2 Part Epoxy Garage Floor Square Foot Price.

Saturn9876

I'm a GC in South Carolina who needs to give a price to epoxy coat a garage floor. The garage is 422 SF and I need to clean it out first. The homeowner is supplying the epoxy. I need to pressure wash the floor and a painter friend of mine says I need to acid etch the floor too. I've nevere done this before but I'm a good painter and I hear its easy. What should my square foot price be?

JBBS

Charge whatever you want. Send me an email when you need a price for me to come down and fix it.

Saturn9876

Well thank you for your valuable insight. I can tell your an expert in all areas of construction.

joasis

The larger point is this: This is a forum for the trades to discuss issue relating to our respective professions, thus, when a general contractor asks a question such as this, you will get chewed up.

A general contractor means just that. You should have the ability and experience to know basics in all the trades. If I were faced with having a garage floor coated, I would call my painter and ask what he would bid it for. If I think it is too high, I ask a few more....I would not presume a customer would call a GC to clean out a garage just to do an epoxy coating.

My first inclination is to direct you to the DIY site, but I will leave it open for now.

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DeanV

I have seem some garage floors where the acid was not rinsed well enough and the finish was toast in just a few days. Garage floors, especially used garage floors, are not for the inexperienced. It is a service I am considering adding, but have not made up my mind yet. I will tell you that grinding or shot blasting the floor is better than acid and whatever kit the HO buys is probably not high quality enough for the job.

MALCO.New.York

You can not and should never do a job where the HO supplied something like an epoxy resin. If it goes bad YOU are gonna get it in the end. Even if you have an indemnity/hold harmless clause.

You are foolish to stand behind that which you do not supply.

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davinci

the BEST thing to do is sand a layer of the concrete off the floor,then apply the paint. home depot now offers this. its the best thing and makes the paint adhere to the floor otherwise it will lift and peel. go to home depot,ask what they charge a square foot and then charge a bit less. its actually a great service.

mdshunk

Is this latest generation of 2-part epoxy floor coatings that have been advertised pretty hard lately functionally any different than the old Torginol stuff that was popular in the 70's?

747

The pros wear like golf shoes when they do those. Shoes with spikes on them. You have to move quick. I don't know the square foot price but there not cheap. Example 2 car garage use to be 2,000 dollars. You do have to make sure the floor is prep correctly first. Also that one guy is correct above. One of the prep steps is a power machine over the concrete. Its my understanding it lightly shaves the concrete.

PA woodbutcher

Michaeljp86

Dollar General brand garage floor paint -$40

6 hours paying some hill billy to clean all the crap out of your garage and slop some paint on the floor - $60 and a pack of smokes.

The look on the HO face when the floor is still tacky after a week and peels off on his car tires - priceless.

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Saturn9876

"Some hill billy" hahahah

This woman is one of my first customers when I moved south 2 years ago and I try to do all her work myself. The more I read about these epoxy's the more I think my painter should handle this for me. He says he's done this before....never for me obviously. Thanks for all the insight guys!!

genecarp

you can handle it yourself, it is not rocket science, dont let these guys influence you. there is nothing wrong with cleaning out the garage yourself either, some of these guys forgot how we all started and loss perspective along the way, go for it.

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MVH

Gene, you're so right on your comment. I just helped a lady move her stuff into an addition we just completed.

Mike

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davinci

listen.cleaning the floor and painting is'nt the problem. what you NEED to do is sand a layer of the concrete off. that requires a machine and some know how otherwise you'll mess it up. if you don't do it this way,it will be a total waste of time.it must be sanded/shaved.

genecarp

dav, i am not a proffessional garage floor finisher, do you have to sand a layer off in every job, are there no conditions that a acid etch would be sufficient?

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JBBS

Evey job I do gets diamond ground before coating. For instance, I just landed a garage with fresh concrete, its getting diamond ground. The purpose of this is to create the profile needed for proper adhesion to the concrete. The pores need to be opened to get a proper bond. Grinding also helps remove unseen issues like form release that may still be on the concrete in areas. Acid etching alone is simply not enough for a proper job.
Some coatings such as polyaspartics slightly absorb into the concrete actually becoming part of the substrate and need that extra profile to do that.

Never would I install a floor that the homeowner supplied the product. The junk you buy at lowes or home depo just doesn't cut it. Professional jobs need professional products, and even those can fail (hence the importance of proper prep) The best floors use 100% solids epoxy or 75% solids polyaspartic. The coverage rates vary between most manufacturers but is generally installed to a final thickness from 20 mils up. The installed thickness of the big box kits and even the U-Coat kits advertised on TV are around 7 - 9 mils. Also you get about a cup or two of decorative chips with these systems. I show up with between 50 - 200 pounds of chips depending on the floor and desired broadcast. Expect to pay between the $3.75 and $5.75 per square foot range for a 3 coat broadcast floor. Trowel down systems are double that.

(Following comments are not directed at anyone in particular and are "hypothetically speaking")
So lets say you diamond ground the floor, the products the homeowner has are top of the line, and you installed everything to the T. A month later it is peeling and popping off, why? Well you forgot to check the moisture content of the slab and hydrostatic pressure is causing the coating to blister and fail. Probably should have used a vapor barrier epoxy as a primer first to try and prevent that. Or maybe your second and third coat weren't installed in the required time window. Should have probably sanded that first coat since you figured you would let it dry for 24 hours or more. And these are just a few things that can go wrong! There is more to it than just "painting". Rocket science? Not at all. DIY project? Certainly could be if you arm yourself with some knowledge.

To the original poster, I never claimed to be an expert in general construction. I do, however know a fair amount about 2 things, EIFS and Floor Coatings.

Saturn9876

Thanking all of you for the help.

J F

So....how'd it turn out?

J

theecoop

Saturn9876, I have done many commercial floors with epoxy, Was school trained as an apprentice in the painters union. Every epoxy floor job I have every seen done or have done was acid etched,and if it had stains(oil) a detergent was used on it . I usually charge 2.50 sq ft. Hope this helps