Am I the only one that hates Epoxy/Plastic Flooring?

[Money2536]

All, I decided that I'm going to wait a few years before I build my dream garage, so I'm going to make my 22X24 two car super nice to hold me over.

Here is what it currently looks like:

I've been working on my Moduline Cabinet Design. I have a 24 foot back wall that I'm going to do around March. I'm planning on doing something like this:

My question that I can't seem to find too many answers on is about flooring. Sorry to offend the majority, but I will absolutely not be doing Epoxy, Painting, or using Plastic Floor tiles. I have my heart set on polishing the concrete, but I can't seem to figure out who does it. I've called a couple of contractors and they have no idea what I'm talking about. Any suggestions?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Good choice for Florida. Polished floors up North get killed by road salt.
It will be slippery when wet.

Call my man Allen @ Concrete Textures, PH: 407-474-6554
He will help you.

 

[Money2536]

Good choice for Florida. Polished floors up North get killed by road salt.
It will be slippery when wet.

Call my man Allen @ Concrete Textures, PH: 407-474-6554
He will help you.

Wow, looking at your website, you have some really cool stuff. I'm assuming Allen is an installer of your products? I will call him tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Yes. I texted him, so he is expecting your call.
He can talk options with you.

Good luck and call us if you have questions.

 

[Money2536]

Yes. I texted him, so he is expecting your call.
He can talk options with you.

Good luck and call us if you have questions.

Thank you! Now I'm excited. You guys are only 45 minutes from me!

 

[240sxguy]

I gotta ask, I can't figure it out. What's under the cover?

 

[aka Larry]

I gotta ask, I can't figure it out. What's under the cover?

I'm guessing an M3 or M5 based on the exhuast and shark fin.

 

[Beowulf]

What system are you using for hanging your ladder and other stuff?

 

[Jagmandave]

No, you're not the only one.....

I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but I think the race deck and such look terrible - just my opinion of course - but it doesn't work for me.

I use the McLaren garage as my guide - he has white tile down on his floor and it's absolutely pristine - of course they can afford it!

But since I can't afford such luxury, if I had my druthers, a good, smooth polished concrete floor would be fine, I don't need the fancy stains either, just a nice clean shiny concrete floor.

This is a clean shop!

 

[workhurts]

I'd guess e92 M3 but those wheels are throwing me off.

 

[SMKS]

Am I the only one that hates Epoxy/Plastic Flooring?

I don't "hate" epoxy or other floor coatings, but I guess I don't get too excited about them. My garage is mostly a working garage, so I don't care if it has a plain concrete floor. It's not a show garage and I don't want it to be one.

The payoff for the time/effort/money is not worth it to me for epoxy or other options.

 

[Beowulf]

What is the cost per square foot to polish a floor?

 

[Money2536]

I gotta ask, I can't figure it out. What's under the cover?

E92 M3 that I just pre-traded for a 991 911 C2S!

 

[Money2536]

What system are you using for hanging your ladder and other stuff?

It's Rubbermaid Fast Track.

http://www.rubbermaid.com/category/pages/subcategorylanding.aspx?CatName=GarageOrganization&SubCatId=FastTrackGarageOrganizationSystem

 

[Money2536]

I'd guess e92 M3 but those wheels are throwing me off.

Klassen M52R Wheels.

 

[240sxguy]

E92 M3 that I just pre-traded for a 991 911 C2S!

We're going to need some pictures of that

I thought it was a BMW, but I couldn't place it!!

 

[Money2536]

We're going to need some pictures of that

I thought it was a BMW, but I couldn't place it!!

Here you go:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=886154

 

[Cosmos366]

You must love it when people ask about your BMW. As you should, it's beautiful.
I think all of your posts should include the above picture, although some may not agree...

 

[Money2536]

You must love it when people ask about your BMW. As you should, it's beautiful.
I think all of your posts should include the above picture, although some may not agree...

Ha...ha... I guess I do. I actually just took the M3 apart and traded it in in September. I took it to the dealer to have it appraised with all of the parts on it. I told them it will be stock when I trade it. The sales manager said, "oh yes we would definitely want it only if it's stock." I brought it back stock and the sales manager looked pretty disappointed on how different the car looked.

 

[240sxguy]

Beautiful car!

 

[JMURiz]

I'm not a fan of epoxy or plastic flooing either. I like the look of concrete, I'm just planning on sealing my floor to get some minor protection and shine without loosing that concrete look.

 

[Money2536]

I think I have it figured out. We aren't going to polish the concrete as it is very expensive and not so durable. I'm going to have a local company clean/lightly sand the concrete, put two coats of a clear epoxy, and then finish with a final coat of Urethane. It's going to cost me about $3.50 a foot total, so about $1,900. I'm excited to get it done. I'll post some photos of the process.

 

[CarbonCrew]

I'm asking because I dont know, what is the advantage of toping the epoxy with a urethane? UV protection?

 

[ct71rr]

Jeebus that's a nice car! I'm not a fan of the race deck plastic tile floors either. I don't mind epoxy.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

No, you're not the only one. I was never sold on the Epoxy floors. I didn't think it would be durable long term. In my garage in my sig line I had sealed concrete floors. It was a very good "working garage" floor. My beef with it, it's blah! Ugly, no character, no pretty. Yup, I said it. I know, a floor is a floor. But it would have been great to get it to look nice.

Fast forward to now, we just moved from that TX house to S.FL. The garage of the house we are renting has an epoxy floor. It looks terrible after use. Parts have peeled up and rubbed off. It scratches (well, I scratched it dragging my heavy workbench a foot or two). But it looks exactly like I imagined it would look and why I never wanted it. Granted I don't know who installed it or how thorough they were with prep. And I don't know how long it has been installed in there.

If money wasn't an object or at least in high supply I think I have settled on stain and seal the concrete with a nice neutral color other than "cement greyish-brown". I think I'd like to try that on a house we build.

Looking forward to the pics of progress.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

If money wasn't an object or at least in high supply I think I have settled on stain and seal the concrete with a nice neutral color other than "cement greyish-brown".

 

[James-W]

I think most people just want to have a garage floor that looks presentable, not only to others who will see it, but to themselves as well. A badly stained concrete floor does not look very good, no matter how well you try to clean it up. A very good floor covering properly applied can take a terrible looking floor and turn it into something that looks really nice. Why is it such a bad thing to have a nice looking garage floor? Obviously, you have to be a little careful with any finished floor, and some floor coverings are better than others for different situations. But once you have a floor covering suited to your individual needs you will have something that not only looks good, you will have a garage floor that is at least somewhat protected from accidental spills and other minor problems that would stain or cause problems with a “concrete only” garage floor.

 

[pro517]

I did a polished floor in my hangar and love it. Cost 2.30/sq. Ft to do....cheaper than paint. However, I planned the polish when building the building and put reddish brown dye in the concrete to give it more of a "granite" look. I will look up the name of the contractor and post again, along with a few pics. I used the same contractors to do a dining lunch room type of area at another building with new concrete and no dye and while it looks good, it's still gray.
I am with you on plastic and epoxy but on older concrete just don't know what other options look good.

 

[Beowulf]

pro517,

I'd love to see pics of those floors.

 

[pro517]

I'm on it! I will get some pics tomorrow and hopefully post tomorrow night. Two things about my polished floor:
1. It is very slick when wet
2. I didn't have them go to the "ultra slick mirror finish" because of aforementioned slickness.

Oh, and the floor must be absolutely clean (no oil) or you will have spots. They installed the hydraulic hangar door and got a few spots of fluid on the floor and it is permanent now!
You guys will love the door, it is 22' tall and 85' wide with no supports welded to the building!
http://www.hpdoors.com/

 

[A_Pmech]

I'm a fan of epoxy.

However, I've always wanted mechanical Art-Deco Terrazzo designs like Hoover Dam:

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I did a polished floor in my hangar and love it. Cost 2.30/sq. Ft to do....cheaper than paint. However, I planned the polish when building the building and put reddish brown dye in the concrete to give it more of a "granite" look. I will look up the name of the contractor and post again, along with a few pics. I used the same contractors to do a dining lunch room type of area at another building with new concrete and no dye and while it looks good, it's still gray.
I am with you on plastic and epoxy but on older concrete just don't know what other options look good.

Older concrete can be stained and sealed, dyed and polished, etc...
We have quite a few folks that grind off old coatings and go for polishing as you did. We recently participated in a FireHouse project. They were tired of coatings like you and opted to polish. We supplied all the polishing tooling for the flooring contractor.

Here is a link regarding the Diamabrush Polishing System for those interested.
http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/diamabrush-concrete-polishing-tool-c-26.html

 

[pro517]

Older concrete can be stained and sealed, dyed and polished, etc...
We have quite a few folks that grind off old coatings and go for polishing as you did. We recently participated in a FireHouse project. They were tired of coatings like you and opted to polish. We supplied all the polishing tooling for the flooring contractor.

Here is a link regarding the Diamabrush Polishing System for those interested.
http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/diamabrush-concrete-polishing-tool-c-26.html

That is basically the same system, other than this contractor had "ride on" zamboni looking deals that he changed discs on when he went to a finer grit. One guy grinding and one guy riding a "riding shop vac" cleaning up grindings. They do Wal Marts and other big warehouses. My little 8000 sq. foot project was one of their smaller ones, took only 3 days.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Any pics to share? Would like to see your hangar.

 

[greg9719]

I too am interested in a polished/cleared floor. Works good at my fire station so why not at home. We have a contract in on a house and so long as everything goes through I will be looking to do the garage floor in December.

Can you recommend anyone in the Jacksonville, FL area?

 

[pro517]

Ok sorry for the delay, I have a couple pics to post.
The first is a close up of a 3x3' area to show detail of polish look and the rest are just general.
One pic of the rest room/storage area.

 

[pro517]

As I mentioned before, they could have gone to a higher gloss yet, but I was afraid it would be too slick. I now think it would have been the same so in retrospect I would fully polish the next one.
Also, I used concrete dye when we poured the floor and requested uniform size aggregate. I have also seen some amazing dye and polish on existing floors but have no experience with them.
Overall I love the floor for how it is used!

 

[thegarageguy]

I'm planning on doing something like this:

My question that I can't seem to find too many answers on is about flooring. Sorry to offend the majority, but I will absolutely not be doing Epoxy, Painting, or using Plastic Floor tiles. I have my heart set on polishing the concrete, but I can't seem to figure out who does it. I've called a couple of contractors and they have no idea what I'm talking about. Any suggestions?

Hate to break it to you but that looks more like a stain and epoxy sealed concrete rather than a polished floor.

As another poster said, polished concrete will not hold up to oils and stains very well.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Ok sorry for the delay, I have a couple pics to post.
The first is a close up of a 3x3' area to show detail of polish look and the rest are just general.
One pic of the rest room/storage area.

Excellent!

 

[pro517]

With the sealer/epoxy/ whatever they called it the put down before the final two stages of polish, the floor is very resistant to oils, etc. As much so as an epoxy paint I suspect.