Epoxy garage floor treatments

[BKColeman]

<font color=blue>If you change to something else, how do you plan to take up the old epoxy? That seems like it would be a headache too. </font color=blue>

Dunno. That was going to be a later question. Sanding? Epoxy thinner? Muriatic acid? Just paint over the top of the existing?

I guess it depends on what I choose to use too.

 

[GarageSmoker]

I have way too much experience in this stuff. I have used both types that HD carried. The only problem I ever had was SOME tires, and they have no list, will lift it up no matter how well you prep it.

The first brand said to "ruff" the surface. I didn't notice that and after it came up under my wife's and son's tires they (the manufacturer.. I called them) brought it my attention. They sent me a couple of small cans to patch the spots. So I scraped up a nice size square where each of there tires normally went and sanded before the patches.

That didn't work real well so I scraped the whole floor (3 car garage) and rented a floor sander to ruff the whole thing. What a mess that was.

By now they carry a new brand that uses citric acid to prep the floor. Do they give you enough? No way. But I folow the instructions and do it anyway. Result? Same tires lift it off in small spots. Drove me crazy.

My Uniroyals NEVER lifted it at all. Why? No idea. Manufacturer has no idea other than to say some do, some don't. But I will say this about both products..


No dust.
Cleans in a snap.
Looks great.
Would I do it again? Heck yes..

I will look for some kind of mat to put where tires sit. I used wiffle balls suspened from the ceiling (when they hit winshield at rear-view mirror) to show where to stop the vehicles so the tires wound up at the same place each time. Should be easy to find some no-slip mats.

Cleaning tips:

HD sells a great driveway cleaner that I used. 1 gallon makes a lot of cleaner. After 7 years I finally discovered THE best way to use it. Get an inexpensive pump sprayer and put a 50/50 mix it in. What this does is give you a nice consistant application of the product without wasting any and without using a lot of water. And it will make tire marks, exaust drippings, rust stains, and other marks go away. Regular sponge mop is all you will need. If you don't do it this way, you will pour some straight on hard to clean spots and will have spotting...cleaner spots.. ugly.. take my word for it.

I would clean my garage monthly during the dirty season but it doesn't take long if you don't have much stuff on the floor. I only had mower and garbage cans and a few other small things. I could empty my garage faster than I can empty my briefcase. Spray the cleaner, slosh it around, hose it out, let it dry. Great chore with the football game on.


GS

 

[BKColeman]

GS, thanks. That is the type of info I was looking for. I spent a long time this weekend cleaning it, I wish I had read your post before then. Cleaning it was what made me decide to maybe redo it.

My F250 diesel never lifted any off, nor the tractor's tires. But my wife's little car has in two places.

 

[gerard]

<font color=blue>If you change to something else, how do you plan to take up the old epoxy? That seems like it would be a headache too.</font color=blue>

Don't know if you can rent these type units or not but commercial flooring contractors use a machine that shoots small metal bb's against the surface and collects them as you move the machine. Kind of like a sand blaster that collects the sand and reuses it.

 

[Youare]

I have applied epoxy floor treatments many times over the past 20 years both at home and for the company I worked for.

The epoxies that I used years ago were a two part high VOC mixture. These coatings held up much better than the environmental friendly epoxies that are available today.

Surface prepration is one of the critical elements to a lasting floor. As pointed out by several others water migration through the concrete is a death knell to any surface, paint or epoxy. Temperature of the surface it is applied to is also important.

I did a portion of my basement with a product sold by Sherwin Williams at $70.00 per two gallon mix and in some places it stuck well and some places it is bubbling up from moisture below. I coated this floor in te winter when the floor was a little too cool.

There is another section of the same basement that I coated 20 years ago with an epoxy that was the old solvent base good stuff. This floor was coated in the summer and has not peeled or chipped art all. The only problem was when one of my kids spilled some lacquer thinner and did not wipe it up soon enough, it left a spot. I parked a jeep on this floor for a period of time while I worked on it with out any marks.

This floor was not water sealed before application, however before the floor was poured plastic was put down and I feel this acted as a pretty good water barrier.

The epoxy makes a good dust free floor. The bottom line is you get what you pay for and it is expensive. For areas with a water problem a good water seal is necessary and several coats of epoxy. Becareful some epoxies when wet are as slippery as ice, the company I worked for have this problem. They had to add sand to the mix to keep people from falling when their shoes were wet.

The epoxy will only be as hard as the floor it is coating, as soft concrete will dent and the coating will be damaged when something is dropped on it. Most epoxies will not hold up to heavy items on hard wheels being rolled over it, 500 pounds on steel casters could be a problem.

Randy

 

[BKColeman]

<font color=blue>Temperature of the surface it is applied to is also important.</font color=blue>

Yep, I think that was my problem. It got cold right after I applied it.

<font color=blue>several coats of epoxy</font color=blue>

Do you think it is ok to put another coat of the same stuff down over the existing stuff? That is what I am hoping to do. I sent an email to the manufacturer asking if that is ok but haven't heard back yet.


<font color=blue>They had to add sand to the mix </font color=blue>

The guy in Lowe's talked me into adding a can of stuff which looked like plain sand to the epoxy when I put it down. I liked the idea of it being less slippery so I did it. But it has taken away some of the ease of cleaning, as stuff likes to grab the texture. Plus it caused me to have to buy more of the epoxy. I bought two kits @ $65 each for a 3 bay garage but had to go back and buy another. I'm pretty sure it was due to the sand.

We have epoxy on the floors at work in the manufacturing area. I talked to the guy installing it and he said it would be about $1000-1500 for a 3 car garage (32x24) for them to do it. I'd like to give it another try myself before spending out that kind of money. He said his main business is doing commercial garages (like gas stations, car dealerships, etc).

--Brad

 

[Youare]

If you put another coat on top of the exsisting coat it will not change any of the conditions that are present under the first coat. If you have adhesion problems underneath the top coat will not change that.

Surface preperation where I worked consisted of a sandblasting type of operation. A large sandblast nozzle was surrounded by a big vacuum hose, as the floor was blasted all the old finish was removed.

If you want to fix a spot I'm afraid the old finish should be removed to get the best results. Sand in the mix will use more epoxy as each piece of grit must be coated also.

There is a company in the town where I work that makes industrial floor coatings I called them once to see if I could purchase some from them, this was the best stuf I used years ago. They said they would sell small quanities if it was something they had a little extra of.

The name of the company is C E Bradley Laboratories Inc.
802-257-7971, Brattleboro, VT.

Good luck.

Randy

 

[BKColeman]

Thanks for the feedback Randy.

I do plan to sand/remove any epoxy in any small areas that have problems, I just don't want to have to do the whole thing. That sounds like a lot of work. 95% of it is perfect.

 

[MDNY]

I was looking at the Rust Oleum brand (saw it in Car & Driver) and thought it looked good for the garage and maybe basement floors.

The problem I have now is the basement (and garage will get this too) has a sealant put down before it cures fully. The end result is a mirror like shine. The odd part is the floor doesn't have that even grey color to it, but rather a light/dark effect. Oh well I will have to find out from the guys doing it what or how to remove it if I decide to put down an epoxy sealant.