Garage floor coating question
 

I am looking at garage floor coatings and wanted to get your guys thoughts on this. The previous home owner painted the floor with some kinda of paint (i assume garage or concrete type product) Well the stuff is peeling up in places and i want to put down U-coat it or something similar. So my question is does the floor need to be sanded down to remove all the paint, skim coat put down to start fresh, or some kind of acid etch will eat/remove it during the prep.

I am not looking forward to sanding or skim coat, so hopefully the acid etch would suffice.

what would you do, or how would you proceed?

this is a question i can handle with ease. i own a garage floor coating company.

yes you must get all of the old paint off or it could peel again. i cannot tell you what kind of coatings to use because i have had to grind them all off because either they are junk products or they we installed on a poor surface.

surface prep is the make or break deal with any coatings. i would recomend you do not acid etch the floor. it can get into the pores and then cause the new coating to not stick. we use a grinder to scuff the top surface to give the product something to bond to.

something two part is the way to go, and you can't get it at lowes or home depot. if you want you can PM me, i think there is a dealer in NC you can contact if you would like.

so do i need to rent one of those floor buffing machines with the grinding stones on them to remove the old paint/smooth the floor, or is there another way to do it? I just finished sheetrocking and sprayed the entire garage and trying to keep it clean/dust free for the removal process if possible

what kinda of prices are we talking for your flooring?

PM sent

we use something like this
http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipm...050&catid=s340 just the single disk version. you'll see at the bottom they recomend a vacuum with it. we also use the vacuum and there is no dust from that grinder. you just need to be careful or you'll leave marks in the cement.

yeah that is the thing i was thinking of. Do you need to buy the discs during rental (i am assuming so). I have a 24x24 garage would the one set of disc be enough and roughly how long do you think it would take me to do?

Sorry for all the questions.

"surface prep is the make or break deal with any coatings. i would recomend you do not acid etch the floor. it can get into the pores and then cause the new coating to not stick. we use a grinder to scuff the top surface to give the product something to bond to."

I've been thinking about coating my garage as well. What about oil drips from the previous owners POS cars?

Nick

oddley enough we have not run across any bad leaked on garages. for the heavy stuff i use oil dry and then use a piece of 2x4 and kinda work that in to break up the chunks and pull more oil out.

if you search online you can mix up stuff out of the kitchen to put on the spill that will soak up the oil. its just best to not use acids to clean something your going to cover with a coating.

thats along the lines of what i do/use. its just a more well known brand

http://www.rhinohomepro.com/

AJ --- What about the "stains" shown on the Rhino site?? Feslers floors are stained I think - and they look good... I would think a stain would never lift or peel... yet would seal the floor?


Wanna come out to Seattle and do my 1500 square feet? :unibrow:

the stains do not seal the floor they would still need a clear coat to seal it.

i can't drive that far to do it because fuel cost and hotel would kill you:lol:

however these guys should be able to help you out
http://www.rhinohomeproseattle.com/

Here's what I did with great results
 

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

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...neous002-1.jpg

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.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...laneous003.jpg

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

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...neous001-1.jpg

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:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...laneous006.jpg

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.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...laneous007.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...laneous008.jpg

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:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...laneous001.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...laneous002.jpg

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

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

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.....

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0227.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0229.jpg
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0224.jpg

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.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0776.jpg

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

Widowmaker,

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

Darren

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

Pretty good grip at all times and THANKS!!!

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.

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.

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.

This is what I did. Used an exposed aggregate sealer from Eagle. So far I am happy with it for the very reasons you said. makes sweeping and washing easy and keeps the dust down.
The negatives so far are it can be a little slick when wet, but any smooth floor will be.
It is not completely resistant to solvents. I dropped a lacquer rag on it and didn't notice and after five minutes it started to stick, but it cleaned up and dried back out just fine.

I have an epoxied area where I'm going to build an insulated room and beyond that is the sealer.

http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL267.../395499544.jpg

I know it is kind of a odd question but will painting the floor help with the floor not sweating on real humid days:question:

grind the floor, then go to your local PPG (Pittsburgh), or Ben Moore retailer, and get setup with a poly-amide epoxy. Its an industrial product that is extremly durable. Its also used in aircraft hangers.

I had the floor in my garage rhino lined. It's held up great so far :thumbsup:

[IMG]http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9231/1812r.jpg[/IMG]

Sherwin Williams Tile Clad, ftw! Make sure the doors are OPEN!!!!

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...s/IMG_1202.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...s/IMG_1213.jpg

I did the Rustoleum stuff, so far so good.

Just be aware that the color can be different from can to can, even in the same pack with the same dye lots... ugh, that sucked. Oh well.

It can be very slick, even with the "anti-slick" coating crap, which really doesn't do squat.

My only complaint is that with the speckle shavings I put down, it's damn near impossible to find a nut or bolt if I drop it. I have to get on my hands and knees at ground level to see something.

It's held up well for over 18 months, so far so good.

Roughly 900sq ft, took me about 3-4 days total, virgin concrete and plastic laid down under the concrete before hand.

http://www.impermanence.kungphu.com/...9-_em21135.jpg

any other updates or reviews of other products? epoxy-coat.com? top secret coatings.com? i have an offer in on a new house and will need to do another floor. my previous post makes me want to shy away from epoxy again, but it looks sooooo damn good when its new.

I used Garage Guard from Ben Moore/General. It's 4 years old and looks great. I would do it all over again. Low odor, water based, quick dry!!!

I purchased and installed a top-of-the-line (supposedly) Wolverine product three years ago. Spent 22 hours pushing a dual-disk grinder on a three-car garage floor. I don't think concrete was ever floated properly, hence giving it a non-slip texture. It made grinding it smooth an adventure.

The product purchased was supposed to be UV resistant and basically bulletproof. I was sceptical but drank the Kool Aid. It too did the top-coat yellowing like above, and does not hold up well at all to welding, scraping, etc.

If I was to do it all over again I would still grind the floors. Grinding makes the floor so much easier to clean and comfortable to stand on. Then I'd stain it in multiple colors so that it would help to hide the inevitable stains. It may also allow for future acid cleaning and re-staining at a fraction of the labor cost of removing and recoating an epoxy finish.

If you're building a "show room" --- then painted fancy floors are GREAT!

If you plan to build a car - and do real work... then forget the fancy 'cause it isn't going to look that way for long.


A few months ago my neighbor that owns a high end retail exotic car shop came over and wanted me to go up with him to look at the super killer floor paint they put in their new detail area... it looked really great. I was there the other day.... OMG! What a waste of money that was!

Agreed, I've been in the floor covering business all my life and fancy is not functional. The only thing I would consider is adding dye to the concrete in the mixing phase Before it's poured.

I had my floor done with a poly-urethane epoxy. Not quite as strong as a poly-aspartic, but almost 1/10th the cost. There is a clear coating over it to protect the colour coat and when that gets scratched up, I can buzz it with the sander and place another clear coat over the top.

It's only a few months old so is still hardening. The dragging the trolly jack around has put a few scratches int eh clear. I have the stang up on stands at the moment so it'll be interesting to see if that leaves any marks. I have been driging on it since about 2 weeks after it was done.

My mate has a concrete grinding/coating business and wanted to try some stuff, so volunteered my shed. The price was right ;)

I still haven't moved all my stuff over from my old man's shed, so it hasn't been subjected to welding and grinding just yet so I'll be keen to see how it stands up.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...5082012449.jpg

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...1082012456.jpg

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...1082012453.jpg

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