Shop Floors Epoxy vs Staining

[burntnova]

I'm moving and would like to finish the garage floors before I move everything into it. I have searched the web on different options but I'd like to know what pro's and Con's you all have ran into. I am thinking about staining my concrete and then clearing it. Any advise?

I have used the garage floor kits you can but at Home Depot for a few different basement floors but I would like something better, that's more durable. The posts I found on here are about 5-9 yrs old I figure there may be some new stuff out since then...lol

[BMR Sales]

I used to be a Rep in the Coatings Industry and sold a similar product to what you can find in the Box Stores.

Under heavy use, these just don't hold up well. If my garage floor was bare, I would use an Acid Stain & a Clear Coating. There are metallic stains as well.

the KEY to any Garage Floor coating is the Prep!

[slimjim]

I wrote up a DIY epoxy thread over on pro-touring.com about 6 months ago. The thread is there but photo bucket decided they wanted the pictures more. it is still the best thing I did to my garage.
Avoid all the kits, buy industrial grade, Sherwin Williams have a god one. SW armourseal 1000 or they have a urethane single component called rexthane, which is what I will use next time for its ease of use.
And prep, prep, prep

[johnnymac46]

I just did the floor in my 28x32 detached before I moved in.

I spent 2 days grinding the previous owners Home Depot kit off.

I ordered a "job on a pallet" from Armorpoxy, it cost about $1300 if I remember correctly. The only thing I would suggest is to get some extra top coat(clear)

The kit included:

Acid etch
Primer
Epoxy
Fleck (decorative flake)
Top coat (clear)
Antislip (essentially sand goes in the topcoat)
18" Rollers
Roller handle
Mixing buckets
Boxing
Mixer (need your own drill)

The company was awesome to deal with, and super quick on delivery
https://armorpoxy.com

I have a thread in the ManCaves column with some pics of the job.

[Ketzer]

Something to consider...
Are you just parking cars on it or are you planning on hard core hot rod fab on it?

[clill]

Years ago I spent thousands of dollars having a company put a 3 part epoxy coating on my new 5000' shop floor. This is my shop where I just park finished cars and don't work on them. Was supposed to withstand all chemicals etc. It did for awhile but now it is full of stains from just about anything that leaks out of a car. Company is no longer in business. Floor looks like crap. My bigger shop is 8000' that I do stuff in and the floor is just smooth concrete. I have a floor scrubber that has fine pads on it and it just keeps getting shinier. I would do bare concrete or some type of tiles. I'll try to get pics later.

[Panteracer]

I have to agree with Charile... I have an epoxy floor in my shop
that has held up for about 8 years now but it is stained in several
areas where trans and jack fluid have leaked.... it is also a matrix floor
with flecks of paint in it that hides a lot of imperfections... problem is
when you drop a bolt or screw it sometimes takes forever to find it

Polished floors have been the thing in many of the office projects etc
They are ground smooth and then they put a sealer on them that
actually bonds with the concrete to make a very solid surface
If I were to do it again that is the route I would go

Stained floors most of the time are just a fake coating over the concrete
I as a contractor have had to fix a few which is very difficult to make
them look right.. sort of like an epoxy floor to fix

Bob

[clill]

Bare shop floor has no coating and is great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Flash68]

That shiny concrete looks good. So was that ever clear coated or anything or just polished?

[BMR Sales]

Originally Posted by Panteracer

Stained floors most of the time are just a fake coating over the concrete
I as a contractor have had to fix a few which is very difficult to make
them look right.. sort of like an epoxy floor to fix

Bob

Acid Staining etches itself into the Concrete so it will last