Best coating for garage floor?

[Dave Yanke]

Take a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbtsy5tMQMI

[Bob Cooper]

Dave...have you ever seen this applied as a concrete floor cover. I see that they do mention it but it doesn't seem to be a primary focus.

[Mike Henderson]

Is the grinding a DIY project?

There are two problems I see with trying to grind it yourself. First, they use a diamond disk to grind the concrete. I expect they're expensive, especially if you're only going to use it one time. Second, grinding concrete produces a lot of dust. The pros use a hand held grinder with a dust collector attached and it captures most of the dust. There was very little dust when they did my garage. I don't know where you buy a grinder with a dust collection set up on it. They used a regular shop vac connected to it. They use the hand held because they have to be able to get under the cabinets that are hung on the walls in garages around here. There's maybe 6" of space under the cabinets.

For big jobs, I saw pictures of a larger machine (like a big lawnmower) that they use for large commercial jobs - such as the service bays of an automobile dealer. I don't know where you'd be able to rent one of those, either.

If you can overcome those issues, you can certainly do it yourself.

Mike

[Don McManus]

I've done 3 epoxy floors.

Floor #1---In 2002, i did rustoleum 2part epoxy over 3car garage (1973 vintage concrete). We did the moisture test since Houston is real soggy, degreased oil stains. Rented a big pressure washer, which my girlfriend got overzealous with and removed the finish on top of the concrete. In retrospect, this may have helped adhesion. We followed with acid wash, heavy rinse, since they said acid could interefere with adhesion. Went down hot and sticky in the July heat, but with 3 people we got it down good and glossy. Liked the flakes, but there weren't enough in the package. At some points, i spilled acetone and gasoline on it, and no problems with solvent resistance. Never parked a car on it, so can't comment on hot tire pickup.

I have a 5 bad disks in my back, so hard concrete got old quick. Within the first year, I covered it with sleepers and T+G plywood.
this was Floor #2 -- Rustoleum tech support recommneded against epoxy on wood, probably due to hot tire, which i wasn't worried about, but they kept repeating that "we can't recommend applying to wood". So I used Glidden 1part epoxy, which I didn't like at all. The exposed glossy sections were like a skating rink when fine sanding dust floated down. Also it didn't come with any flakes, which made it worse. I did pull cars in on this prior to hurricane Rita and Ike, but it stuck fine. It was just thin and ugly, and sliperry.

Floor #3. In June 2010, we bought a new house. Did more research, found a guy on Garage journal who had used Rustoleum 2part epoxy on his carhauler trailer&ramp. He had some years of service with no problems with it holding up on wood, with cars climibing up it. So I put 2 part rusoleum over wood(sleepers and T+G again). Took epoxy out of hot car trunk, mixed and applied...in South Texas-style June heat...oops. Epoxy cured on the rollers faster than on the floor After wards, I read that the open time is 25 minutes at 90F vs maybe 3times that at 50F. I had bought extra flakes maybe 5lbs extra for 450 sqft. Put them all down, but large swaths didn't stick at the end, since epoxy was curing too fast. It was only me and my gf this time, so we took longer too. All those issues aside, I like this floor the most of the three i've done so far. Its held up well for the first year. Also , this was the only floor that I used an deglosser/traction additive to cut down the glossy/slipperiness. Traction is great, but the grey is really dull. I might only use half a bag per gallon next time.

My quick, "Don't forget to do next time" list
-stick with 2 parts epoxy,
-get a corded drill and a serious steel mixer. The stuff is thick.
-surface prep is probably critical, on concrete, but wood is porous and the epoxy soaks in quite a bit.
-Use traction additive, if you can live without "showroom" gloss. Extra flakes help with traction too.
-buy an extra kit/gallon, you can return an unopened kit, but its hard to keep a wet edge for color matching if you have to run to the store in the middle.
-put the cans in the fridge a few hours before applying--it should extend the open time quite bit(read instructions for your product)
-only mix the gallons as you need them, and work fast after mixing the first one.(to keep wet edge between gallons)
- For DIY, get 2-3 helpers. Between mixing, rolling and flaking, 20 minutes goes fast.
-make spike shoes(1/2" scrap plywood, trace your shoes on them, jigsaw pattern out first, then shoot a few dozen 5/8" or 3/4" bradsall the way through the plywood, stickem the soles of your shoes(with tape, cable ties, velcro straps etc)
-use spike shoes to spread flakes and get missed spots without leaving footprints in wet epoxy.
- throw flakes up, and let them fall like snow. Avoids leaving arc patterns. Apply flakes when wet, but do not roll over them again.. they just stick to the roller.
--vacuum up loose flakes after epoxy is fully dry...i tracked a bunch of loose ones in the house. Plus they break up under foot/tool traffic and get more troublesome, when not adhered to the floor

....just 2 cents based on my experience....YMMV

Good Luck
Don

P.S. if you want another 10 options to think about, check out Garage Journal. They have tried just about every floor product out there.

[Daniel Berlin]

There are two problems I see with trying to grind it yourself. First, they use a diamond disk to grind the concrete. I expect they're expensive, especially if you're only going to use it one time. Second, grinding concrete produces a lot of dust. The pros use a hand held grinder with a dust collector attached and it captures most of the dust. There was very little dust when they did my garage. I don't know where you buy a grinder with a dust collection set up on it. They used a regular shop vac connected to it. They use the hand held because they have to be able to get under the cabinets that are hung on the walls in garages around here. There's maybe 6" of space under the cabinets.

For big jobs, I saw pictures of a larger machine (like a big lawnmower) that they use for large commercial jobs - such as the service bays of an automobile dealer. I don't know where you'd be able to rent one of those, either.

If you can overcome those issues, you can certainly do it yourself.

Mike

All of the rental places near me rent concrete grinders, both handheld and the larger ones, as well as the HEPA vac they use to control dust.

Bob seems to be in columbia, SC.
Sunbelt rentals claims to have locations in his area, rent these things.

Look at http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipm...y.aspx?id=s340 (the grinder) and http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipm...410&catid=s339 (the vacuum)

You want the dyma-serts (not the multi-serts), and usually, the grinders are made by edco.
You can probably find a cheaper price at a non-chain rental place, and they also likely will have a 7" concrete hand grinder

[Bob Cooper]

subbelt is definately in columbia. So, not to hi-jack this, but my situation is i have a slab that has been parked on for 4 years and i'm finally building the garage over it and want to put down a nice epoxy of similar coating. My original thoughts were to etch it and paint it w/ Sher-Will 2 part epoxy. But it sounds like grinding it first would offer better adheasion. I don't mind spending $150 + 1/2 a day on a grinder if it'll help keep the paint on the floor.

[Mike Nguyen]

The guys who did my garage told me that the acid etch is not the best way to prepare the floor. They said that grinding it, getting the top layer off, is the best way to prepare the floor and that the epoxy adheres best to the concrete when prepared that way.

They had a grinder with a vacuum attachment - essentially no dust.

Mike

I bought my house new and had my garage floor done through the builder so I don't know exactly how they did it but after 6 years, with cars park inside, I don't see any tread marks nor any cracks on the floor. I know there must be cracks underneath the epoxy but maybe it's too thick and also elastic so I don't see it.

[Navin Rao]

The quote to have professionals epoxy our two car garage was $1750. I spent about $350 at a big box store for supplies and the Rustoleum two part. I think I lucked out - our concrete floor did not have any moisture whatsoever after doing the taped down plastic test. I spent two days preparing the floor - I scrubbed the floor with a stiff wire brush and diluted goo-be-gone to get any residue off, then etched with muriatic acid. I rinsed the floor extremely well after this. There was a significant amount of concrete dust after all this scrubbing. It was a nice So Cal weekend when I actually rolled the epoxy on, and it cured from Friday through Tuesday. Its been six years since we rolled it out. The garage has two car in it (in and out at least once a day). I wheel a lot of of my stuff around (router table, planer, etc) and it has stood up extremely well.

The only drawback - very fine saw dust is rather slippery, even with those colored chips.