Recent content by noles

Thanks for the suggestions. 409 is a mild soapy solution and worked quite well. It was more an issue of the spoon being too wide and the wrong shape for the joint I think.

After seeing a Family Handyman article suggesting the use of a spoon to tool sealant, I figured I’d try to improve the look of the sealant. Well I couldn’t get the hang of the spoon technique, even with liberal use of 409. However, I liked the idea of building the sealant up against the wall...

Finished caulking expansion joints. Looks fine from afar. But definitely not thrilled with irregular surface in places. I used Sika 1a with 409 to tool the caulk, and a topping of fine silica sand. If I pulled the tape right away, I was left with a “fold” of caulk that I struggled...

The responses on the thread have been really helpful. I decided to use 1x baseboards to cover up the expansion joints in areas without stem walls, and to use polyurethane caulk to fill the expansion joints where they could be seen. Here are the baseboards in progress and after: I’m...

Yes, but don’t you recommend a more elastic epoxy-like filler in the article below as an alternative? Something that fills the cracks but isn’t as hard as the coating? Or was their advice just for contraction at joints in the middle of the driveway and not the expansion joints at the perimeter...

Ok, so I’m cleaning up the expansion joints that I can’t easily baseboard over. Will caulk after epoxy. Anyone know what is going on with concrete here though? Concrete at edge looks like it almost rotted in places. It’s brown and pitted. What’s the best prep of areas like this before...

Thanks. I’m on the fence about epoxy coating. Maybe I’ll just fix the cracks, clean it up a bit, and paint/seal it a solid color. I love the look of the epoxy but I’m not sure if it’s worth the time or money for what I use the garage for. My main goals are to stop the constant concrete dust and...

Hello everyone. Glad to be a new member of the forums. I’ve already posted in the flooring section, and members have been extremely generous with their time and knowledge. The pic here sums up what started my garage improvement journey. My intent was to add a few small panels of drywall on...

Have you ever used the non-self leveling variety? Any reason to use it other than a large slope or being unable to keep sealant from running out? Also, I saw a guy on YT use silica sand on top of caulk to “finish” the joint. Basically to prevent bugs and debris from getting in while curing...

I get it now. Nothing I do below the epoxy is going to stop those joints from moving, which means the epoxy coating above it can crack. Caulk it is then. Thanks for your input.

This is a good point since I had planned to try to install a baseboard somewhere anyway to hide the ragged bottom of the drywall. I don’t know why I was thinking I had to do it all one way. I think I will probably use the baseboard to cover the expansion joints where there is no concrete...

Thanks for the diagram. This makes sense. Would you use tapcon screws to secure the baseboard to the concrete ledge? With scribing and cutting the boards I’m worried it could end up being just as time-consuming as caulk.

Thanks. Makes sense. I can cut down the stubborn areas using the angle grinder to make an even cut along a line and then use the oscillating too to cut a section of that board out. Did you have areas where the concrete on the garage side of the joint was damaged/crumbling into the gap? I’ve...

I like that idea and I think it would work for the area where the expansion joint falls directly below the drywall, but what would you do for the areas where the joint is in front of the stem wall? The baseboard would come straight down on top of that ledge, still leaving the issue of the joint...

I'm planning on epoxy-coating my garage floor and I'm somewhat confused with how I should treat the gaps around the perimeter of my garage between the driveway concrete and the foundation. There is a huge amount of variation in their condition (width of gap up to 1.25", presence of fiberboard...