I just built a 1000sf race shop/garage. I'm seeing that to put epoxy on it the cost will be $3 to $5.25 per sq ft (based on what I've seen on the GJF).
All the epoxied floor look so nice. But then I'm getting suggestion to leave it alone so I won't experience peeling and lifting and worry about chipping the nice floor.
Then I get a suggestion to apply some "densifier and penetrating stain guard" and apparently not worry about epoxying it.
I'm getting confused and I don't think I've gotten to the point of overthinking (yet!) what to do.
Each and every application is different. A lot of it depends on what you need and what you want and how you are using your floor. If you are in it for the aesthetics a coated floor can be beautiful, when properly selected applied.
There are also many here on the Forum and elsewhere who could really care less, they like the look of bare concrete but they want to protect it. That is where densifiers and stain blockers come in. ESPECIALLY if there is a lot of welding going on and they do not want to protect the floor -- that was the case in the post I quoted in my second reply.
There are a ton of coating failures that get posted and talked about. This is true. Like Scotty said, a lot of it has to do with preparation and application. Coatings fail for other reasons too, generally not the coatings fault. Moisture issues, improper mixing, you name it. That said, I can't prove it but if you added up everything else (tiles, mats, etc) I don't think it would hold a candle to the number of coatings jobs.
Technology is also changing. We have seen testimonial after testimonial on the
Rust Bullet product. Long term and short term. It's not a high build epoxy and will never replace that market, but it is a very easy system that has proven itself in industrial, commercial and DIY applications w/o grinding or etching. All that to say, we use 'epoxy' in a generic way and there are other coatings.
At the end of the day it comes down to the same question we ask everyone who wants a recommendation. How do you use your garage.... shop ... building and what are we trying to accomplish.
I really do like the look of the epoxy, but I'd be afraid to mess it up with all the work I do (besides not in the budget right now). I can look at stains on the floor in my old garage under the house and recall some of the crazy jobs I had to do.