Mrs STM317 and I are closing on our new house soon. It's got a nice, oversized 3 car garage. Floor is concrete. We'd like to coat the floor with an epoxy for appearances and to make cleaning a bit easier. We'll eventually build an additional shop, but for the time being, the garage will serve that purpose. I've done a little research, and watched some videos about applying it. I'd just like to hear your experiences with it, and take any advice you have to give. Let me hear it!
I used the rustoleum brand and it turned out well. Make sure you let it cure for as long as it says though. I was in a time crunch and put a car in there before the it hit the recommended time, and now have 4 small spots from the tires that have lifted. The rest still looks good though.
Having heard stories and seeing the results of homeowners doing their own epoxy on concrete floors, I might either look into a profession install or something like tile.
I did my own. It looks really good IMO. Prep work is key, clean everything obsessively, prime it, paint it at least twice, sprinkle the flakes and clear coat it twice. It's slightly time consuming but easy work.
We'll take a month or so to get some work done before moving in, so I'll have plenty of time.
Check out the Flooring section in garagejournal.com. Lots of info. As with coating anything, prep and quality of materials are key. You'll find a number of suppliers post there and give discounts.
I tried the Rustoleum product in a garage and it worked OK, but I did have lifting in a number of spots and it wasn't as durable as I thought it should be. With what I know now, I would have bought a better product and my prep would have been much more thorough-- grinding the surface rather than using the rather laughable weak acid wash that comes with the Rustoleum kit.
However, this time I went with porcelain tile, which turned out to be no more expensive than epoxy since I bought the tile on clearance.
I'd like to hear more thoughts on the porcelain tile...it just seems like a bad idea for a garage that's worked in. Do jack stands scar and/or crack it? Does oil/grease/etc. discolor the grout? Is it a pain to roll jacks/toolboxes/etc. on - especially if you have a car on a jack & are trying to shift it around?
They sure look awesome, and in some ways I think I'd like to go that route eventually, but I just wonder what they're like to live with under regular use.
All excellent points on tile I hadn't considered!
I was just shopping garage floor coverings at Lowe's on Sunday. I noticed the packaging on the diy epoxy "kits" doesn't really go into what the coatings are resistant to, they just said "chemicals" or something of the like. How do they really stand up to fuel, coolant, etc?
petegossett wrote: I'd like to hear more thoughts on the porcelain tile...it just seems like a *bad* idea for a garage that's worked in. Do jack stands scar and/or crack it? Does oil/grease/etc. discolor the grout? Is it a pain to roll jacks/toolboxes/etc. on - especially if you have a car on a jack & are trying to shift it around? They sure look awesome, and in some ways I think I'd like to go that route eventually, but I just wonder what they're like to live with under regular use.
AIUI, the big thing that rips up DIY epoxy garage floors is hot race tires.
I did this in my last shop. After 18 months race slicks were taking up little bits of it. I pressure washed and acid washed the hell out of the floor before putting it down too. Annoying.
New shop is plain concrete.
I'd look into Quarry tile, too.
petegossett wrote: I'd like to hear more thoughts on the porcelain tile...it just seems like a *bad* idea for a garage that's worked in. Do jack stands scar and/or crack it? Does oil/grease/etc. discolor the grout? Is it a pain to roll jacks/toolboxes/etc. on - especially if you have a car on a jack & are trying to shift it around? They sure look awesome, and in some ways I think I'd like to go that route eventually, but I just wonder what they're like to live with under regular use.
Depends on what hardness tiles you get. There are commercial hardness tiles that shrug off impacts. Rolling things over the gaps could get a little annoying if you have small casters.
Lets see, could not epoxy the fresh concrete when I built the shop. So, now I have a shop that I cant ever see getting empty enough to spend a month cleaning and epoxy coating. Where would I ever put all the stuff?!
Need to build another shop.
NOHOME wrote: Lets see, could not epoxy the fresh concrete when I built the shop. So, now I have a shop that I cant ever see getting empty enough to spend a month cleaning and epoxy coating. Where would I ever put all the stuff?! Need to build another shop.
The only truly logical solution indeed! 
petegossett wrote: I'd like to hear more thoughts on the porcelain tile...it just seems like a *bad* idea for a garage that's worked in. Do jack stands scar and/or crack it? Does oil/grease/etc. discolor the grout? Is it a pain to roll jacks/toolboxes/etc. on - especially if you have a car on a jack & are trying to shift it around? They sure look awesome, and in some ways I think I'd like to go that route eventually, but I just wonder what they're like to live with under regular use.
I've had it for about 3 years now. It has the hardest porcelain tile rating. I've used jackstands and jacks, knocked over engine blocks onto it, dropped a 50 lb vise on it, dropped hammers, etc. And, yes, I always wear steel toed shoes in the garage.
No cracks and not even a chip. As long as the tile is installed correctly (no voids) it is nearly impossible to crack it.
If you install it with thin grout lines, then there's no issue rolling stuff over it, including an engine lift.
If you are serious about it, check out the Flooring section in garagejournal.com. There is lots of good info there, plus numerous build threads, including mine.
In reply to Basil Exposition:
I've been spending a lot of time there lately. Where's your build thread? I'd love to check it out!
In talking with one of the commercial floor coating guys about this he told me a few things. The commercial guys use a shot blaster to mechanically etch the surface. This guy was telling me that when you use the acid to etch the concrete that the acid never stops the etching. There is a neutralizer (baking soda) that is used but the acid has soaked into the concrete and continues to break it down. A few years later the paint will lift and you will see a small amount of concrete still adhered to the paint. If you try to warranty the paint it is usually denied as their claim is that paint is still holding. The concrete failed which is true.
I ended up going with Legacy Industrial Coating for my garage (see garagejournal.com). I used a black acid stain because it seemed to be the best idea. One thing that has been a consideration was that what ever coating you put down it will chip. If it is painted those chips will be noticeable and a repair will probably look worse than the chip. I really didn't want to be in a position of having to re-do any of this as there was only one shot at doing this before we moved in. This was a new house with new concrete. The slab had been poured 3-4 months previous and the only dirt was from construction. The black stain (there are only a few different colors) was a bad choice. It does look very nice but when I drop something it is like a black hole and damn near impossible to find that screw. It still looks great with little to damage. Legacy Industrial makes some excellent products.
In hind sight I should have gone with tile. The amount of money I spent for the stain and then clear epoxy that went over that was pretty pricey. Renting the floor scrubber, rollers, and all of the materials ended up being pretty close to the cost of tile. I don't think the time I spent to get all prepped and stained would have been much different.
I visit newer luxury dealers as part of my job and the number of service departments have gone the tile route. You can get the tile that is pretty hard that also have a higher coefficient of friction for traction. a darker grout and you are set. When you do have damage (and you will) it is really not a big deal to replace a tile or two. That and you can weld on tile.
Scott
petegossett wrote: In reply to Basil Exposition: I've been spending a lot of time there lately. Where's your build thread? I'd love to check it out!
Here you go.
In reply to Basil Exposition:
Wow that turned out great!
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