Garage floor coating question

[protour73]

This kit was purchased at Home Depot for $99.00. It is the Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield 2 1/2 Car Garage kit. The prep is THE most important part of this project so don't rush it or cheat. I also purchased an extra gallon of Behr Concrete & Masonry Cleaner/Echer No. 991 for the real dirty side of the garage.

Here's the kit



It's very simple...you take the package of the Citrus Cleaner/Etcher, dissolve it in a bucket with 2 gallons of water and pour some out on the floor...working in a small 6x6 area with a scrub brush attached to a broom handle...scrub the area well, especially if it is real oily/greasy. Try not to let the cleaner dry..so work quickly...use a hose and rinse really well. Take a push broom or squeegee and get rid of all the extra water. If possible let dry overnight for best results. Then you are ready to paint.



So you can see the results and how crappy my floor was, here's Before Cleaning:



This side of garage was VERY nasty, so I used the Behr Cleaner/Etcher even after using the citrus cleaner/etcher that came with the kit. I used it FULL strength...BE CAREFUL!! You can see the really white area, that's where I used the Behr product, it's VERY STRONG!! here is floor After Cleaning:



Start painting...again working in areas small enough that you can cast the decorative flakes out, onto the wet paint....or don't use them at all. Here is the finished floor.





I did this project in 2 consecutive weeks, as I had nowhere else to put my Camaro. I used the expansion crack down the center of the floor as the dividing line between the 2 paint sessions.

Here is the first side in the sunlight:





originally did this in August '08 (two Chicago winters) and to date, no lifting, peeling or any other bad results!!

[paulk68]

Scott, that looks great, does it get slippery at all when it is wet?
thanks

[The WidowMaker]

if you are planning on doing a build (welding, grinding etc) in your garage, i would stay far away from the rustoleum stuff. in fact, i would probably stay away from epoxy as a whole unless someone has had a better experience.

i bought a kit from lowes about 5 years back that was the solvent based 2-part rustoleum and advertised as industrial grade. when i contacted their techs they said it was far superior to their 1-part water based line. being really cheap at the time, $99 bucks and i was out the door with their 2.5 gallon kit in the packaged 5 gallon bucket. i spent days prepping the floor prior to rolling it out. once rolled, it looked good, but had a dull finish. i contacted them and they said that a second coat would solve the dull finish, and they even said since they had a 100% guarantee that the second kit was on them! the second coat did cure a lot of the issues, but i decided to go a little further. i purchased their clear top coat and put that on as well. it looked GOOD! really good....... for about 3 years.

the clear is now all yellowed and anywhere the sun contacts it on a regular basis its now flaking up. the grey base is still VERY solid with no peeling, and the only time i take chunks out is when the concrete it self breaks from dropping something. but, the welder has ruined the floor. the hot sparks stick and leave little black marks. those that have seen a welder in operation know how many sparks get thrown.

i really dont want to rain on someones parade, i just dont want someone to end up in the same situation as me. if you park on your floor the rustoleum seems like a good product as long as you dont put their clear on it (unless they reforumlated). it really has held up well as far as adhesion. i just hate the yellowed look now.

these were right after i was done about 5-6 years ago.....





and heres an example of what it looks like today. the last couple inches sit outside the garage door and dont have clear anymore and you can see how the color has yellowed and gotten all scuffed up. its still better than nothing, but i will redo them when the car is done.

[GregWeld]

This is why the floor in "the shed" is just plain concrete.... beacause as you point out -- welding is death... and dragging heavy stuff (when I'm alone - 99% of the time) and rolling dollies (not chicks) across it.... or need a bigger workspace...

I L O V E the painted super clean look of the painted floors -- but a man has to know his limitations -- and for me -- it's "I want to use my shed for what it was built for"! Building stuff!


LOL

[Fluid Power]

Widowmaker,

It appears that the clear was not UV stable. Hence the drama with the material near the garage door.

Darren

[The WidowMaker]

It appears that the clear was not UV stable. Hence the drama with the material near the garage door.

i agree, but it was advertised as non-yellowing and uv resistant. i was actually told it would improve the undercoats uv resistance.

[protour73]

Originally Posted by paulk68

Scott, that looks great, does it get slippery at all when it is wet?
thanks

Pretty good grip at all times and THANKS!!!

[CamaroAJ]

sadly the store bought stuff isn't always what they claim it is. that stuff is something like $100? thats about 7x cheaper than i can even buy the stuff i use for a garage for.

Darren, did you get the tickets i sent you for the show thats this weekend? i know tomorrow is the last day and all but i found out that a few people didn't get the e-mail or my e-mail was in their spam folder.

[The WidowMaker]

sadly the store bought stuff isn't always what they claim it is. that stuff is something like $100? thats about 7x cheaper than i can even buy the stuff i use for a garage for.

yep, they were the $100 kits. i used 3 (2 color 1 clear) of them on my 2.5 car garage though. i work with some guys that do floors on the side and i will be getting my materials from them next time.

[96z28ss]

When I move and get a real shop that has some space. I will not coat the floor. I'll just put a sealer on it so I don't get the concrete dust.

I coated my 3 car garage and its so damn nice, I don't want to ruin it.
I grind and weld in it but I make sure I'm extra carefull.