Garage Epoxy Floor Paint Recommendations.... (1 Viewer)

[hank14]

Finished the floor over the weekend. Like any paint job, the prep time is what took forever.

First I pulled up the baseboards (the garage is sheetrocked, textured, and painted). Next I used the cleaner/degreaser with hot water and scrubbed it in really well. The main garge floor was highly polished, so I acid etched it with 1 part muriatic acid to 3 parts water, sprayed on with a poly sprayer and scrubbed with an acid floor brush.

After 3 days of drying, I vacuumed it to remove the dust, and rolled the HC Shieldcrete on. I estimated it would take 3 kits, but about half way through, realized I was going to run out, so my wife made a run for the 4th kit. This allowed me to double cover the parking areas.

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome. If I would have known it would take 4 kits, I would have ordered the 5 gallon industrial kit previously mentioned online.

I did use the antiskid additive, and am very glad that I did. I did not use the sprinkled-on color chips. It definitely brightens things up.

I'll post pictures one of these days.

 

[webelk6]

anti skid is key, and I hope you got a good deal. i just checked my floor, and it still looks great.

 

[Jeremiaheaster]

I install epoxy floors for a living as the manager of an industrial and commercial flooring division for my Seattle based coatings company. If any of you Cruiser guys have any tech questions relating to epoxy floors feel free to PM me and I'll answer as soon as I log in.

As has been stated by others, Sherwin Williams does have an excellent product (its actually a general polymers product aquired in a company merger). Make sure the product you purchase is from the GP line and not the williams or Armorseal line.

Rustoleum also makes excellent epoxies. But just like with Sherwin you have to know which ones to buy.

Some other tested and proven epoxy floor coatings manufacturers are Dex-o-Tex (my personal favorite), Tennant, Dur-a-Flex, Garland, and Tnemec (another favorite).

Here are a couple tips to getting a good epoxy garage floor:

1. Prep the concrete with either a shotblast unit (you can rent these) or a diamond grinder (also rentable).

2. Do not prep the floor with any type of acid.

3. Make sure the concrete is at least 28 days old.

4. If you live in an area with a high water table, purchase a calcium chloride moisture test and find out if you have a moisture vapor problem (huge cause of epoxy floor failure). This is mitigatable with the right type of epoxy.

5. Make sure you are using a 100% solids epoxy product and NOT a water based epoxy.

6. Consider topcoating your epoxy floor with a CRU (Chemically Resistant Urethane). They offer UV protection for the epoxy to keep it from yellowing, and are much more resistant to hot tire transfer and chemical spills.

7. Consider doing a 100% broadcast floor (completely cover the epoxy with sand, sweep off excess when dry, and re-coat over remaining sand) This will give you the most even texture possible.

8. There are a ton of different ways to do an epoxy floor, many are good, many will cost you. PM me if you would like any advice.

 

[BCDan]

my advice would be to really stay off it altogether to let whatever product you choose fully cure. keeping everything off of it for a couple weeks would go a long way to making the job last, tell all of my customers that the patience and PITA of not using it for a couple of weeks is well worth it..

 

[stevezero]

In 2000, I did my floor when we first had the house built. garage pad had cured for 4 months while the house was being built. No traffic on it, so it just needed a good sweep. I used 2 cans of the rustoleum from home depot. Mixed the two A cans together for even color, then followed the rest of the instructions. I put down too much sand in places (had an elderly mom in law and didnt want her to slip on the floor). If I can clean out the garage enough to recoat, I'll do it. I just had my first two chips lift. 7 years for $100.00 in product isnt bad at all.

I let it cure for about 2 weeks before I put anything on it. Was in August, so I left the door open to get direct sunlight baking it during the curing process.

Best bit of advice I can give is to wear old old old shoes, and to start off in the back of the garage and work toward the big door......

 

[hank14]

Here's some before and after pics of my garage floor.

 

[hank14]

And the finished product. Not the greatest pics, and I am in serious need of some tool and wall storage.

That's Maggie, our 9 year old German Shorthaired Pointer.

The floor is overall pretty good. Not as thick as I would like in some spots. I will most likely need to add another coat in a couple of years.

It took 4 of the 250 sq. ft. (single car garage) kits. Ours is 2 1/2 car. Now it just desperately needs a CRUISER!

 

[PabloCruise]

I install epoxy floors for a living as the manager of an industrial and commercial flooring division for my Seattle based coatings company. If any of you Cruiser guys have any tech questions relating to epoxy floors feel free to PM me and I'll answer as soon as I log in.

As has been stated by others, Sherwin Williams does have an excellent product (its actually a general polymers product aquired in a company merger). Make sure the product you purchase is from the GP line and not the williams or Armorseal line.

Rustoleum also makes excellent epoxies. But just like with Sherwin you have to know which ones to buy.

Some other tested and proven epoxy floor coatings manufacturers are Dex-o-Tex (my personal favorite), Tennant, Dur-a-Flex, Garland, and Tnemec (another favorite).

Here are a couple tips to getting a good epoxy garage floor:

1. Prep the concrete with either a shotblast unit (you can rent these) or a diamond grinder (also rentable).

2. Do not prep the floor with any type of acid.

3. Make sure the concrete is at least 28 days old.

4. If you live in an area with a high water table, purchase a calcium chloride moisture test and find out if you have a moisture vapor problem (huge cause of epoxy floor failure). This is mitigatable with the right type of epoxy.

5. Make sure you are using a 100% solids epoxy product and NOT a water based epoxy.

6. Consider topcoating your epoxy floor with a CRU (Chemically Resistant Urethane). They offer UV protection for the epoxy to keep it from yellowing, and are much more resistant to hot tire transfer and chemical spills.

7. Consider doing a 100% broadcast floor (completely cover the epoxy with sand, sweep off excess when dry, and re-coat over remaining sand) This will give you the most even texture possible.

8. There are a ton of different ways to do an epoxy floor, many are good, many will cost you. PM me if you would like any advice.

How does shotblast prep work?

 

[jonharis]

I used light gray UCoatIt with UFlek-AF Granite in 2011 and it has held up wonderfully. I also filled all of the expansion joints with their product so the floor appears to be one continuous surface. I am not nice to the floor and often leave oil and grit on it for weeks at a time before cleanup. I use floor jacks and jackstands on it without any other protection. When clean it still looks as good as when installed. It's not cheap but worth the cost IMO. The lighter colors really brighten the garage.

http://www.ucoatit.com/

 

[Living in the Past]

I used Rust-Oleum on my garage in Northern AZ back in June of 2010. The garage was finished in Nov. 2009. Because of temperature and green concrete I waited until summer to paint. I parked my FJ62 in there until but used plastic to keep oil off the concrete. Moved it around on a regular bases. Everytime I did the concrete look wet under. I used the acid wash and also used the sprinkles that came with the kit. Even when wet it not really that slippery. I have pretty good lip from my cinder driveway into the garage. Not uncommon for one rear tire spin while backing. I have plenty of black tire marks but no peeling up of the paint.

 

[Brewsterfire]

Has anyone epoxied their garage during winter months?

 

[fieldsken1]

I also am using that shield Crete HC stuff from SW. For those of you that use it did you etch the floor or not. It states that you don't have to

 

[EPFloorscorp]

Yes, I have performed epoxies in such coatings in Winter.