Removing pain ted floor or just cover it?

[FireTurtle]

We've been in our house nearly a year & I'm just now getting the garage in decent shape. I need to paint it, but the floor has been bugging me. It really looks crappy. Most of the floor looks like it was painted a battleship grey which isn't bad & one spot was painted white over the grey. I can't tell if the grey paint is anything special, but both the gray & white look like **** from age & wear & tear from the PO's.

Would it be cheaper to have this stripped & epoxied or would it be more cost effective to cover it with racedeck or something similar?

Near the wall it doesn't cover all the way here.

Where the white is over the gray.

 

[Shea]

Grinding the floor and installing a good epoxy floor system yourself is cheaper than RaceDeck. However, you can have a nice RaceDeck floor installed in a couple of hours or so and the only prep required is to sweep your floor.

You might want to decide how you plan on using your floor before making a decision. I'm sure you will get a lot of advice from people who have done one or the other.

 

[FireTurtle]

One side of the garage is for working on cars, restoring & storing my dune buggy & the other side other than my workbench is mostly man cave space. I also use it as my 2nd home office when the weather is nice.
I like the idea of the race deck for the speedy installation, but not sure how well it will work for rolling back & forth in an office chair & rolling other stuff around. I have several mobile items on furniture dollies & what not.
I also don't relish the idea of grinding the floor surface either with my jacked up back.

 

[James-W]

Re: Removing Painted Floor or Just Cover it?

As has been mentioned, if you can do the epoxy yourself then it will be cheaper, but there will be an awful lot of prep work for you to do. It is my understanding the prep work can be very time consuming, especially if you find there are stains and such under the paint. As I am sure you are aware, in some cases paint can be used to cover a multitude of sins. Unless you know the condition of the concrete under the paint, it may well be that after removing the paint it would very difficult to do an epoxy job. Since your back is giving you problems anyway, if you really want to go with epoxy, I would suggest you hire someone to do it. Or, you may want to just go with the Racedeck flooring and install it yourself. It would be much simpler to put it down and the prep time wouldn't take more than just a few minutes.

 

[jaye944]

Grinding the floor and installing a good epoxy floor system yourself is cheaper than RaceDeck. However, you can have a nice RaceDeck floor installed in a couple of hours or so and the only prep required is to sweep your floor.

You might want to decide how you plan on using your floor before making a decision. I'm sure you will get a lot of advice from people who have done one or the other.

^^^ what the man says.... he knows his $hit

 

[jaye944]

Re: Removing Painted Floor or Just Cover it?

James has a good point.

What I would do is hire out a diamond floor grinder, and SEE what the condition of the floor is.

If you go the eopxy route, you'd need to do that anyway

As has been mentioned, if you can do the epoxy yourself then it will be cheaper, but there will be an awful lot of prep work for you to do. It is my understanding the prep work can be very time consuming, especially if you find there are stains and such under the paint. As I am sure you are aware, in some cases paint can be used to cover a multitude of sins. Unless you know the condition of the concrete under the paint, it may well be that after removing the paint it would very difficult to do an epoxy job. Since your back is giving you problems anyway, if you really want to go with epoxy, I would suggest you hire someone to do it. Or, you may want to just go with the Racedeck flooring and install it yourself. It would be much simpler to put it down and the prep time wouldn't take more than just a few minutes.

 

[RaceDeck1]

Hi,

RaceDeck is an excellent solution for covering up a painted floor, it is engineered to be in working garages and shops and can handle extreme rolling loads, from jacks to desk chairs, no problem. RD will also provide some nice insulation for your man cave during the colder months. Drop RaceDeck specialist Ashley a line at [email protected] for more information and a free sample.

 

[FireTurtle]

Thanks everyone for the replies. With that & scouring GJ for epoxy processes, I think I have decided the locking tile route is best when I can garner the funds down the road for it & other projects we have planned for the house. I would have had to do the epoxy in stages whether I went DIY & having it done. The quotes I were getting for having it done professionally are a significantly more than Racedeck quoted me.
I have no where to move all of my stuff in the garage without renting a storage unit so I would basically have to move everything to one side, do half of the floor then move it to the other side a week or more later to do the rest. With the locking tiles, I can move everything & start the install, then just move everything on to the completed side & keep rolling on the install.
The other benefit is that I can take the tiles with me if we ever move again.

Shea was on the money with the quick install. It's probably worth the extra money to not have it be a month or so long process with only being able to work on it only on the weekends.

 

[MagicMarker]

^^That's a good point for RD... you can uninstall it and take it with you.