrete. Test for moisture, remediate if needed. Clean, chip (floor hog or grinder) and etch per the instructions. Then do it again. RockSolid says NO MURIATIC ACID but provides an etch with their kit.
  
• Pros will lay down a base primer coat...more material and more $$ but better outcome. Then lay in what is essentially a clear coat with metallic color and dye mixed. Then an optional top coat. I'm doing no primer but I'm putting on a top coat.
  
• Make sure temp and humidity are where they are supposed to be and follow the videos and instructions. If prep was done right and you don't mix in air bubbles - should come out looking pretty nice and pretty tough.
  

Good luck - I'll probably be posting back on here once I get started with prep and laying down of the material.

Edited to Add two videos that explain this - mother and daughter doing this...




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Ff0sXDLFE




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsTz3iIMdBE



Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDS2QVGkDxE

Thanks. Please do.

Diy or pro it's all about prep

Get it done before you park anything in
The garage

Gentleman I sell these aforementioned products.

I will tell you the same as has been before. PREP PREP PREP. This is key to a long product life.

FlyingScot hit on much of what I'd cover.


Two people are a must.

Any Questions feel free to ask at my profile email.

Thanks for the collective knowledge! This is great stuff!

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Thanks!

The garage floor has been poured over a month ago and we're not moving in for another 5 to 6 weeks. The house will be done early at the end of the month, but we're sticking to the original close date of May 19th and moving in on the 26th. I wanted to take that week to prep and paint the garage floor.

On moving day, my 800lb safe will be moved into place. I'll have to drill some holes in the concrete to bolt the safe down. Other than that, the rest will be my wooden bench and shop tools.

Tony.

My house had a gray coating applied before I brought it, so my comments may be out of line since I've no idea of prep or what was used.
If you were simply going to park a vehicle in your garage and walk to and from it a superior coating properly applied should last you longer than 10 years or even a lifetime.
But it sounds like you may intend to use your garage as a shop...maybe like I do. I have a motorcycle lift, engine stand, jack stands and other equipment that roll on metal wheels. I'm doing something out there half the time. In the first 2-3 years I was wearing a path in the coating. 15 years now and over half of it's wore off.
Good luck with the new house.

My garage will be a shop, but not an auto shop. I'll be building M14's for customers. I may put in a lathe and a mill at some time. There will most likely never be a car parked in there as long as I live there.

It will also be my new studio for future M14 videos.

Tony.

Quick update. Ground the floor with a diamabrush and cursed myself for specifying high psi concrete (4000 psi?). 10 hours for 600 sqft and my hands were numb the next day. I changed my flooring system choice to a Legacy Industrial Metallic epoxy. The RockSolid seems to be having a lot of issues with bubbling in many installs. On researching...they don't want the floor ground and a primer layer is much $$ - same as kit cost. I had over $1200 in materials from Home Depot I returned unused. The legacy product kit has a longer cure time so will be a few days before I can drive on. Targeting putting down this weekend and will post pics.

Before grinding


After grinding