Garage Floor coating

[Russell Tribby]

My wife's friend that asked me to do this for her said that she wants exactly what her neighbor has. I talked to the neighbor and whatever they had installed came from Dunn Edwards. I went over there today and looked at the two products they offered - Rustoleum and Seal Krete. The guy at DE just about had me convinced to go with the SK. Outside of being less expensive he said that it was easier to apply and levelled out easier. The SK is not a two part like the Rustoleum so while it has a longer open time it won't be as hard. Have any of you guys used the SK?

[Kerry Wright]

I used Quickrete's 2 part garage floor epoxy. The kit comes with an instructional DVD and cleaner (Bondlok). My floor was eight years old but never had any oil spilled/dripped on it. So I just did what they did in the video. Swept, did a once over with a putty knife, mopped, scrubed with BondLok, power rinsed, let dry for a day, put it down in about four hours, worked fine.

For a 24 x 24 area I used two kits and had some left over. They tell you to put down a strip about four feet wide and ten feet long, then sprinkle on the color flakes, then paint the next section over lapping the previous section by a few inches. This process works well BUT, the areas that you over lapped will show up as higher gloss than than the rest of the floor. I believe a better way would be to put down two coats. Lay one coat first without the flakes, let it dry over night and then lay a second coat per their overlap/flake method.

One other thing to think about is the quantity of color flakes to use.
When I was about to do mine I posed that question here. I ended up using a little over one bottle (IIRC about 5 ounces) for my entire shop. One person that replied said they had used over two pounds. Definitely an eye of the beholder thing. So the best way to figure out how much you will need is to sprinkle some out on a clean area until she is satisfied with the result, then sweep it up and figure out if you will need to get more than what the kit came with.

BTW I am very happy with mine.

[David Fairfield]

Ah, this is a really interesting topic! I've been looking at this product for a long time and wondering if I can use it to solve a bit of a flooring problem in my shop.

The floor was tiled over many years ago with lino tiles that tested positive for asbestos. Not a dangerous amount, but enough that I would prefer to cover over them, instead of removing them. They are mostly glued down pretty well, the loose ones I replaced with new tile.

So I'm wondering, will this epoxy stuff do the trick if I putty the cracks and put a couple of coats over the old tiles? I figure a couple of coats of this stuff, fully cured in between, and its gonna hold just fine. What do you figure?

Thanks!

Dave

[Terry Hatfield]

My wife's friend that asked me to do this for her said that she wants exactly what her neighbor has. I talked to the neighbor and whatever they had installed came from Dunn Edwards. I went over there today and looked at the two products they offered - Rustoleum and Seal Krete. The guy at DE just about had me convinced to go with the SK. Outside of being less expensive he said that it was easier to apply and levelled out easier. The SK is not a two part like the Rustoleum so while it has a longer open time it won't be as hard. Have any of you guys used the SK?

IMHO, I would not use anything but the 2 part for the toughness and longevity. 2 part products are always more durable than any single stage product. The Rustolem is hard to beat in my book.

t

[Russell Tribby]

I found out tonight that my wife's friend wants the 4" concrete ledge that runs along the base of the floor covered with the epoxy as well. This is a new house (she hasn't even moved in yet) and the ledge is painted. I've etched the floor already but didn't to anything to the painted ledge. Do I need to sand it or just make sure it's clean and free of any chipping?

[Kerry Wright]

Russell,

The correct answer will depend on what coating (brand and type) you are using. I would start in the manufacture's FAQ and then move on to the instruction sheet. I know that is where quickrete covered this question. For quickrete garage floor epoxy, the short answer was yes, but some surface prep may be needed.

[Don Bullock]

I also used Quickrete's 2 part garage floor epoxy. Lowe's has it in tan or gray OR a kit that can be mixed providing a wide variety of colors. I decided to get the kits that was available in different colors because I didn't want tan or gray floors. The kit was very simple to use. I spent most of a day cleaning and etching the surface and let it dry throughly. My wife and I applied the coating, including the flakes, on the floor of our 40' x 24' shop/garage in one day following the directions on the DVD. The job took most of five kits and was very easy to do. The results are great.

Here's the thread on SMC: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=110045