Garage floor coating

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Buying a house w/ an attached garage.
Before moving in, I wanna go haead and prep the floor for my needs.
The seller has painted it w/ a latex coating, basically to look nice and cover all the old spots, not sure exactly what it is but he said "it's just a standard latex cover".

I figure this won't last long w/ a hefty jack, automotive fluids, welding/grinding saprks, etc...?

What are better options, and dodo on top of this? Will it need etching first?
 
Congrats on the house purchase , Dave.
Sounds like you need carpet with thick padding, to lay on...seeing how it is a yota you're gonna be working under it alot.:flipoff2:
 
Dylan W. said:
Congrats on the house purchase , Dave.
Sounds like you need carpet with thick padding, to lay on...seeing how it is a yota you're gonna be working under it alot.:flipoff2:
Click to expand...

OK Mr Flooring Guy...
what do oyu know about garage floor tiles?
 
scrape that latex crap off and use a concrete etcher to prepare the floor

than epoxy coat it.

The Latex stuff wouldn't stand up to a few scrapes and scratches and will eventually peel.
 
Concrete grinder, grind that latex shit up and rough up the concrete at the same time.

Then go to the Sherwin-Williams I&M store (not the regular household one, the I&M one) and get some Armor-seal and do it right. Concrete grind, etch, primer, coat. It will last forever.
 
I want to do the same thing before too long...but mine doesn't have any paint on it yet...Just crappy concrete work
 
I've epoxied many garages, but never with paint arlready on it. I use a floor buffer with 60g paper. Then muratic acid, water to rince. After it dries start painting. I advise using the little flakes because it helps mask any inperfections.
 
Sooo....
(a) will the epoxy cure right if it's cold? I'll be doing this teh 1st week of Jan... in Maryland.
(b) any experience using VCT on the garage floor? I'm not really borthered by scratches or dents, really just looking for teh ease of cleaning up oil etc... but does crap get between the cracks and leave nastiness there?
 
temp is deff a consideration. I would wait a little bit if at all possible. The concrete draws out heat faster than the rest of the garage. I would advise waiting till spring, clean/prep floor and then coat. Epoxy is the best, vct is a pain in the ass, and tires in th esummer will cause the tiles to move and come up.
 
vct will crumble under sharp objects like jack stands
 
GotWood said:
Epoxy is the best, vct is a pain in the ass, and tires in th esummer will cause the tiles to move and come up.
Click to expand...
SkyHiK5 said:
vct will crumble under sharp objects like jack stands
Click to expand...

See, it's funny, I'm reading a lot of conflicting info on VCT.
Soem folks say, No problems at all, dragging a floor jack across may scratch a little, but the scratch is the same color so who cares... and that "if prepped right, they stay forever" but others reports tiles popping and staining etc.

GotWood - what makes VCT a PITA?

Only reason I'd rather not wait 'til spring is, I know once I move into the garage it's gonna get full and messy fast.
 
Dave...from personal experience, I would never use VCT in a garage, either epoxy coat it with a color or rent a sander, sand it down and seal it. It will look better either way. If you don't buff and wax the tile on a regular basis it will look like shit very fast. Our floor in the showroom is VCT and it's a pain in the ass and scratches still look bad.
 
Epoxy coat it with some high quality products from somewhere other than Lowes/HD. I've seen epoxy coatings take tons of abuse if done right and the right products are used.

Call up a local industrial coatings contractor and ask what they use. There are some good products out there that will withstand acids, oil, welding, sharp objects, etc. but some can get pricey and many require a contractor to install with special equipment. Sometimes thats fairly affordable. I asked a local here about coating my garage when I moved in and he just wanted like $900 to do it with the same stuff that we used to use in pharmaceutical facilities. It even included spraying up to 6" on the wall to keep crap from going down in between the brick and the concrete.

Even Line X offers an industrial coating product for your needs :)
 
About 2.5 years ago I did my garage with the Quikrete epoxy from Lowes and it has been great! I had my doubts, but it has held up great to everything I have done to it (jacks w/ metal wheels, jackstands, zeroturn mower 360's, muddy 4-wheeler tires, hot SUV tires, and my wife who turns the wheels w/o moving in her Tahoe). I am very impressed and will do my next garage with it. Only thing I would do different is I would put the semi-gloss clear over the epoxy. It would help with clean up of the ground in dirt. Be prepared to sweep alot b/c everything shows up on the light grey I used.

Here is what I used. It took 2 kits to do my 25x35 floor.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=245708-4-002.1050020.022&lpage=none

Let me dig up a pic
 
Well I tend to stay out of these questions because everyone has some epoxy/coating answer thats the cats meow... Usually people are looking for confirmation on the decisions they've already made..

I still am 100% happy with the product. Its not a coating so nothing to peal off etc.. Oil/water still doesnt soak in etc.. Its not a pretty coating like paint, but i guess you could always put that on over this stuff. Also still zero dusting...


From this thread I replied to back in 2004
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300401&highlight=yager+garage+floor
<snip>
I always chime in with what i used and am still 100% happy with it after 5 years... Its a product called "salt shield" from http://www.specco.com/ They make many different products depending if you have green (new) concrete etc.. and what you want to do with it.. Im not affiliated with these people only happy i found em online when i researched a floor coating...
Anyway this stuff is NOT a coating, it soaks in and bonds with the concreet making it so stuff doesnt soak in yet vapors can come out... Nothign will touch this stuff, acid, oil, etc.. 5 gals did my 20x22 garage and was ~$100 took an afternoon to put down the flood coat and that was it... It doesnt change anything aout the concreete texture. Becasue it soaks in any surface chips don't ruine it.. And the big thing with this is is stoped dusting and all that BS... They have other stuff with epoxy and if you want to polish the floor etc...
just my .02
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again nothing soaks in. It will sit on the very top level pores and literally sit there till i mop it up... Down here in the summer when its 98% humidity if i spill water it will be there 2 days later... Ill try to go out and take a pic of some spots that have had gear oil, atf etc. spilled (puddles) and what it looks like now...
Most spots fully lift up in a few weeks, more if i sweep alot, and are bairly visable after 6 months... they disapear if i actually "clean the area" ive been meaning to pressure wash a spot to see what that does..
Typically i take floor dry and walk on it, clean that up and forgetabout it..
Defintly NOT the typical dark oil stained garage floor.
-mike
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i put it on a 6 year old floor (when i bought the place) had light stains from the previos owners car.. I spot washed those areas with simple green and then did a light scrub with a shop broom and cleaner on the rest of it.. Then went to town.. Been down for over 4 years now, i love it... I laugh at the other coating threads
Also - we did my moms basement for her christmas gift. She thought she wanted paint and we said no, as my brother or myself would be doing it again in a few years... She parks, the mower and her sled and silverwing in there.
She loves it as the day we finished the first half i poured water on the side we finished and she said, so... then i poured it on the undone side. That side imedialy soaked up the water and the normal fizzeling sound. Other side was one big puddle...
As far as road salt ya that stuff is bad, im not sure how this will hold up to that as its soposed to be impervious to anything, acid etc.. Even listed to block radon gas when applied to the walls also...
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<snip>
 
vct tiles are not sealed. If you spill something like gasoline (that wouldn't happen in a garage) it can loosen the bonding agent (glue). Tile's will also turn black on the edges. How many garages have you ever seen done in vct? Have you priced the glue? you only get about 40 sq/ft per gal, and 4 gal can cost about $100-$120. Use the turbo heater, rent a buffer and get the little scotchbrite pad that goes on the bottom. Get some 40 grit edger sandpaper and use double sided tape to put 3-4 pieces on the bottom. Buff the snot out of it, sweep or vac, then use the muratic acid. rince with water and let dry. Apply epoxy coat and use the little flakes, they mask inperfections in the finish. This I how I have done many different floors, and I have used the kind from Lowes and never had a problem. I would imagine the more pro versions are better, but you are not a pro and don't have a pro's garage!!
 
Epoxy Coating

I just got done with a garage for a customer.
We used an epoxy system. Thats all I know is epoxy. It works. It cleans easy, and can be had in many levels of finish and budgets.
REGAURDLESS of what has been on the concrete, even if it has not been sealed, we etch it. This particular floor had been sealed and had some "heavy deposits" on it. We rented a floor sander with an expanded steel mesh insert that has diamond teerh on it. We used that. Clean with water. Dry. Etch. Dry. Primer Coat. Dry. Base Color Coat and Chips. Dry. Gloss Top Coat. Dry.
The home was around 3800ft and being winter...drying times extended. We waited 5 days after top coat before driving a car on it. Able to walk on Top Coat after being put down in 12hours.
Pics...
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ai53.photobucket.com_albums_g57_kncrsr5r_120809_131300.jpg
 
ok ok ok ok the tiles are out.
I'll just have to wait to do something else later, b/c chances are slim it will be warm enough here AND I'll have the time to do that level of work before having to move in.

I guess I'll just see how the paint holds up in the meantime, knowing it's gonna have to go eventually anyway.
 
GotWood said:
is the floor already painted??
Click to expand...

yep :shaking:

it's some kind of basic enamel/latex paint, seller did it right before putting it on the market.
I was just there looking at it this morning (for the well capacity test, fun fun), you can already see some spots where tires have hot-lifted it off, perfect treadmarks.
 
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