Home Depot now installing epoxy floors

[Luckydevil]

This must be new because I just saw it for the first time tonight.

At the low end, 5 mils thick and a 1 year warranty for about $1.50 per foot installed.
In the middle, 20 mils thick and a 2 year warranty for about $2.50 per foot installed.
At the high end, 35mils thick and 3 year warranty for about $3.50 per foot installed.

They've got a ton of different colors and toss in the anti-skid color chips. The epoxy being used is the Rustoleum Epoxy Shield. I imagine the low end is the water based epoxy they usually sell at Home Depot, and the high end is the solvent based you usually have to order.

Not too bad of a deal for the low end stuff. I think $3.50 per foot for the good stuff is kind of steep though.

[armoredsaintt]

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: i know where i am going tomorrow, thanks!!!

[Luckydevil]

The pamphlet said they charge extra for filling in cracks and imperfections. Whether you pay them or do it yourself, be sure to fill in all the imperfections in the floor because they will show up with epoxy.

You can buy little plastic cans of premade patching concrete for a few bucks. This is what I used and it worked great...

[byrdman]

What kind of prep do they do for that kind of money? All 3 seem expensive to me.

[armoredsaintt]

I hope they will do an acid etch, the 3 layer color choices have too much fleck IMO.

[ZRWON]

What kind of prep do they do for that kind of money? All 3 seem expensive to me.
I agree. I am considering BLT's rubber parking mats, 10' X 22' for ~$180 at Sams Club for or about $.82/ sq ft. vs. $3.50 for the Home Depot deal. Color choices are good and installation is VERY EASY. Just sweep the floor and roll the mat out. Three 10 X22 mats will do my shop with a 1 foot border of painted concrete around the front and back edges and a 2' border on the two side edges.. Thickness of the mat is .05 inches vs. only 35 mm for the epoxy paint that lasts only a few years. If interested, here's the BLT home site http://www.bltllc.com/

[Luckydevil]

Here is the install process... I'm kind of skeptical about them not washing the floor after their sanding process. I know it would add time to the install for the floor to dry, but I think it is needed. At the same time if they offer a warranty on it, they must be confident that it will hold up.

[aero]

ZRWON-----> do have a part #for the BLT FLOOR at SAMS CLUB I HAVE NOT seen it I can ask cutomer service if they can order thanks

[OH-MAN]

The pamphlet said they charge extra for filling in cracks and imperfections. Whether you pay them or do it yourself, be sure to fill in all the imperfections in the floor because they will show up with epoxy.

You can buy little plastic cans of premade patching concrete for a few bucks. This is what I used and it worked great...\

How does this stuff stick ? Do you use a concrete glue to help it stick?
I would like to fill in the expansion lines that they put into the concrete when they finish it

[ZRWON]

ZRWON-----> do have a part #for the BLT FLOOR at SAMS CLUB I HAVE NOT seen it I can ask cutomer service if they can order thanks
Here's the link to a list of vendors. Sams Club is about the 3rd one down the list. I checked a couple other sources, but some only have 9' wide and Sams seemed to cost less. http://www.bltllc.com/ Even with shipping it still looks like it'll cost much less and will install and remove for cleaning easily. In an earlier thread one of the guys said he wanted to get the "coin" design instead of "ribbed" He and some other posts thought the coin would clean easier. I'm still thinking. Get the shop painted next week and then I'll do floor.

[armoredsaintt]

you can not compare a floor mat to an epoxy floor coating, it's not the same and doesn't a rubber floor mat trap moisture?

[ZRWON]

you can not compare a floor mat to an epoxy floor coating, it's not the same and doesn't a rubber floor mat trap moisture?
Guess it could but I've had 4X6 work mats and left over carpet pieces on my shop floor for over 10 years. Never been a moisture problem even with all the rain we get. I do have good drainage slope around the perimeter of my shop. Easy way to test it is to tape a piece of clear plastic on the floor and see if you get any moisture/condensation on the inside (floor side) of the plastic. Seems if you get moisture with rubber mats, moisture would also be a problem with paint causing it to "Lift".

[ranger_dood]

\

How does this stuff stick ? Do you use a concrete glue to help it stick?
I would like to fill in the expansion lines that they put into the concrete when they finish it

Uh.. forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't they there for... well, expansion?

[armoredsaintt]

went to HD today and the professional services and paint department had no freaking clue what I was talking about, not surprised, but they told me to call HD directly.

updated- called 800-79depot and it's not available in all states, darn... u-coat-it here i come :D

[Luckydevil]

I'd be wary of U-coat-it. A few people on here were not pleased with it at all. I'm still a big advocate of the Rustoleum Industrial Epoxy. I am pretty sure it is the same stuff that Home Depot is using.

[armoredsaintt]

I wish someone did a durability test on floor coatings.

[danski0224]

I have U-Coat-It in my garage and I am happy with it. Like any paint, I doubt it would hold up to daily traffic with jacks and such. The U-Coat process with the clear coat would probably be more durable.

Yes, a little bit has lifted from tires, but much less than a friend of mine that used the Rustoleum stuff.

The stuff described in the Home Depot info seems to be similar to the U-Coat-It process with the clear coat. I have seen those floor grinders in action, and they leave the floor clean. They are very expensive pieces of equipment.

Someday I would like a true industrial epoxy coating, but that stuff runs in excess of $4 a square foot.

[BearHit]

Anybody tried MuscleGloss?

A little more expensive but may be worth the extra $$

http://www.musclegloss.com/home.htm

[armoredsaintt]

Anybody tried MuscleGloss?

A little more expensive but may be worth the extra $$

http://www.musclegloss.com/home.htm

thanks, looks interesting, but why would they package it where it doesn't even cover a small 2 car garage, therefore it makes you spend $600 to get 2! :wtf:

[casaleenie]

You can deal directly with BLT and it's delivered to your garage at no charge.
The install is just to unroll the product. I would imagine just a good floor sweeping. :D

[ZRWON]

You can deal directly with BLT and it's delivered to your garage at no charge.
The install is just to unroll the product. I would imagine just a good floor sweeping. :D
I just tried to order direct and got this reply:
"I could not where that was said I looked but did not see anything. We do not sell direct nor have we ever. Our information is on the packing slip so it may look like it was bought from us. I would say that Sam's Club is the best bet. However those come folded in a box so you may want to look into buying from some one else if you want those in a roll. Thank you, Samantha"
Thanks for trying. If you get anything different from them please let us know. Until something better comes along, guess we are stuck with Sams Club. :see: :headscrat

[JohnHenrys48]

\
I would like to fill in the expansion lines that they put into the concrete when they finish it

I used a self leveling concrete crack filler. It didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked. It works though. I can roll a stool or creeper over it without much bother, and sweeping is much easier. Actually, I open the door and put my shop vac on blow and send all the dirt out side.

I used an insane amount of this filler a $7.00 per quart, probably 25-30 quarts. The control joints at the top were about an inch wide and had fractured completely through. I also removed the expansion board around the perimeter and filled that. About half way through the process I realized I should have filled the deeper parts and voids with sand then topped it off with the filler. Live and learn.

I applied the filler in 1/4 inch layers allowing it to dry a few days in between. When I got close to the top I masked off the joints with blue tape and filled them close to the top and allowed the filler to level, then pulled off the tape before it hardened. If you leave the tape on you will have to use a razor knife to cut through the cured filler.

After all was done, I found a urethane patch filler in calking tubes at HD. I didn't experiment with this but I think it would have been easier to apply and smooth off with a putty knife.

I think one thing you want to stay away from is a "hard" filler. The floating slab still needs to be able to move and the control joints will flex. The filler I used is hard but not brittle, infact, my tires left tread marks in it after parking right on top of a joint over night.

[armoredsaintt]

I used a self leveling concrete crack filler. It didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked. It works though. I can roll a stool or creeper over it without much bother, and sweeping is much easier. Actually, I open the door and put my shop vac on blow and send all the dirt out side.

I used an insane amount of this filler a $7.00 per quart, probably 25-30 quarts. The control joints at the top were about an inch wide and had fractured completely through. I also removed the expansion board around the perimeter and filled that. About half way through the process I realized I should have filled the deeper parts and voids with sand then topped it off with the filler. Live and learn.

I applied the filler in 1/4 inch layers allowing it to dry a few days in between. When I got close to the top I masked off the joints with blue tape and filled them close to the top and allowed the filler to level, then pulled off the tape before it hardened. If you leave the tape on you will have to use a razor knife to cut through the cured filler.

After all was done, I found a urethane patch filler in calking tubes at HD. I didn't experiment with this but I think it would have been easier to apply and smooth off with a putty knife.

I think one thing you want to stay away from is a "hard" filler. The floating slab still needs to be able to move and the control joints will flex. The filler I used is hard but not brittle, infact, my tires left tread marks in it after parking right on top of a joint over night.

What kind of epoxy is that you have on your floors? Looks really nice and how is it holding up?

[OH-MAN]

Thanks JohnHenrys48.
Garage looks real good, I will more than likely just fill in the nicks and leave all the expansion cracks.

[JohnHenrys48]

What kind of epoxy is that you have on your floors? Looks really nice and how is it holding up?

That's the Rustoleum version. I used 4 total kits on a 20x24 garage. I ended up double coating it, with the chips in each coat. I called Rustoleum and asked about acid etching the concrete because their directions recommended against it. They said that if I do then I would have to double coat it since the the concrete would be too rough, and I could double coat it within 24 hours without worrying about re-scuffing the surface. I figured that I could get away with one thick coat so I spread the chips as I went and ended up about 10 square feet short... :eek: So the surface ended up with quite a bit of texture which is fine. It cleans up nice and sweeps really well. I've scratched the surface by dragging heavy objects across it but there is no evidence of tire wear. I applied the epoxy last summer and didn't park on it for several weeks. But I started working on it about two weeks after painting it. It's a little slick when wet and really slick when covered in saw dust. I'm pretty happy with it but the VCT guys are making me jealous. I decided not to go with tile due to the heat here in AZ. I was afraid that the glue would soften in the summer and allow the tiles to shift. But they really look nice.

Jim

[JohnHenrys48]

Thanks JohnHenrys48.
Garage looks real good, I will more than likely just fill in the nicks and leave all the expansion cracks.

You can fill the cracks after the epoxy if you should decide. That's what I ended up doing. We'll have to get together some time and you can see how it's coming together. As always, it's a work in progress. I'll bet we've crossed paths at the HD on Bell Road.

Jim

[Fast Eddie]

What kind of prep do they do for that kind of money? All 3 seem expensive to me.

I agree! Check Sears, they have 20 sq ft of "Racedeck" style flooring for $49.95 which comes out to $2.50 a sq ft. They have four or five different colors.

[Wile1Coyote]

I have heard very mixed results with the Rustoleum product. Some guys love it others hate it?

[OH-MAN]

You can fill the cracks after the epoxy if you should decide. That's what I ended up doing. We'll have to get together some time and you can see how it's coming together. As always, it's a work in progress. I'll bet we've crossed paths at the HD on Bell Road.

Jim


Very likely, I am trying to recover from a knee operation and am just about to go nuts with all the stuff I want to get done and have to wait. Espicially with summer comming soon.
I will git in touch with you to check out your garage in the future.
Steve