Coatings For Concrete Floors and Walls

[Chris Griggs]

Hi guys, no, I'm not lost, I'm actually posting somewhere other than the Neander section. So my wife and I are buying our first house, and we close in 3 weeks (YAY!!!). There will be several weeks in between the closing and moving in where we will be painting and a few other things to make the interior more to our tastes. As part of that I want to put some type of sealing/finish/paint/epoxy/something??? on the walls and floor of the basement. In the current house we rent, my shop is in a basement that is totally unfinished concrete and I'm tired of eternally sweeping up the ever shedding concrete grit, and even more tired of the grit that floats around everywhere and contaminates everything prematurely dulling my blades and soiling my projects. So anyway, because these coating aren't exactly lung/nose friendly I want to do this before we move in, so it has time to off gas and air out.

I know this has been covered before and I've gone through old threads, but didn't find a lot of info that was recent (perhaps I overlooked some?) and I guess I'm looking for whatever the current preference is, particularly for floor coatings (but also for walls). What have you used? How did it go on? How is it holding up? etc....?

There are a number of 1 and 2 part epoxy's and concrete paints out there...the rust-o-leum, something from Sherwin Williams, something by Behr that HD sells, something made by "seal-krete" (also sold by HD), something called "sure-step anti slip coating"...and a number of others so trying to find one that's good and that I'm capable of applying myself is a bit overwhelming.

Just FYI. The basement is dry...while there are some areas that show that the basement did have some water issues (or a singular event of wetness) at one time, both times we viewed the home and when the inspection occurred, were either during or after large rainstorms and there was not a drop of moisture in the basement. Obviously there is always the potential for water to get in so something that can handle that is good, but as long as we do a good job keeping the exterior drainage clear and maintaining the grading we should be 99%-100% dry. Also the concrete appears to have been touched up somewhat recently...there are some areas of discoloration but everything seems pretty flat, smooth and without cracks/wholes. The house was just renovated so I'm guessing they did some cleanup/touchup as part of that. Anyway, just in case it helps with a recommendation I have posted pics below..sorry they are so lousy, I took them from the actual real estate ad.

Anyway, any recommendations of what to use or NOT TO USE would be greatly appreciated as well as any advice for application and such.
Thanks!
Griggs Basement 1.jpg Griggs Basement 2.jpg

[Chris Griggs]

BTW, I don't read this particular forum much, so if this is something that has been beaten to death and I just overlooked it please don't hesitate to link me to recent threads. No sense in retyping a zillion things you already told someone else just last week.

[Andy Fox]

This is what I did in my new construction house:

* rinse with water (hose, then shop vac or squeegee to drain)
* scrub with detergent and floor broom (ugh, lots of work!)
* rinse with water (sudsy liquid makes shop vac fill up fast)
* fill visible cracks/gaps along floor and wall with hydraulic cement (I used latex concrete sealant, but I think cement would be better)
* allow to thoroughly dry
* seal with Behr Concrete Sealer
* paint wall with regular Behr acrylic gloss enamel (1 thick coat was good enough for me)
* paint floor with Behr solid color concrete stain (1 thin coat to prime, then 1 finish coat)

This was cheaper and less work than using epoxy. It's holding up great after 7 months. Having older concrete, you might need to acid or abrasive etch, but that turns it into twice the work. See what others who have old concrete say about this first.

Run a dehumidifier down there to help with drying. You'll want one in the summer anyway.

[David Masters]

I did much the same research last year when I wanted to put a coating on my garage shop. After researching the local big box store choices, I decided they probably wouldn't hold up over the long haul (my target was 10-20 years). I talked to some local companies that provided floor coating services and either the floor would have to be coated every five years or they wanted in excess of $4,000 to coat the floor. I ended up buying a kit from a place called Epoxy-Coat. They sell kits with everything needed to coat the floor yourself. For a three car garage I paid $1,000 for the materials, and enlisted my son and son-in-laws to do the work. I had a day where I prepped the floor, and then three days later they put the coating on. That took about four hours. I'm very happy with the results, and the instructions (and DVD) provided were easy to follow.

[Chris Padilla]

I don't know about concrete walls (but I don't see why not), but www.ucoatit.com gets rave reviews for their garage floor paint/epoxy/sealant/whatever-it-is. You can search on "ucoatit" here and find some threads on it.

[David Hawxhurst]

i used griots garage floor coating kit for my garage back in 2006, park a car on it with hot tires and still holding up fine. doing it again i would add a traction substance (its kinda like sand) because the smooth coating is slippery when wet. i rented a floor scrubber and brush from the borg and acid etched the floor first then you apply the first coat while the floor is still damp. ucoatit is also supposed to be pretty good, but i have not used it so have no comment about it. someone has started spraying a floor finish that is very similar to the spray on truck bed liner system (can't remember who). i think the spray on liner stuff would be pretty could and may give it a try if i ever get another garage that needs it. for concert wall's thompson's sealer if been prove quite good.

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks guys good suggestions so far. I'll check out the ucoatit and other brands you mentioned. I just found a thread that is just a couple weeks old that's sole purpose was to give the Ucoat products a recommendation. Will have to price that out, seems at this exact moment the "shopping" section of their website is under reconstruction. Andy, nice to know that with proper surface prep the less expensive solutions can work well too. Money is always part of the equation so I really like hearing when a less expensive option works.

[Shawn Siegrist]

Take a look at www.amesresearch.com

They carry numerous wall and floor paints, I've used blue max and block and wall paint with a lot of success.

[David Parker]

Like you, I got tired of the concrete grit and dust on my basement shop floor. About 5 years ago, I covered it with Rustoleum EpoxyShield Garage Floor Coating and it's been one of the best improvements I've made. It still looks as good as the day I put it down, with zero wear and no peeling or cracking. About 75% of the process is doing the prep. Scrub the floor and rinse, then acid wash so the top surface of the concrete is etched. Rinse again then let dry (used a shop vac to vacuum up as much water as I could). I also filled in a few small cracks using the Rustoleum epoxy crack filler, which works great. Finally about 25% of the time was applying the two-part epoxy. I mixed in about half the recommended amount of anti-slip "sand" that Rustoleum sells for that purpose. I didn't want the floor too gritty, but didn't want it to be slippery. Half the recommended amount worked out great. No slips, yet smooth enough to easily sweep up sawdust. I also used the decorative chips. They look good and also give the floor a slight amount of texture. Note that Rustoleum also makes an epoxy basement floor coating. I went with their Garage Floor coating since it is a little thicker than the basement coating and should last longer. For reference, my basement floor was 21 years old when I coated it and had several small cracks and a few areas of powdery efflorescence, but no water problems.

For my basement walls, I used DAP Latex Kwik Seal Plus Basement Paint. It goes on nice and thick and also looks as good today as the day I painted them (once I wipe the spider webs off).

Based on my experience, I'd highly recommend both of these products.

[Chris Griggs]

Great info guys. This is really helpful. Nice to know the the DIY options are working so well for some of you. The UCoat looks very nice, and is pretty reasonably priced...it gets a bit pricer once you start adding top coats and flecks but all in all if it comes out nice and lasts its still a good value. Very glad to see a strong recommendation for the rust-o-leum.

David you used the regular Garage Flooring kit or the one labeled "professional"? The regular garage flooring is very reasonable, I could do my whole basement floor for about $200. The professional is the same price for half the amount but really if its good still likely a good value.

The ames research stuff looks interesting too. Glad to see there are so many good options.

Right now I'm thinking the way to go is probably to do a nice rust-o-oleum or Ucoat flooring and then for the walls get something a little more basic like the Behr or dry-lock on the walls.

Additional suggestion and recommendations still very welcome, but all this is really helpful so far. Thanks a bunch guys.

[Matt Mackinnon]

I took a totally different tack than everyone else. I live up in Canada, and our ground it far colder than those to the south. simply vacuumed the floor and rolled out some of the black dimplex and layed 2 layers of 9/16 OSB (as it was the cheepest) then layed some $0.52/sq foot laminate flooring down.

I have some big machines and it rolls over fine. The floor is not hard on my feet and I can stand on it all day. It's never cold in the winter. And the laminate is a breeze to clean up with everything, even spilled glue. More expensive yes. but it's easier to do this before everything gets put inside the shop rather than retro fitting it after.

[Mike Gresham]

The basement walls in our house were painted with Drylok by the previous owner. He used the kind that has a sandy texture. The white color makes it a lot brighter and I like the texture. The floors were painted with 1 part epoxy floor paint from Lowe's. As you might expect, it is slicker than greased glass when wet. I really wish he has added a traction agent.

We were told and an inspector confirmed that the basement did not leak. Maybe. In May, we got 5 inches of rain in about as many hours. The entire basement was a half inch deep in water. Four weeks later it happened again. That's how I know how slick the painted floor is. I'm on a mission now to get that corrected.

Someone mentioned the need for a dehumidifier. I agree. However, my luck with dehumidifiers was less than satisfactory until I came to my senses and purchased what appears to be a good one (Aprilaire 1710). Before that purchase, I went through 3 of the so called consumer grade machines. They did more or less OK when they worked, but were not durable. Two of them died within 3 months and the other lasted just long enough for the warranty to expire.

[David Parker]

David you used the regular Garage Flooring kit or the one labeled "professional"? The regular garage flooring is very reasonable, I could do my whole basement floor for about $200. The professional is the same price for half the amount but really if its good still likely a good value.

I used the regular Garage Flooring, not the "professional". The regular Garage Floor Coating is water-based and I felt comfortable using it inside my basement. The Professional Floor Coating is solvent-based and I did not feel comfortable using it inside (no pilot lights or open flames for 24 hours). The Rustoleum web site has excellent videos that detail the prep and application process. I pretty much did what they recommended and achieved stellar results.

Dave

[Steve Milito]

Anyone know anything about ArmourClad?

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks David! I appreciate you taking the time to post the photographs..LOOKS GREAT! This really seems like the way for me to go. I like that its waterbased. I like the price. I like that I can drive 10 minutes and pick it up at HD, and after reading a bunch about prep I'm confident I can get good results if I just really take my time to clean, scrub, etch, and re clean the floor.

One last question. I've read in couple places about the colored flakes protruding slightly from the surface coming up over time if they don't have a separate clear top coat over them. Reading the info on the various sites it looks like you just toss the flakes on the final coat as its drying. Did you add any additional top coat to yours or did you find that the flakes settles in fine on there own. Seems like you just used the straight up kit as is and that the flakes settled in fine, correct?

Thanks again. This is really great info guys. All new to me since I've never been a homeowner. If I can get the floors right the walls will be a breeze.