Viper98912
Well-known member
Great forum guys. 
I normally frequent car forums and most recently home improvement forums. I've been working on doing "budget friendly" improvements to my small 3 bed house with dual car garage. I'm now in the garage phase. I have 2 single garage doors, so my garage is slightly larger in width than the standard 2 door, and in one of the bays it's slightly longer as well.
My goal is to have nice lighting, nice walls, nice cabinets, and nice floor. Last weekend I did 10 new recessed lights (6"), LED. Came out awesome; the way the light reflects off the paint of the two cars is beautful, it looks like a museum or dealership in there just with the lights. I plan on probably doing off-white walls with gray trim. I also plan on doing some Gladiator cabinets and a custom workbench in the long bay. Nothing too fancy or too expensive.
I've had other ideas as well; raising the garage door frame rails, putting diamondplate 4' up the walls, etc., but in the end all that is a little too expensive that may not give large benefits for me.
The floor coating is now my challenge. The garage is my workspace; everything I need to do to my cars, whether it's working on engines, brakes, body, interior, maintenance, etc, that's where it happens. I drop tools, fluids, drag and scrape jacks and stands across the floor, etc. Currently my garage has lots of spots and stains and drag marks from all the work, so I know it's going to happen. Also, almost daily one of those cars goes out in the morning and returns in the evening (daily driver).
I originally was going to go with an epoxy floor, and UCoatIt was recommended by a friend. Coming on here, I've discovered others such as Legacy and EpoxyCoat that seem to get good reviews. Rustoleum Professional Solvent intrigues me as well, strictly because of the price. The reason I say this is because if there are issues with any type of coating that may pull up regardless of prep, then I might as well save the money.
RockSolid's polyurea now also interests me as well, and I believe Legacy may also have a polyaspartic? Racedeck and Swisstrax really don't interest me; I don't like the floating floor feel for the garage, and remember I also want to be able to easily get the jack out to get the car up quickly without having to take flooring out. I've thought about VCT tile, but I honestly don't feel like that belongs in the garage either for what I want to do. I dont think it'll look right, nor do I know how it'll hold up with the jack and jackstands.
One last thing: I believe my concrete floor is sealed or coated. One day when I was working with a cleaner (I don't remember if it was brake cleaner, MAF cleaner, or some other liquid) I noticed that where I had been working the floor started to get hot. The fluid had started to react on the floor and when I went to wipe it up it was sticky and was causing swipe swirls on the floor. Had to use a few towels to get it all up.
Well guys if you read this far I really appreciate it (now that I've told you my life story lol). What do you guys recommend given my constraints? I don't want a perfectly kept floor because I plan on using it, but at the same time I don't want an ugly chipped or damaged floor that doesn't look good when the cars are just sitting. I do want something glossy that reflects and looks nice, and at the same time something light colored that will reflect light so when I'm underneath the cars it helps light up the underbody some.
I normally frequent car forums and most recently home improvement forums. I've been working on doing "budget friendly" improvements to my small 3 bed house with dual car garage. I'm now in the garage phase. I have 2 single garage doors, so my garage is slightly larger in width than the standard 2 door, and in one of the bays it's slightly longer as well.
My goal is to have nice lighting, nice walls, nice cabinets, and nice floor. Last weekend I did 10 new recessed lights (6"), LED. Came out awesome; the way the light reflects off the paint of the two cars is beautful, it looks like a museum or dealership in there just with the lights. I plan on probably doing off-white walls with gray trim. I also plan on doing some Gladiator cabinets and a custom workbench in the long bay. Nothing too fancy or too expensive.
I've had other ideas as well; raising the garage door frame rails, putting diamondplate 4' up the walls, etc., but in the end all that is a little too expensive that may not give large benefits for me.
The floor coating is now my challenge. The garage is my workspace; everything I need to do to my cars, whether it's working on engines, brakes, body, interior, maintenance, etc, that's where it happens. I drop tools, fluids, drag and scrape jacks and stands across the floor, etc. Currently my garage has lots of spots and stains and drag marks from all the work, so I know it's going to happen. Also, almost daily one of those cars goes out in the morning and returns in the evening (daily driver).
I originally was going to go with an epoxy floor, and UCoatIt was recommended by a friend. Coming on here, I've discovered others such as Legacy and EpoxyCoat that seem to get good reviews. Rustoleum Professional Solvent intrigues me as well, strictly because of the price. The reason I say this is because if there are issues with any type of coating that may pull up regardless of prep, then I might as well save the money.
RockSolid's polyurea now also interests me as well, and I believe Legacy may also have a polyaspartic? Racedeck and Swisstrax really don't interest me; I don't like the floating floor feel for the garage, and remember I also want to be able to easily get the jack out to get the car up quickly without having to take flooring out. I've thought about VCT tile, but I honestly don't feel like that belongs in the garage either for what I want to do. I dont think it'll look right, nor do I know how it'll hold up with the jack and jackstands.
One last thing: I believe my concrete floor is sealed or coated. One day when I was working with a cleaner (I don't remember if it was brake cleaner, MAF cleaner, or some other liquid) I noticed that where I had been working the floor started to get hot. The fluid had started to react on the floor and when I went to wipe it up it was sticky and was causing swipe swirls on the floor. Had to use a few towels to get it all up.
Well guys if you read this far I really appreciate it (now that I've told you my life story lol). What do you guys recommend given my constraints? I don't want a perfectly kept floor because I plan on using it, but at the same time I don't want an ugly chipped or damaged floor that doesn't look good when the cars are just sitting. I do want something glossy that reflects and looks nice, and at the same time something light colored that will reflect light so when I'm underneath the cars it helps light up the underbody some.
