Garage floor: Sealer or epoxy?

[Soundguy]

the friction addative does wonders for the slick stuff.

the cheaper ones use silica or sand. the better ones use a suspendable plastic grit. that's what I used.

for sure non skid

soundguy

 

[foggy1111]

Built a new home ten years ago. Made certain concrete was cured before putting down 2 part epoxy. (put a rubber matt on the concrete....when it is not wet after pulling up matt - the concrete is cured).

I did acid etch to the concrete in both the garage and my basement shop. I also used it in my buisness shop floor (10,000 square feet). My home floors have in-floor hot water heat. The epoxie has worn very well....but now has a small area to be repaired due to salt. I will sand and apply over the top of other areas next year. My business floor had fork lift traffic everyday.....and held up over ten years (but no salt or weather to contend with).

I did not put grit in the epoxy. It can be slipery....but not too bad if you know about it and use carpet runners. The heaterd floors keep mine dry. Easier to clean up without grit.

Looks nice....cleans easy. Mine was affordable. BUT.....without a repirator you may sleep a little longer the next day. NOT advisable.

 

[rbcsaver]

.
Epoxy. Without a doubt.
You have to let new concrete cure for min 30 days. Proper surface prep is key to a lasting job. Mine's been on for 6 years w no failures.
This stuff is expensive but will not peel, chip, etc. It is immune to grease, oil, salt, etc..

Exactly., I'm in the NE like you. But before even pouring, I didn't (kick my self), but hope you did, place 1" foam between the vapor barrier and the concrete. If you didn't (like me) and then paint on an epoxy barrier you are looking at severe slippery condensation on the epoxy
floor, with temperature changes. I'd NEVER again pour a concrete floor like I did for my garage and separate barn without a 1" foam layer as above.

#2, In my garage, I acid scrubbed and bathed, the Sodium Bicarb neutralized, hosed down, let it dry, then 2 part (expensive) painted, and it was getting cold at night. To this day it chips off in my garage (bicarb plus hose), but it doesn't in the barn after bicarb, ammonia (very strong base), and Deere power washer.

In summary, insulate well between the ground and concrete, let cure for at least 30 days, Muriatic acid wash, "as directed" (SERIOUSLY, eye and lung protection), then strong base rinse with ammonia (AS DIRECTED). Use eye and lung protection, as directed. If your not safe or comfortable with all this, the call a professional. Don't do what you're not safe or comfortable with. All of this at your own peril and risk! After it dried very well, I used Epoxy-Coat, as directed, a 2 part epoxy from Concrete Epoxy Garage Floor Coating Kits, Garage Floor Paint installers, Wholesale Floor Coating, Installation / Application.
Let me very clear. I'm just a home owner and have related my experiences. I'm not endorsing any products or companies and haven't any relationships, just a satisfied customer. Take my advice or leave it. So don't try to sue me or tractorbynet.
regards,
Steve

 

[ray66v]

Hi Ray, I see you are from Ohio too. My house is 22 yrs. old. Starting to get some pitting from the salt. Not too bad yet but I don't want it to get worse. How does this epoxy hold up against the salt? I've got a two car garage 26X28.

It is impervious to salt, and just about everything else.

You can rent a hand grinder at HD with a vacuum system. Using a diamond cup wheel, you can get rid of minor pitting, when you grind it to prep it. You only need to remove the top surface, to be assured all sealer is gone, and you will have a roughed up surface for the paint to lock on to.

Epoxy Coat is 100% solids, which means you end up with the same millage as you apply. This helps fill in minor imperfections.

Other epoxies can be 50%, or less solids, this means half of what you buy, evaporates.

There are video's you can watch which explain completely everything you need to know.

I would buy two full kits, for a garage your size, and put it all on. But, you could probably get away with one and a half kits.

The only draw backs I found are, (a) I have to hose the floor down occasionally in the winter, because all the junk melting off the cars makes my nice, bright, clean, beige floor, look really dirty. Choosing a dirty gray color paint, would help a lot with this.

(b) This product is so shinny it looks like it is wet, (even without the optional clear coat, which they will tell you is unnecessary), so when winter road grit gets ground under your vehicle tires, it can eventually dull the surface some, in those areas.

 

[JB4310]

Most everyone is leaning towards the coating. As a contractor I advise people against putting coatings on concrete especially basement and garage floors or foundation walls. Once that is done the first time it's a lifetime of maintaining it. concrete will last many lifetimes with nothing on it at all, except good quality sealers.

I see people who are selling their house, paint the entire basement concrete work, walls and floor even though the raw concrete was in perfect condition. So it looks good for the first few years, but is guaranteed to need redoing over and over from now on.

I had to do mine because it was previously done several times before. The basement floor and walls are holding up well after 8 years, but the garage floor will need to have something done to it again soon.

The surface of concrete is a dynamic environment that is unstable and it's impossible to guarantee any material will adhere to it permanently.
Of course there is enough anecdotal evidence that certain materials in certain applications will perform well and meet expectations.

JB

 

[Molerj]

It is impervious to salt, and just about everything else.

You can rent a hand grinder at HD with a vacuum system. Using a diamond cup wheel, you can get rid of minor pitting, when you grind it to prep it. You only need to remove the top surface, to be assured all sealer is gone, and you will have a roughed up surface for the paint to lock on to.

Epoxy Coat is 100% solids, which means you end up with the same millage as you apply. This helps fill in minor imperfections.

Other epoxies can be 50%, or less solids, this means half of what you buy, evaporates.

There are video's you can watch which explain completely everything you need to know.

I would buy two full kits, for a garage your size, and put it all on. But, you could probably get away with one and a half kits.

The only draw backs I found are, (a) I have to hose the floor down occasionally in the winter, because all the junk melting off the cars makes my nice, bright, clean, beige floor, look really dirty. Choosing a dirty gray color paint, would help a lot with this.

(b) This product is so shinny it looks like it is wet, (even without the optional clear coat, which they will tell you is unnecessary), so when winter road grit gets ground under your vehicle tires, it can eventually dull the surface some, in those areas.

Can you eloborate on the hand grinder. Not really sure what you mean. Any chance you have a picture of what your floor looks like now? You know how the lady of the house can be, she just can't take my word for anything, she has to see it! Also, how long ago did you do it? Thanks for your reply.

 

[ray66v]

Can you eloborate on the hand grinder. Not really sure what you mean. Any chance you have a picture of what your floor looks like now? You know how the lady of the house can be, she just can't take my word for anything, she has to see it! Also, how long ago did you do it? Thanks for your reply.

Here is a similar grinder:

7-in. Angle Grinder Surface Prep Kit from Metabo Corporation

If you have no experience with using this kind of equipment, you probably should not use your garage floor for practice.

There are bigger walk behind grinders, if you can find one to rent, it is more fool proof. Or, perhaps there is a contractor in your area, who will grind it for you. It is a hard days work, doing it on your knees with the hand grinder.

My floor is below. This is what this product looked like after it was dry. It looks exactly like the ones in the photo's on the Epoxy Coat web site.

It is now 5 years old. Except for some rust stains from the under carriage of our old vehicles dripping on the floor, (which are fairly easy to remove), and some slight dullness where the tires have worn the winter grit into it, it still looks beautiful. They say to expect a 20 year life span. If you live somewhere warm, that could be very easily possible. I suspect I will re-coat mine before then. Re-coating is very easy, you clean it, sand it, and your ready to go.

My floor had already started to pit before epoxied it. I know if I had not done this, the winter salt would have substantially damaged it by now.

I tried everything to save my last garage floor. I used every type of sealer, and it still deteriorated. When this floor started to pit, I spent good money for EUCO-GUARD 100 which is supposed to be a top notch sealer, when that did not stop it, I went with the epoxy. Problem solved.

One of my cars leaked brake fluid on this floor, for about a week, before I noticed it. It hardly effected it.

Other oils, fuel, hot tires, salt, heat from exhaust systems, and even using a floor jack on it, all have no effect.

 

[Molerj]

Thank you, that is just the info I was looking for. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[Danno1]

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That's a really nice looking floor Ray66.

I was contemplating doing something similar, but we have floor tiles at work something along those lines and if I drop something small I can never (well rarely) find it. So I went w the plain color.

Also the sand/grit, I thought about that too, but I didn't want to be crawling around or kneeling on sandpaper when I have to get under a vehicle. So I just walk slower and more carefully on rainy or snowy days.

So I ended up w boring plain shiny slippery gray! But it's much better than it was.



Rcbsaver, I hear ya and definitely agree. But the garage was already there when I bought the house. So I highly doubt anything extra was done before the pour.

.

 

[ray66v]

That's a really nice looking floor Ray66.

I was contemplating doing something similar, but we have floor tiles at work something along those lines and if I drop something small I can never (well rarely) find it. So I went w the plain color.

Also the sand/grit, I thought about that too, but I didn't want to be crawling around or kneeling on sandpaper when I have to get under a vehicle. So I just walk slower and more carefully on rainy or snowy days.

So I ended up w boring plain shiny slippery gray! But it's much better than it was.

Thanks.

Next time consider that you can put chips of paint the same color in your floor, that will still greatly reduce slippage.