Best coating for garage floor?

[Jerry Olexa]

Considering painting/coating the floor of my garage..Have heard varying opinions on the effectiveness of products such as RustOleum Epoxy 2 part system, etc..Some love it and other report flaking after a year or two..All seem to emphasize the importance of proper preparation. What's your experience and reco on this? I have a 3 bay garage and one side houses a jointer, planer and TS all on wheels..Love to hear your thoughts...Thanks

[Charlie Barnes]

Jerry,

I used 2 coats of H&C concrete stain with a clear coat on top of that when I finished my shop floor last year. It went down easy and looks good. But, I've got less than a year on it so I can't really comment on the durability yet. I did mix in some of the shark grip (I think that's what it's called) in the clear coat to give more traction when the floor gets dusty or when my shoe soles are damp from walking outside. I liked this option because it was more cost effective than the 2 part epoxies and there are a lot of color options. But you hit the nail on the head in that all the options I found require good surface prep. first. I used muratic acid to etch and open up the pores in the concrete. Make sure you have adequate ventilation and follow the directions.

One humorous point for me was that I bought the (oil based) stain at a commercial Sherwin Williams dealer close to my work in Northern Kentucky. I needed another gallon to finish the job on a Saturday and went to my local SW store by where I live in Southern Ohio. They didn't carry the oil based stain since it was "illegal" in Ohio due to the high VOC. Anyway, I picked up another gallon of the oil based stain the next Monday and finished the job without any problems. I will say that this stuff is pretty potent, so not wearing a respirator wasn't even an option.

Good luck.

Charlie

[Mike Henderson]

I had my garage done by a commercial company in epoxy. It costs me about $2,000 for a three car garage. They grind the floor before applying the epoxy, then put down the flakes. About a day later they come back and put a polyurethane top coat. So far, it's held up well.

Mike

[Brett Bobo]

Jerry,
After quite a bit of research, I ended up going with Rustoleum's two-part epoxy system. I found that regardless of the product you choose, all of the products, even some of the "industrial" products, will begin to wear after three to five years, particularly if there's vehicular traffic/parked cars. I'm experiencing some flaking around the high traffic areas, mainly doorways where I use bricks to keep the doors open. As Charlie mentions, the floor prep is everything to a quality finish so whatever product you chose, be sure to spend time of proper floor prep. The good news is that anything will look better than bare concrete so even when it starts to wear, it's just cosmetic. It's a huge hassle to pull everything out but well worth it in the long run. My procedure was the following: degreaser, power wash, muriatic acid, power wash, and about seven days of drying (weekend to weekend).

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.ucoatit.com/2011web/main.htm

Very good stuff.

[Paul Symchych]

I have the Rustoleum 2 part epoxy and have absolutely no complaints or even minor problems with it. In a previous house a "garage floor" paint began to peel up from tire pressure of parked cars in a year or so. In my shop the Rustoleum is intact even with the high PSI weight of shaper, bandsaw etc which are on mobile bases -with all their weight on just a few square inches.
I will reiterate that the huge trick is the surface prep. It is MUCH more labor intensive than the final paint which just rolls on. Cut any corner in the prep just a little bit and there will be flaking etc. You cannot underestimate the value of the prep.

[Jeff Monson]

http://www.ucoatit.com/2011web/main.htm

Very good stuff.

I'll 2nd Chris's comment. My last house we did the garage in rustoleum floor system and it did chip when you dropped or dragged things on it, not too durable IMO. My new shop I did some research and went with the U-coat it system. Its very, very durable, I have not found a way to chip it yet. I'm sold on their product, and will be doing my 3 car garage this summer with it. It is not the least expensive, my shop was around $400.00 and the 3 car garage will be right around $750.00, I will be using a base coat color, the flakes and then a clear. I know with this stuff you will only have to do it 1 time, and its done right.

[Alan Lightstone]

I took the same route as Mike. Commercial company ground and placed epoxy / flakes. Looks awesome, but it's hard to see sawdust on the floor. I'm always amazed how much is there when I vacuum, since it hides so well with the flake finish.

Incredibly durable.

[Mike Nguyen]

I had my garage done by a commercial company in epoxy. It costs me about $2,000 for a three car garage. They grind the floor before applying the epoxy, then put down the flakes. About a day later they come back and put a polyurethane top coat. So far, it's held up well.

Mike

I had the same done by the builder 6 years ago. I don't know what kind of Epoxy it was but after 6 years I don't see any cracks on the floor either. It also act as a moisture or weather barrier because in the winter, it felt warmer to me in the garage than in the house in the early morning. I have 2 vent holes one of the walls.
Mike

[phil harold]

I used H&C concrete stain, two coats may wear thru but, will never flake since the concrete sucked it in

[Aaron Rowland]

I have some problems and have been trying to figure what to do. My shop is in a walk out basement and the house was built about 20 years ago. It's on unstable soil and has very bad cracks and fissures. I tried to find a contractor that did cable tensioned slabs when we built but no luck in this area. The 4 car garage is built on deep gravel fill and only one crack has developed. I use that as a comp. 20 years ago the epoxy, if available, was very rare and they used a two part something but its not epoxy.

So I've talked to many concrete guys and the universal opinion is- we offer a guarantee that concrete will crack, with a wink of course. I can't acid etch because the house is finished and acid fumes no matter how careful you are will get into your furnace ,AC unit and etc .. That's what they all told me. They can grind the slab but warned the dust is something else.


After grinding there are a couple of very expensive epoxies that may or may not bond the cracks. Especially if the slab is still moving.
We had the same cracking problem in the adjoining rec room. The room is much smaller so we tried ceramic tile laid down with a new rubber type material for ceramic tile that allows slab movement and won't transfer to the tile. 2 years latter it's wonderful and a perfect vapor barrier. It will last the lifetime of the house I think. Looks terrific also.

The cost is about the same as Epoxy per square foot. So I'm considering ceramic tile for the shop. Easy to keep clean, will never crack and if the grout has bad areas easy to regrout. It may be slippery however. Maybe I can find non slip ceramic tile.

From what I've heard about the life of Epoxy I would sure do a lot of home work . Good flooring should last 30-40 years or so. The store that sells commercial grade epoxy, not the Home Depot stuff, bad mouths the cheap stuff of course.

Trying to clean up a epoxy job gone bad is expensive they told me. As a project locate a concrete contractor supply company in your area for free advice .

[Phil Thien]

I spent quite a bit of time at the Garage Journal site where they have a flooring section.

My take is the following: The more expensive the material you use, the more likely the average homeowner is going to have problems installing it. Nothing worse than seeing air bubbles in an expensive, all-solids two-part epoxy product.

Plenty of users there have used home center (Rustoleum and others) two-part products w/ good results.

I did my basement with this:
http://www.ugl.com/drylokMasonry/flo...rPaints/e1.php

I had to diamond grind the adhesive from old vinyl tiles off the floor first. That was a pain. But the paint is holding up well.

If I was doing a garage that didn't have bad stains, etc., I'd probably go with a densifier, which is a product similar to what places like Home Depot and Lowes put down on their floors. It soaks into the floor and there is nothing to chip off. It seals the concrete and makes it harder. But if the floor is ugly to start with, it will be ugly when you're done.

[Jerry Olexa]

Chris and Jeff: Tried to find dealer on Ucoatit website.Appears not distributed here in Midwest (Chicago)...Sounds like both of you very happy with your results...Thanks for info...Still looking at options including a commercial install...Thanks

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks to all...Wow...there are lots of options....Appreciate your input...I'm still looking....Thanks

[Ken Garlock]

When we built in 2002, our paint contractor used Sherwin Williams 2-part Epoxy on our 3-car garage, and the shop. It is the only garage floor paint he would use even though he was a confirmed Kelly Moore user.

It still looks good after nearly 10 years. Tuff stuff.