Garage floor

   / Garage floor #33  
Obviously not the same type of system. Yours is more of a paint I'm talking of a 1/4"thick material hard cladding. 🍻
 
   / Garage floor #34  
This site will give you hours of reading on floor coverings. Might add more confusion than answers with all the options.

 
   / Garage floor #35  
YA know, I often here people say this but in reality......I dont know a single person that has put pex in the floor because they "might" do radiant heat at some point in the future.

Its really not just as simple as "throw some pex in there and cover it with concrete".

So unless people have money to burn....I dont know anyone that actually preps for radiant because of a "maybe". They are either doing it or they arent. ITs just too easy to tell others "you should put in pex....." Without actually thinking about the cost
Lol. I'm (so far) firmly in this category though, I knew I'd want radiant heat eventually, so I did all the work to put my PEX in. 5 years later and I still don't have insulation in my garage roof, so there is no reason to proceed with actually heating it yet.

The PEX and manifold kit only cost me $350 for my 30x36' slab. Probably took about an extra day of prep work for me to lay out the PEX at the same time as my rebar on chairs (I have the PEX tied to the bottom side of my rebar). I wasn't sure how soon I would get heating going, but it was a no brainer to do it while I had the chance.

Having PEX under the rebar didn't change the way the concrete was poured one bit. They brought the chute in through a man door in the back of the building, and were able to get concrete to all corners of the building easily. I was at work so I didn't see exactly how it went down, but they said no problem.
 
   / Garage floor #36  
Regarding a floor covering. Upon the advice of my concrete guy, I went with an industrial grade clear acrylic sealer, and it has held up AWESOME so far. It was only $130 for a 5-gallon bucket of it and I only used about 3.5 gallons to do 2 coats. Just used a normal roller to plop it on nice and thick (it self evens).


Prep work is key. Mop that new concrete floor (after some curing time) repeatedly until the mop bucket is staying perfectly clean. Only then are you ready to apply a coating.

My acrylic sealer was so potent that even on a calm summer day with all the doors open, I had to wear a respirator to avoid passing out from the fumes. The entire forest around my garage stunk like extreme VOCs. But it cured quickly and sealed up the floor super nicely, and to this day (5 years later) I can simply wipe up any spilled oil without any stain. If I leave fluids on the floor for long periods (like a persistent drip you didn't notice), then it will still wipe up, but leave a damp looking patch that eventually goes away. The only thing that defeated it was leaving jugs of white vinegar in the garage over the winter - they froze and overflowed, and etched its way right down into the conrete. I suppose strong acid will do that, haha.

 
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   / Garage floor #37  
I always advise people to understand concrete mixtures and how concrete cures to get the most strength out of concrete. Just a warning, if you tell me the concrete was dry within a couple days of the pour you are in for a class.... :)
Asking genuinely here: So after my concrete guys left (they started the pour around 7am and left by 3pm with a very nice finish on top) on a hot summer day, even in the shade inside my garage it was drying out pretty quickly. So I watered it down with my garden hose a couple times to keep it wet all day, because I knew about this water/time/strength relationship. But by the next morning, it was dry on top. Should I have gotten right back to watering it? I did not, and then my concrete guy came back that second evening to saw cut the control joints. If I ordered and paid for a 4000 psi (7 sack?) concrete mix, how much strength do you really think I lost by letting the concrete by dry on the second day? Because for my homeowner hobby shop garage, it seems extremely strong and durable to me. But I did leave gaps in my PEX tubing to possibly add a 2-post lift someday, and better have enough strength left for that (5" thick slab).

Edit to add: I put sika flex in the control joints on day 3, and mopped the heck out of it and did my acrylic sealer on day 4, I think.
 
   / Garage floor #38  
Lol. I'm (so far) firmly in this category though, I knew I'd want radiant heat eventually, so I did all the work to put my PEX in. 5 years later and I still don't have insulation in my garage roof, so there is no reason to proceed with actually heating it yet.

The PEX and manifold kit only cost me $350 for my 30x36' slab. Probably took about an extra day of prep work for me to lay out the PEX at the same time as my rebar on chairs (I have the PEX tied to the bottom side of my rebar). I wasn't sure how soon I would get heating going, but it was a no brainer to do it while I had the chance.

Having PEX under the rebar didn't change the way the concrete was poured one bit. They brought the chute in through a man door in the back of the building, and were able to get concrete to all corners of the building easily. I was at work so I didn't see exactly how it went down, but they said no problem.
Excellent post.
 
   / Garage floor #39  
Asking genuinely here: So after my concrete guys left (they started the pour around 7am and left by 3pm with a very nice finish on top) on a hot summer day, even in the shade inside my garage it was drying out pretty quickly. So I watered it down with my garden hose a couple times to keep it wet all day, because I knew about this water/time/strength relationship. But by the next morning, it was dry on top. Should I have gotten right back to watering it? I did not, and then my concrete guy came back that second evening to saw cut the control joints. If I ordered and paid for a 4000 psi (7 sack?) concrete mix, how much strength do you really think I lost by letting the concrete by dry on the second day? Because for my homeowner hobby shop garage, it seems extremely strong and durable to me. But I did leave gaps in my PEX tubing to possibly add a 2-post lift someday, and better have enough strength left for that (5" thick slab).

Edit to add: I put sika flex in the control joints on day 3, and mopped the heck out of it and did my acrylic sealer on day 4, I think.
You'll be fine.

Slow drying minimizes shrinkage cracks. Yours more than likely cracked. In the control joints. Which is what they are for.

Good thinking about the lift circles!!!! Sometimes people will even pour thicker within those circles. A lift installation crew told me they don't like to see that done. They said they prefer to drill completely thru the concrete when installing the bolts. If a bolt fails to "hold" they can simply drive it down thru the concrete with a replacement.
 
   / Garage floor #40  
You'll be fine.

Slow drying minimizes shrinkage cracks. Yours more than likely cracked. In the control joints. Which is what they are for.

Good thinking about the lift circles!!!! Sometimes people will even pour thicker within those circles. A lift installation crew told me they don't like to see that done. They said they prefer to drill completely thru the concrete when installing the bolts. If a bolt fails to "hold" they can simply drive it down thru the concrete with a replacemen

Asking genuinely here: So after my concrete guys left (they started the pour around 7am and left by 3pm with a very nice finish on top) on a hot summer day, even in the shade inside my garage it was drying out pretty quickly. So I watered it down with my garden hose a couple times to keep it wet all day, because I knew about this water/time/strength relationship. But by the next morning, it was dry on top. Should I have gotten right back to watering it? I did not, and then my concrete guy came back that second evening to saw cut the control joints. If I ordered and paid for a 4000 psi (7 sack?) concrete mix, how much strength do you really think I lost by letting the concrete by dry on the second day? Because for my homeowner hobby shop garage, it seems extremely strong and durable to me. But I did leave gaps in my PEX tubing to possibly add a 2-post lift someday, and better have enough strength left for that (5" thick slab).

Edit to add: I put sika flex in the control joints on day 3, and mopped the heck out of it and did my acrylic sealer on day 4, I think.
You will likely be fine Deezler. You protected it during the most critical time with the water. Especially if it was not in the direct sun on a clear 95 degree day. The mixture water content will likely be what dictates the ultimate strength. A super wet 7 sack mix will never be as strong as a 7 sack minimal water mix.

When i poured my shop floor I dug out two 24" square by 20" deep holes where my lift would g and then did a monopour of a 4" slab over the entire shop floor. I also used 12" bolts in the concrete for the lift. I figured an extra 1/3 yd of concrete was cheap insurance... I was not comfortable with the directions stating that the lift would be fine on a 4" (which is frequently more like 3.5" with 2x4 forms).
 
 
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