Garage flooring?

[Slide Panda]

Talk to me about fixing up the floor of a garage. I'm getting a new house, built in the 50s. The floor is in pretty good shape, but it's 50 years old, grungy etc etc.

I'm current thoughts are to use the epoxy paint, but there's plenty of options.

So if you've got experience in this matter - let me hear it.

[zooom]

ducatiz will certainly chime in as I recall him having more than a couple cents worth in a thread a while back about finishing the garage floor...

[zooom]

here's 1 thread...and I know there was another more extensive one...


http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=3886.0

[fastwin]

When we moved into our house (new to us, built in 1969) I wanted to do a number on the garage before it filled up with crap. Six 6 ft. double bulb high intensity fluorescent light fixtures (no shadows in my garage!! ) and a floor covering. Garage tiles? Epoxy paint? Concrete stain?

I went with epoxy paint, light gray color. The guy who did it spent a couple of days prepping it. Acid wash, filled in all the floor cracks by hand, etc. Great job by my standards. Then he put on two good coats of paint. One each day. I let it dry for 3-4 days (in summer heat) before I ever even walked on it. It looked like a freaking operating room with the lights on!!

Two years later we had a horrible summer of heat and drought (not as bad as this summer! ) and all the cracks came back... with a vengeance! The garage shifted slightly on it's slab foundation due to soil issues and all the cracks reappeared, even with using soaker hoses like crazy. But the cracks were worse due to the epoxy paint chipping. So now I have "rivers" of cracked paint all over the floor. Ugh... If I had to do it over again I would have gone with concrete stain. The floor cracks wouldn't be so damn obvious. Live and learn

[Slide Panda]

Dang - I even did a search... but it was only in NMC.

[Latinbalar]

With the above story even with the concrete stain you would have had cracks, a bad foundation is a bad foundation. 

When i bought my house I did lots and lots of research.  Tiles are great but are by far the most expensive option.  For a 10x20 garage it would of set me back well over 3k for tiles. I looked into the solid tiles, custom tiles (so you can make a nifty patterns),  Porous rubber/ plastic tiles and even rolled sheets.  All of them were expensive.

So i looked into the epoxy paints.  a good job done by a professional would of set me back 1.5K which isn't bad, but at the time i was short on cash because the house was a disaster and the kitchen was a wee bit more important the garage.  So I went to HD and got their $80 kit and when to work.  The floor was smooth with no cracks.  With the etcher and scraper mounted to a pole i was able to do a really good job cleaning the floor. (wear boots unless you don't like the bottoms of your feet). 

So far its been over a year and the floor still looks great.  Between cutting, welding and dropping stuff it's still perfect.  My idiot roommate even dropped almost a quart of oil on the floor and cleaned up perfectly.  I don't plan for this epoxy to last forever but when it's time to re-do it im going to spring for the polished concrete floor.

[fastwin]

True on the cracks even with stain but like I said, they wouldn't look as bad as they do cracking up though the paint. But for the years years prior to the drought damage it looked awesome! If I had a floor that someone could guarantee would never ever crack I would do the epoxy paint again in a heart beat. My garage is a standard attached two car garage (nothing special) and the guy charged me over $600 but under $700. Can't remember the exact amount now. I thought it was high $$$ going in but when it was finished I was pleased with the work and the cost.

[He Man]

i used a single stage paint on my floor and it came out great.  I dragg stuff across it and depending on what it is, it will sometimes make a scar on the paint, which is easy to touch up because its not a 2 part epoxy that i used.

its not that easy to clean because in reality, you should have a smooth concrete surface to start. any kind of surface irregularities is a trap for dirt. other then that its pretty easy to wash if you have a power washer.

It is resistant to a lot of chemicals, but there is this one unmakred bottle of something (im not sure what it is) that i spilled and instnatly peeled my floor up.

it is not paint thinner acetone, or laquer or MEK or alcohol. It kind of smells like laquer but not quite. whatever it is, i use it to wash parts and ive been filtering it out for years. that was the last bit of it i had left (stolen from work) and i have the slightest clue what it was. anyway that was the only thing that ripped up my floor. It looks dirty, but its easy to sweep in an instant and stops the concrete efflorescence from getting everywhere which was my main goal.

if i had to do it again, i would go with some type of tile deck or something because its most likely much more durable and can withdstand chemicals, weathering and all that jazz. plus all you do is sweep and lay it down. andi f you move, just pull it off and take it with you.

here is my gallery pic of the whole process.



http://kuixihe.com/gallery3/blog/Garage-Project

[ducatiz]

You'll have a lot of clean up to do.  Pick up some concrete surface cleaner.  Old shit and oil on the surface prevents adhesion.

The paints work well, easy to apply.  If you have a REALLY grungy floor, you might prefer the tiles.  They are glued down and perform well.  They have textured and smooth versions.  I prefer the smooth stuff because things roll easier.  The textured ones are good for your work space though.

Whatever you do, prep is key. 

Do you have any moisture issues with the surface or cracking?

[Slide Panda]

There's some cracking. But it's nice and dry.

Looking at the Race Deck stuff mentioned on that other threat. Appears to be a interlocking floating system - ie no glues.

[ducatiz]

There's some cracking. But it's nice and dry.

Looking at the Race Deck stuff mentioned on that other threat. Appears to be a interlocking floating system - ie no glues.

If it's surface cracking only, not structural, then you can leave it alone or use one of the epoxy type fillers to make it smooth.

The interlocking system works fine, the tile I was referring to is a real industrial rubber type.  I forgot the name, but it remains tacky for life (no slip) and cleans up with anything.

The downside of interlocking setups is you have to be careful when you mop -- moisture can get in. 

The glue down tile is a pain if you want to change it later.  My last full garage had a painted epoxy floor for the bike area and glue rubber tile for my work area.

[TAftonomos]

VCT tile

Cheap, easily replaceable, and tough.

+ you can do half, then move everything over, then do the other half. 

[ducatiz]

VCT tile

Cheap, easily replaceable, and tough.

+ you can do half, then move everything over, then do the other half. 

that's it.  vinyl, not rubber.

[WarrenJ]

Like Ducatiz said - surface prep is the most important part of putting down a coating.  I used to work for an outfit that put down industrial epoxy coatings.  The real nice ones were made with a ceramic aggregate and troweled in place with a high ratio or resin.  They held up to industrial fork truck traffic for years.  When we had cracks we would fill them in and bridge them with fiberglass fabric and resin.  It was darn expensive though - $10/sqft in the early 1980's. 

[Langanobob]

I like this stuff here

http://www.neogard.com/

They make numerous products and I think the one I used is called Pedagard.  It is a urethane, not an epoxy.  First used it on a new deck to waterproof the area below.  It's been there for at least 5 years now under heavy traffic and no visible wear.   It was about $175 for a 5 gallon bucket at the time, but I'm sure it's more now.

I used the leftover in part of my shop and it's holding up very well.   It is slightly flexible and I don't think it will easily crack, although I poured my own shop floor so there are no cracks in the concrete.

What sold me on the stuff is my old water truck.  The tank is rusted out in several places and I used to try and seal it with epoxy from the inside.  Each spring I'd find the epoxy falling off in sheets.   I applied a coat of more of the left over Neogard product several years ago and it's holding up very well.  I talked to the local dealer first and they said it's not rated for sealing leaky tanks, but it worked.

The downside is the nasty vapor during installation and while it's curing. 

Bob