Epoxy Garage Floor Kits (any advice?)

Driving myself nucking-futs planning & re-planning this project, a spin-loop I'm usually pretty good about avoiding. In any event, refinishing the garage top-to-bottom, paint, storage, work area(s), etc. I'm going with "bright white and flat" paint on the walls with as much washability/durability as I can find, I have one wall that is poored concrete that I am going to stain white and then there is the floor... Was going to do the traditional epoxy gray/silver with flakes and probably still will but...looking at some of the products on the market I'm now spinning myself into indecision...

Some questions for those of you that have done your own garage floor;

1. Have you found off-the-shelf do-it-yourself kits to be of reasonable quality (durable) and affording the "look" desired (i.e. met your expectations)? Better off if I go to a pro for this job?

2. Was thinking Home Depot's off-the-shelf Behr product, maybe Rustoleum but...seeing some good products on the web as well, any mfgr or products you fella's would recommend (or avoid)? Do I stay away from these "kits" that I find at the big box stores?

3. Did you go traditional base color and flake or did you do something a bit more exotic in color/flake or other?

Will take any comments / advice I can get as I'm doing the prep work this week and plan to do the Epoxy floor next Thur thru Sunday. Thx

I really like this product in the first pic but...will probably end-up with something like the 2nd pic if I go off-the-shelf.

PIC 1:
http://www.floorchips.com/images2/page4c.jpg

PIC 2:
http://www.floorchips.com/images2/page4h.jpg

+1on info I want to do this in the basement to get rid of the shitty (Lanoloyem) I can't spell.

I'm in for info too, going to do this to both my basement and garage floors this year.

I did this to my house in Florida just as I was preparing to move out. It looked like #2 in the picture there. I used the ultra-citrus smelling stuff to lift up oil stains in advance, be forewarned your entire house will smell like a orange grove exploded. It was easy enough to put down and get the flakes on. They were large and I put them down with spacing roughly like picture #2. I do prefer the look of #1 there, however.

Will be interested in hearing your experiences. I have no idea how well the garage I did held up, wish I did.

H.

The darker one will hide dirt better. But as far as durable your guess is as good as mine.

I ended up deciding to get the interlocking rubber squares instead for my garage (basement is finished), because I liked the durability and the look. An offroad buddy of mine did that in his garage with the white and black checkerboard look and it was pretty cool to watch him wash out after a big overhaul and just squeegee the grease and oil away.

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Originally Posted by Ranger

I ended up deciding to get the interlocking rubber squares instead for my garage (basement is finished), because I liked the durability and the look. An offroad buddy of mine did that in his garage with the white and black checkerboard look and it was pretty cool to watch him wash out after a big overhaul and just squeegee the grease and oil away.

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What is this product called, what are pictures of it?

H.

I have a kit from UCoatIt that I have yet to use, but I bought it because it was the highest reviewed and recommended by a bunch of people.

I have WAY too many projects, hope I can get to it this summer.

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Originally Posted by Hoosier

What is this product called, what are pictures of it?

H.

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They are called garage tiles. If you google that you'll get quite a few hits.

I avoided the garage tiles because I heard its impossible to clean, and its also a lot more expensive than the coating.

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Originally Posted by DeusExMachina

I avoided the garage tiles because I heard its impossible to clean, and its also a lot more expensive than the coating.

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They are expensive, I'll give you that, but for being impossible to clean - in my experience there isn't anything I haven't been able to clean off of them yet from grease to oil to blood (oops did I say that...).

Maybe the cheaper versions are harder to clean. I think it looks pretty awesome too. A friend of mine carpeted his garage (yes, really) and not for like a studio or anything, he has a five car garage and carpeted the damn thing! Of course he has two convertible BMW's, a jag and a Ferrari... Yea, I pretty much hate the bastard.

When we expanded the showroom here at the shop a few years back, we did the Rustoleum 2 part with a flake pattern about like pic #2. So far the durability has been pretty good. The prep sucked, but it has to be done right or you'll have bonding issues....

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Originally Posted by Ranger

They are expensive, I'll give you that, but for being impossible to clean - in my experience there isn't anything I haven't been able to clean off of them yet from grease to oil to blood (oops did I say that...).

Maybe the cheaper versions are harder to clean. I think it looks pretty awesome too. A friend of mine carpeted his garage (yes, really) and not for like a studio or anything, he has a five car garage and carpeted the damn thing! Of course he has two convertible BMW's, a jag and a Ferrari... Yea, I pretty much hate the bastard.

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Carpet would drive me nuts!

I heard liquids and dirt got between the cracks in the tiles, so it was impossible to ever get clean. Could be just the cheapies.

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Originally Posted by DeusExMachina

Carpet would drive me nuts!

I heard liquids and dirt got between the cracks in the tiles, so it was impossible to ever get clean. Could be just the cheapies.

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It can happen but it's only happened to me once and it was a snap to just pop out a couple of tiles for a thorough cleaning.

Well I think I'll try the paint with flecks in the garage first. If I don't like the way it looks or it isn't holding up, I can put the tiles in on top of it. At least if I paint/seal it first, and liquids do leak through tiles later on, it won't be as bad.

I need to paint/seal the floor and edges in there before I start putting in some cabinets anyway.

H.

I'm way too skeptical of floor paints/coatings, guess it's my Missouri blood. I just can't see how it could hold up to the steel wheels on a loaded engine stand, or steel wheels on a creeper, or sparks/slag from welding or a cutting torch. And I damn sure ain't gonna baby it! Just seems like a waste o' time & money to me.

If its epoxy or something like rhino liner in might be up to the task.

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Originally Posted by rondog

I'm way too skeptical of floor paints/coatings, guess it's my Missouri blood. I just can't see how it could hold up to the steel wheels on a loaded engine stand, or steel wheels on a creeper, or sparks/slag from welding or a cutting torch. And I damn sure ain't gonna baby it! Just seems like a waste o' time & money to me.

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have you ever seen the grout between tiles at a place like Arby's or Hardees and its Black and looks like something between Plastic and stone?

Epoxy grout is probably the toughest shit you'd ever want to avoid working with.
When I was an installer we guaranteed it for life.

will it last on your garage floor.
most likely, regardless of what you do in there.

I used to manage a tire and battery shop. We put down the 2 part epoxy from home depot. It worked great. We had hot tires, battery acid, brake cleaner and all sorts of oils on it daily and it held up fine. Non-diluted battery acid did discolor it. We did the acid etching to prep the concrete floor beforehand. We also put the antiskid powder mix in with the epoxy and that also worked great. I thought the traction powder would make the epoxy too hard to clean but it made no difference at all. The traction powder is so fine but it worked.

I put one of these systems in a machine shop maybe two years ago
when I was working for a GC. The area was probably 1200 ft^2 or so.
I wasn't in charge of the product but it was this:
http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=14
It turned out beautiful and glossy. Don't forget to add the abrasive
when you mix up the batch if your kit has it separate. Otherwise
your floor will become an ice skating rink when it gets wet.

Not that I have extensive experience, but we were under the
supervision of a RustOleum technical rep on the jobsite.
The surface had an old coating that had to be removed with a grinder
like this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_grinder
Etching would be ok for a previously uncoated/unsealed surface, but
if it were mine, I'd still spring for the grinder and plan to never have to
do the project ever again. We rented one locally. I don't remember
from where.

And only the diamond grinding heads work efficiently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_grinding_cup_wheel

We started out with a different type of head that had what
looked like serrated scrapers on it and we burned through those
in no time with only half as good results. One set of the
diamond pads lasted the whole rest of the job and showed
no wear from what I could see. You really need to get the concrete
looking brand new. It will appear bright white and coarse. Prepare
for alot of dust. We taped a shopvac hose directly to the exhaust
port of the grinder and dumped dust and knocked of filters constantly.
A handheld grinder was used for hard-to-reach areas. If you grind,
get all the dust up afterwards.
Wear work clothes. The epoxy you get on your jeans and shoes never leaves.

Some excellent input received here gentlemen, thank you greatly. Before and after pics will follow in a few weeks.

Now I'm going to bore you f****** to tears with constant updates on this project! (I'm kidding). Thought I'd share the following in-case any of you might benefit.

After added reserach I landed on the following products from http://www.epoxy-coat.com/ Selected them after re-re-re-viewing various product specs and at the end of the day, liked what their product brought to bear re: epoxy % of volume & type, thickness spec (9.7 mils), performance/strength (12.8 KPSI <--serious spec), lifetime warranty, cost per sq/ft. and all inclusive install materials.

Went with "main-stream" versus anything exotic and selected gray base coat with black, white and granite flakes 1/4" (or standard size) and an additional 3lbs of flake for what is considered "medium" coverage. Anti-slip is included by default and I also added the optional UV protection chemicals just-to-be safe (I'm up high, UV is pretty intense at times).

Net cost: ~$570.00 which also includes shipping. Not bad when compared to the off-the-shelf stuff.

Have 12 hours of prep work done already with almost all trim-out completed, I'm doing quality work on that aspect as well, no short-comings (shit looks good!). Plan to apply white concrete stain on the one side-wall tonite after I finish the last bit of caulking, paint all "hanging" silver/steel bracketry with white Rustoleum spray and start the white primer coat on the three sheet-rock walls & ceiling. Hope to have the final wall paint in-place by Saturday night and then will do the flooring next Thur thru Sunday as planned.

Having a good time on this project so-far but...a lot of work. One thing I've learned already, you have to set aside that interior "perfectionist mind-set" when trimming-out a garage. If not...fuck...you'll turn something like this into a 3-month ordeal because "there is always one more thing to do..." and my garage is not old and beat-up to begin with.

Pics to follow late next week.

PS - Worked until ~mid-night last night, the lady is on-the-road on a bus trip so...pounded a 6-pack, worked hard, didn't shower when I crashed-out (ughh), woke-up to piss this morning and found a 1" x 1" piece of drywall stuck to my face...hopefully that's as bad as this gets! [Tooth]

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Originally Posted by DeusExMachina

woke-up to piss this morning and found a 1" x 1" piece of drywall stuck to my face...hopefully that's as bad as this gets! [Tooth]

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Ok, then! I think if you were prepping your garage floor and found drywall stuck to your face this morning after a six pack, you might want to check the rest of your house, it sounds like you may have tackled another project accidentally!

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Originally Posted by Ranger

Ok, then! I think if you were prepping your garage floor and found drywall stuck to your face this morning after a six pack, you might want to check the rest of your house, it sounds like you may have tackled another project accidentally!

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+1 [ROFL1][ROFL2]

Still have ~2 days of cure time with the epoxy floor then final trim-out to do (rubber edging, stain touch-up, lighting, etc.) but this project is 98% complete, went well, as planned and I like the end-result. Only regret, I should have went with red/black/white flake on gray base versus what I chose, granite/black/white flake but...minor. Only mistake, I had some painter's tape 'pull off' some of my trimmed-out primer on the ceiling, pissed me off due to re-work. The floor work was easy for a rookie (me), and that's what I was concerned about.

I'm still no photographer but... before, after and a few close-ups of what is done so far.

BEFORE:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...oe/Before1.jpg

AFTER:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...roe/After2.jpg

CLOSE-UPS:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/Closeup1.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/Closeup2.jpg

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...eandpaint1.jpg

If only I would have had the time/money/weather to do something like that before moving in to the house, the garage was the first thing to fill up and the "temporary" metal shelves are still loaded with ammo.

Looks really good. good job

Weird, the "after" shot makes it look smaller.

Looks nice a clean. Too clean your going to have to fix that with some oil, blood and classic car.