Garage Floor Coatings

2000Durahoe

2000Durahoe

Forum Member
I recently moved in to a new house that had an unfinished barn. It actually had a floor that was made up of sand and rocks. This weekend I had the entire floor done with concrete. Next weekend I'm sectioning off a corner with a few walls and a garage door so I can store my Tahoe and not worry about it getting dirty or worse yet, getting scratched and dented. I was thinking about putting some kind of floor covering down but don't know much about them. Anyone ever use that roll on floor coating you always see commercials for on Spike? I want something that looks good and will stand up to chemicals and a lot of foot traffic. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike
 
I used rustoleum epoxy shield on my garage floor. Then went over it with the high gloss clear and the flecks. So far it has held up well, just make sure that you clean and prep it good first.
 
I'm going to have this done too. First I have to get all the stains up.

I'm going to make everyone that comes here with a leaking vehicle park out on the street..

:lol:
 
When we built our 30x30 last year, we put the stuff you can get at Lowe's down. Came out great. Like someone else mentioned. Make sure the surface is perfectly clean.
 
I ended up getting a kit from Quikrete. I figured it had to be a quality product if its from them. It's a medium grey color and you have all kinds of options for the flakes to toss in it. I chose granite flakes which are a combination of black, dark grey, light grey, and white. This weekend I'm putting up that small divider for my tahoe and then laying the floor. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
How long has it been since having the floor poured? Be sure to read thru and see if there is a curing time.. When I had mine done they told me NO coatings fora 2 months to make sure the floor is good and dry or it could end up soft...
 
igotaneed4speed said:
How long has it been since having the floor poured? Be sure to read thru and see if there is a curing time.. When I had mine done they told me NO coatings fora 2 months to make sure the floor is good and dry or it could end up soft...
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Same here, I was told 8 weeks.
 
This is what I did for a living for three years and its all in the prep work...

a brand new concrete floor > go to lowes and buy some muriatic acid, ammonia and rend a floor scrubber with the plastic bristle head. First powerwash your floor squgee it out then dilute the acid 3 parts water:1 part acid in a watering can pour on the floor in sections then scrub with machine DO NOT LET ACID DRY have someone manning the hose to keep it moist. continue to do over the entire floor. Once done rinse well.
Continue same process with ammonia to neutralize the acid (dilute 3:1 and scrub). if you have an apron in front of the garage keep acid off of it. Once neutralized powerwash floor and let the floor completely dry. This should leave the floor with a sandpaper like finish which will give the epoxy something to stick to. As far as product that a consumer can buy shermin williams makes some good stuff.
 
I did Ucoat-it, and I am not sure it was worth the money. I did all of the prep,the de-grease, even ground the floor to make DAMN sure the surface was ready (they said it was not necessary, but couldn't hurt), then did the acid etch. It's marred in a few places already from an engine stand that had a bad caster (slid instead of rolled). I left the surface alone for over a week to make sure it was fully cured. Not all that impressed with it for the $250+ that it ran me to do 430 square feet.

From what I have been reading, the $75 Quikcrete stuff or RustOleum seems to hold up about as well. I am going to try them in my other garage in a few weeks. For the money saved, you can spend up on the crack patch, and filler to get a really nice finish, and still be $$ ahead.
 
Detroit Gearbox said:
How come? did it come out bad? lifted?
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No, didn't lift, or at least I wouldn't call it that.. It scuffs pretty easy. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I was hoping it would be a little tougher.

I also thought there would be more solids content in it, some of the industrial epoxies out there put down a 1/4" thick or greater layer, but the U-coat It puts down barely a few thousands (0.006" IIRC) of material at the area coverage they rate at.
You get a 5 gallon bucket to mix all of the stuff, but really, you get 2 gallons of material, with another quart or so of hardener/activator (don't remember exactly what it was). Oh aluminum oxide flakes (I didn't use them).. and some rollers. Granted the industrial epoxies are twice the price of UCI, but there are lot more solids in there, and they fill voids and cracks very well, leaving a better surface on older concrete IMO.

For $80-$100 or so, the Rust Oleum and QuikCrete stuff is basically the same amount of stuff (2 gallons IIRC), is water based (there is a urethane based version for $20 more), and with the money difference, you can spend up on crack/chip filler to get a better looking finish. All of the crack filler stuff was not included in the UCI kit, and adding it in was another $100 or so.

Upsides: I tore down 3 engines, and built one already in there. The light is better (more light reflecting off the floor), the cleanup is a snap. Some Simple Green and a mop cleans up oil, grease and coolant droppings, the only downside is that the light grey color shows all the dirt, so I find myself mopping the floor often to keep the shop looking tidy. I should also note that the shop space is tied directly to the mud room, and we let the dogs out the shop door to the yard, so keeping the floor clean so that the dogs don't track grease into the house is important to marital bliss :) .

But, based on the scuffing I got from the engine stand wheels,I'm just not sure it was worth the extra $$ over the other similar coatings out there.. I don't know how it's going to hold up to sliding a jack around, and I hope it holds up well when I actually get a car in there..

My $0.02.. HTH..

If I have time this fall, I plan to coat half of my garage with probably the Quikcrete stuff. That will give a pretty good A-B comparison.
 
beertestr said:
No, didn't lift, or at least I wouldn't call it that.. It scuffs pretty easy. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I was hoping it.
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I ask because mines about 4 years old now, and has held up quite well. I have a spot , under my compressor that has oil on it all the time that has lifted (very small area) but i drive fork lifts, use carts with metal wheels (yes, metal wheels scratches it) I run floor scrubbers with strong caustic chemicals several times a week, and pull cars in and out every day.
The caustic soap has caused it to loose some of its shine, but low traffic areas the paint still looks new. I'm told you can reapply urethane to bring the shine back.
heres a face book link with some photos of vehicles, when the floor is clean it still reflects/shines.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=3548464&id=107689246170&ref=mf

On the other hand, my fire house has a very thick coating of epoxy professionally applied (3 in times in about 10 years now) and the last application has been the best. The first two pealed up with in 1-2 years time. Its extremely tough, but where cars are washed a lot, its "chipped" up some. Its permanently stained where grease & oil has dripped off the trucks, but traffic in my fire house is only a fraction of what my shop sees. The other problem with it is the match. each bay was applied separately, and the paint colors do not match up as well.

Try using "runners" in your high traffic areas. It will help to keep it cleaner/reduce wear.
 
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