Which Garage Floor Coating?

RTred

Any opinions and experience with garage floor coatings? Seem to be alot of them out there: Rustoleom, Quickcrete, Sherwin Williams,Behr etc....
Not something I want to do twice.
Thanx for any input.

Formulator

We do the competitive testing in our lab. If any comparable products are better, we improve our formulations.

I personally did my parent's garage with our Epoxy Shield Pro. The pro stuff (solventborne) is way to go in my opinion because it works better on imperfect or less-prepped substrates.

WisePainter

I am a big fan of Sherwin Williams epoxy coatings. I have always staked my reputation on them.
Never use products from large "Box" stores.
You know which ones I am referring to.

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Paintpimp

Don't use the cute little kits with the color flakes that you find in these stores. If you are doing it yourself, use a solvent based epoxy. I know SW products mainly so I would recommend Tile Clad, Macropoxy 646 or Armor Seal 1000HS with Armorseal HP Urethane. Some other guys will chime in with some other systems. Granted there are others that are even higher end than these but generally you have to be a licensced installer of these products. I have seen these other products down for years and wearing nicely. With that in mind, garage floors are touchy. Many things can go wrong.

WisePainter

Armor Clad!!!



What do you think of the SW 1 part waterborne TredPlex epoxy?
I have found that tiny bubbles appear if you are rolling to quickly, but otherwise it is an easy product to use with durability and a wide range of colors available.

I agree STAY AWAY FROM H&C crap with those damn flakes!!!
I used it, and regretted every minute. A SW sales rep pushed it on me.




I had a customer wax and buff his new Armor Clad floor...it looked wet!

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JSpaint

I just did a 2 car garage with 2 kits of the new Rustoleum water based epoxy. It comes with the etching mix should the concrete need it. Looked good! It's a gray semi-gloss and came with the flakes, but I didn't use them.

WisePainter

Let us know how it looks in a couple of months.

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sprayer48

Ive used SW 2-part epoxy. 6 years ago and still looks great. No hot marks under the tires.

have to etch the floor and power wash it twice before using the epoxy.

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WisePainter

Best epoxy evar!

ArmorSeal is jet fuel resistant..





Check the label.

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Dmax Consulting

I agree with the SW fans. They make so many floor coatings for any application. The tricky part is choosing the right one for the job!

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420sully

which product did you use?

tookalook

What are you going to use the floor for? if you are planing to use a floor jack with steel wheels I suggest to stay away from hard epoxy coatings. and remember a hard floor coating is a vary slippery coating wet or dry snow. You ever spill a bit of latex on a concrete floor and not clean it up right away?? Well? I have been doing this for a vary long time now and concrete loves thin coats of water Born's. steel loves Epoxies waterborne move well epoxies don't waterborne are easy to re-cote Epoxies are not Waterborne do not crack chip or smear epoxies crack split and are not unless chemical resistant smear resistant. Go ahead boys use all the Epoxy you want. My floors will out perform yours for a long time to come. And buy the way JET Fuel is just kerosene wow spill MEK see what happens. There's no salesmen like a Paint Salesmen

Soloplayer

Hello

I like the Rustoleum line. The most important thing is to prep the surface properly and do a water test..... Clean the surface until water no longer beads up on the oil stains. Then do a test on the worst area with the material and let dry for 24 hours. If it scratches off you still need to remove more of the surface contaminant. (oil, grease, etc.)
Check out my work with the 2 part epoxy, flakes and the clear coat.

http://picasaweb.google.com/herickse...eFloorCoating#

I have been a licensed painting contractor in Ca. since 1982.

meets1

I have used a Vogal Epoxy Paint. I have only done a handfull of floors over the last 2 years but seem to be doing well. I just don't like acid washing the concrete before hand. - paint rep told me the steps to do and therefore that is what I do but is there an easier method. And what do you guys charge for this service?

jebluke

I can suggest to use, fiber floor mat. Easy to clean long lasting and comes at cheaper price. Try it once.

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StefanC

Aromorseal A1000HS is what I've been using for years and I've never had a problem. Prep is key though as others have stated.

RoSSco

Go to www.garagecoatings.com use system 2 if you want easy to apply and good durabilaty. Versatile building products. Shipping is free. I have laid several and havent had a problem yet.

DenverPainter

As others have emphasized, pay a lot of attention to preparation. A VERY thorough power washing is in order.

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Leo G

I did the rustoleum in my shop and it has held up quite well. Did the acid etch and power wash beforehand.

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RoSSco

Not sure that it is easier but with most systems floors can be grinded insted of etched. This is the method I use. Like I listed in my post Versatile Building Products has many different systems for different types of jobs and the results that are expected. Versatiles Roll on Rock System 2 can be applied without grinding or etching the concrete in certain situations. For this to work the concret must be not have any type of sealer on it. If you do get a floor where the concrete is pourus and there is no sealant you can apply system 2 after you clean up any oil spills with v-100 degreaser (or equivilent), scrub the floor with a lighter mix of V-100 and water and let dry. After of course patching any cracks and divots. The manufacturer details in their install guide that their product can be applied directly to concrete without a sealant without grinding or ethcing. That being said I have done nearly 30 floors and I have only done 2 without grinding, one of which was nearly brand new and the other was a basement floor in great condition with no sealer preasent.

A two car garage done with system 2 will run you at least $700 in materials.

For enough of the two part 95% epoxy direct to concrete chip reciever coat for a normal sized two car garage it will be about $130

Then you will need a 50 pound box of chips that will be thrown to rejection (expecially important if your not expirienced throwing them) is $150

For the topcoat I use the 73% solids 5073 which comes in two gallon kits, you may be able to get away with one on a small garage but I would buy two, but after you get more and more jobs you will allways have some extra on hand and know how much to order. This topcoat is EXTREMLY HIGH gloss and it dries exactly the way it looks when it is wet so it is important to roll it on very evenly. There are many other topcoats that you can choose from but this one in particular doesnt yellow even outside. It is also rated for high forklift trafic and is resistant to all household chemical

Then you will need the materials for cracks and divot repairs. For this it really depends on the job. For crack repair versatile has two types of epoxy crack fillers one that dries with in an hour (can be as quick as 20 min), and this is what I use on smaller jobs where I can prep and apply the epoxy in the same day. Or the have an overnight dry which is slightly easier to work with and cheaper that I use on larger jobs.

The best way I have found to fill cracks with epoxy is to order some empty caulk tubes, mix the epoxy and then inject it into the crack with a caulk gun. Slightly over fill the cracks and the grind the excess off either the next day or after it dries depending on which one you use.


Not sure if this info is usefull to anyone, but I know it would have been damn usefull to me before I got started. I tried quite a few systems before I stumbled upon these. They have many systems. They have a waterbased sysytem that is extremly easy to apply for DIYers and still better than what they could get at the big box. Then they have system two which I spoke of above. Then they have another onew day system of 100% epoxy that can be laid and topcoated in the same day