Garage Floor

[rdoucet]

Been looking at the epoxy floor systems out on the market and wondering if anybody has put this on their garage floors???

Had a company come out today to give me a price and they want close to $2000.00 to install the floor; pictures look great but seems like a lot of money for a garage floor. I have found a few places on the web that carry the two part epoxy system with the color chips for around $400 - $600 dollars.

Question is the following - can anybody recommend an epoxy system and do they hold up as they claim???

Thank you,

 

[Ghost Weim]

We picked up some garage floor paint from Menards - made by Rust-Oleum - to put in the building where we used to have a dog kennel business. It was very easy to apply and held up great to dog's nails. We also applied it in the area where we keep the lawn tractor and it has held up pretty nice. I love how you can scrub it and hose it down and it looks like new. It also has some attractive multi-colored chips that you sprinkle as you paint - they help with traction when it is wet.

 

[Jim Karam]

Epoxy floors are great. Easy to clean up and look good even when a bit dirty. My wife will never go back to concrete. I got the top-end Home Depot system. It's a bit expensive, but they did indeed give me a complete reapplication of the entire 3 car garage about two years into the three year warranty when their floor crack repair cracked again.

For whatever it's worth, everyone seems to use the Rust-Oleum system. However, they first spent a lot of time grinding our floor and filling cracks. And they had other specialize equipment, such as spikes that let them walk on the surface while they were painting and spreading chips about. If you had those specialized tools and experience, I'm sure you could save a lot of money... but I didn't.

 

[FZ1inNH]

I am glad you asked this rdoucet because I've been wondering the same. I want to do the same to my floor but often wondered if the DIY kits were worth it or should I just pay the Pro's to come in.

My floor is very new and would just need the chemical cleaning. It has control lines for cracks and hasn't cracked anywhere outside of those lines. At this point, it would be an easy application.

 

[rdoucet]

My floor has stains and paint on it so it is going to have to be shot blasted or grinded; you should be able to use muratic acid and etch the new concrete. I know you have to wait 28 days after fresh concrete is poured before sealing or epoxy application - my garage floor is eight years old so we are good their.

Please use extreme caution if you are going to use muratic acid on the floor because the fumes are extreme and acid is dangerous.

Let me know if you do the floor - I'm thinking it's going to be me doing the job on my floor.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Mine is coming up on three years old. I don't think we can avoid the acid can we? I have bookmarked this DIY from Handyman. Hope this helps others.

http://www.rd.com/how-to-apply-epoxy-floor-paint-to-your-garage/article17770.html

 

[rdoucet]

From what I understand, you have to either blast, grind or acid etch the concrete no matter how old the floor is due to the fact that most garage floors are finished smooth and not rough like a broom finish. Being a new floor, you can probably just acid etch the floor and apply the epoxy.

The contractor that came out to quote me a flooring system stated that without acid etch or grinding the epoxy will not bond with the floor and will eventually fail.