Learn me: Garage floor coatings

Hey all, 

Las some may have seen, I'm moving into a new house soon. The builder had committed to doing an epoxy floor, but they may end up doing nothing because the are lying shiny happy go lucky people. 

With that, I am considering what coating I should do if they do not provide one. What suggestions does the hive have? 

The garage is approximately 1200 sq ft and is poured concrete. It is currently untreated in any way. 

As a use case, I am hard on my garage. I weld, I cut, I grind, not to mention the usuall oily mechanical stuff. 

What products have worked well? 

Tile it

I am in a similar situation with my new building.  In my basement I used the RockSolid garage floor polycuramine epoxy in the utility room and storm shelter and I really like the product, but the single car garage kit was less than ideally enough for the 6x14 storm room and the 2 car garage kit was only slightly better in my 11x13 utility room.  In both cases the coverage was barely adequate at half the square footage advertised and at that rate my new building would need $12-1400 in coating. 

I say tile it after quite a bit of experience with epoxy. 

I diyed my garage using Epoxy-Coat. It was extremely thin at their suggested qty. it lasted 10 years, but it peeled in a few sections and it yellowed. I prepped the floor extremely well. It has a lifetime, especially thin. 

I also have a 12k sqft warehouse that I had professionally done, its great but you dont want to know the price/sq ft. I did my garage after the warehouse. 

Just tile it, it will be cheaper and will outlast you. 

Weld spatter and grinding sparks are hard on any coating. Like most things there's no perfect solution.

I'd probably look into a basic densifier and then a clear sealer to keep it strong and prevent any liquids from penetrating. That won't be a topical coating, and it will just look like boring concrete (because that's what it is) but it will be cheap and durable.

Tile is another solid choice, but it obviously has to be the proper type and a quality installation is critical. Cost per sqft is probably the highest of any option.

Polishing the concrete will reflect lots of light like a decent coating, but can be higher maintenance and less resistant to fluid spills. It can also be very slippery when wet.

If you've got your heart set on a coating, epoxy tends to be thicker but will always yellow with time/UV exposure and doesn't always handle automotive types of fluids very well. A polyurea applies thinner but is typically more resistant to various automotive fluids and solvents and will not yellow like epoxy. Being attached to the house, you'll need to decide how much aesthetics matter. Some coatings offer lots of options, and some really good coatings just come in an ugly, flat gray. There's a ton of info in the flooring subforum of Garage Journal

Father in law does commercial coatings and has a garage floors division. Stuff he uses is insanely tough but yes you can damage it.  My advice is that if you hire someone to do an epoxy coating, make sure they have sufficient experience. FIL has had many ex employees go into business with 1 year of experience and he usually gets hired to fix their work. There’s a science to prepping the surface and what product to use. His website is below for some good ideas and what’s possible. 

https://specialtygaragefloors.com/

i put down a Rustoleum RockSolid Grey Polycuramine kit from Menards with Xtreme PolyAspartic 80 clear coat from Legacy Industrial.  added HDGrip into the clear as an anti-skid and and Grey/White flake called "snowfall" on the polycuramine for looks.  i chose epoxy because i wanted the ability to get the garage wet or make a lot of sawdust and not have that stuff trapped under tiles like RaceDeck and getting moldy (even their "free flow" tiles would pack up with sawdust).  i went with the RockSolid kit for the price and the Legacy Industrial stuff for the quality (polyaspartic shouldn't yellow and will protect the polycuramine) and smallish quantities i needed.  i think all in I spent about $900.  I had a super limited time to put it all down due to the fact we just bought the house and were trying to move into it immediately after which is what prompted the RockSolid product with its fast cure time.

and here's a better close up of the color scheme

Floor is about 5 years old now.  I use it hard - it gets jackstands and heavy benches dragged over it, hammers dropped on it, lots of brake fluid/oil/trans fluid spills along with a ton of woodworking.  overall it does the job...cleanup is super easy, looks awesome (i know that sounds dumb but it really feels like another room in the house because of it), and the anti-skid is a welcome addition.  that said, its showing it's age with some chips/peeling despite my best efforts to clean the concrete.  i actually think its the concrete's fault, the paint that comes up has a decent chunk of concrete stuck to the back.  its only in a few places but i'm not going to bother to fix it.  i think when the time comes to sell our place it'll maybe add a little value and wow factor.

things i learned - it takes time to cure, don't try to rush it.  the smell is intense and if you don't ventilate well you're in for a bad time.  when it cures, it gets HOT as a reaction if its in a big pot, so if you throw epoxy away in a garbage bag you'd better contain it in something because it could light the trash on fire.  don't do what i did and instead properly seal your concrete cracks, those are the prime areas that will chip up.  choose a light/bright color with minimal or no flakes; nothing sucks like trying to find a small screw on my dumb color combo.

if i had to do it all over for my particular uses, i think i'd just polish and seal my concrete with a clearcoat for easy cleanup and add the anti-skid.  for just parking cars and general wrenching, i'd go with RaceDeck.  there are also guys that can stain the concrete for some great color effects, that's another avenue worth considering.

I opted for epoxycoat in our garage. Im pleased with it and it has held up better than my buddy's rustoleum coated garage. 

I did black with colored flakes. it looks cool but man if you drop a fastener it can be a pain in the ass to find lol

I've got to defer to everyone's favorite garage, the 12-Gauge: 

I'm doing the same- tiling an old cracked garage floor with cheapy cheap tile from the Orange Store.

Plus 10 on Scottyb's color commentary. A shop I worked in went with a solid medium blue (about Miata NA "mariner") and I scoffed at the idea before I worked on it. Not afterwards It is absolutely the best when you drop that tiny screw. Highly recommended in what ever system you use,