Garage floor concrete repair suggestions

shamoo · Nov 18, 2013

After showing my girlfriend's parents my garage setup, they decided they want to re-do their own garage. End goal is epoxy floor with cabinets to hide all the clutter. Possibly drywalling/re-drywalling some areas and painting.

Of course, repairing the concrete is a must. I've done quite a few garage floors in the past with some filler and self-leveling mix, but I haven't done one this bad. Can anyone recommend some steps to take to make sure the repairs are done well so that they don't come back?

In these pictures, I have removed the existing repair job as it just comes up by hand. Sweeped and removed all the dust. A lot of the damage I feel was caused by the parents covering the floor with cardboard for 20 years. Trapped a lot of moisture and caused a lot of mold on the underside of the cardboard. FYI, house is ~30 years old.

Some questions:
* Since there is damage where the expansion joints are, would it be a problem if I filled in the joints everywhere? I've seen DIYs on this forum where people have made their garage totally smooth.
* What can I do to make sure cracks don't re-form? Do I chip away as much as I can first?
* I'm going to acid etch/clean the floor. Do I do that before/after the filling of cracks?

Pics of the carnage:

After cleaning a bit and throwing away stuff. Filled a ton of trash bags already. Goal is to "hide" the clutter.

Edge of garage, bordering driveway.

This is the only crack in the actual slab. Don't believe it's a structural issue.

The white part is where her dad did some filling. It wasn't done exactly right so it comes up by hand easily.

Thanks!

spotco2 · Nov 18, 2013

WOW!

*Note to self, don't cover garage floor with cardboard for 30 years.

rogerskevin · Nov 19, 2013

That looks pretty messed up, if you not ready to spend then the best option fr you would be to fill it up layers of cement atleast it will make it look good.

Punchwood · Nov 19, 2013

Before the weather turned cold I patched a spot on my floor similar to what you posted with Top n' Bond. I'm now going to leave it until it warms back up- probably till April or May- and see what it does.

I figure that if it doesn't let loose when the floor gets warm again, then I'll do the rest of the floor.

I followed the directions to the "T", so we'll see...................

pauloman · Nov 19, 2013

standard professional fix is solvent free epoxy mixed with sand - sort of epoxy cement - then sovlent free epoxy floor paint - can use basic no blush marine epoxy winter cure down to about 35 degrees temp.

shamoo · Nov 19, 2013

Thanks guys. Just an FYI, I'm actually located in SoCal (I moved a little while ago but never changed my location) so the temps never get below 50 really.

Can I just use that self leveling mix (from Rustoleum) or something from Home Depot, let it cure, and then expoy on top of that? Of course I'd make sure everything was clean first.

bigbadktm · Nov 20, 2013

Think about a pebble finish. With your concrete in that bad of shape, the pebble finish will adhere and somewhat floatover the really bad areas. Now I'm not talking large pebbles like the 70's driveways, but a large sand called coarse aquarium. When troweled out it has a solid texture and looks fantastic. If I had a floor like yours, it's what I would do. Now, people are going to tell you that it isn't as strong, it won't last, it's ugly, outdated and they always fail. Those people have only seen the pebbles that aren't maintained. Many of those pebble driveways have been down for over 30 years without maintenance. I wish I had a picture of the 4 car garage we did with the coarse aquarium, it looks stunning.

LegacyIndustrial · Nov 20, 2013

Be careful what you use to fill. It has to be epoxy based or it will shrink and crack.

shamoo · Nov 20, 2013

Thanks! I'm not sure about a pebble finish. Do you have pictures that you can share? I'm Googling it, but not sure I'm looking at the correct stuff.

As for epoxy based fillers, is that something I can find at the local Home Depot?

EDIT: Is this the stuff? I've seen this before.

bigbadktm · Nov 21, 2013

that is the larger rock, the smaller rock looks like this.

Dale Leeds · Nov 26, 2013

My sidewalk had a 1/4 (raised) crack that I patched over with regular cement. I would check at Lowes or Home Depot. Quickcrete makes special cement to patch areas like this. I'd take the pictures of the floor with you and show them what you have. You should be able to get it pretty level. Good luck.

stage20 · Nov 26, 2013

lowes carries the mapei plani patch. get the latex additive and trowel it on. if you want to go one step further, you can roll the admix on and let it get sticky before applying the patch. goes on with finishing trowel. if you get ridges or low spots you can always sand and refill. will make a nice smooth top in the end for the epoxy to go over.

LegacyIndustrial · Nov 27, 2013

Dale Leeds said:
My sidewalk had a 1/4 (raised) crack that I patched over with regular cement. I would check at Lowes or Home Depot. Quickcrete makes special cement to patch areas like this. I'd take the pictures of the floor with you and show them what you have. You should be able to get it pretty level. Good luck.

Gents, speaking from experience, the cementitious patches you will find at most home centers are junk.

I would not be comfortable placing epoxy over them. They will be the source for a failure in the future.

Repair your areas with an epoxy based patch that has a compressive and flexural strength of 10k psi or more. Epoxy will not shrink, crack or fail from abuse. The major difference is the high strength at very thin thicknesses.

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shamoo · Nov 29, 2013

^^ Where would I obtain an epoxy based patch?

Kochevy67 · Nov 29, 2013

I would cut it out on the perimeter and lay fresh concrete. If you know how to finish it won't be a problem, if you don't then it can get pricey. The bottom line is the overlays are only as good as the base they are put on.

pauls340 · Dec 4, 2013

That's an easy fix. Whether you're in NJ or Calf, find a stocking Mg-Krete Distributor who can get Lock the Top Self Leveling. We cup ground the edge so it wouldn't show under the epoxy covering. Here's a website to track down a rep. www.imcotechnologies.com Regarding your crack, Lock the Top will cover it but if there's any movement it will return.

LegacyIndustrial · Dec 5, 2013

shamoo said:
^^ Where would I obtain an epoxy based patch?

Why right here of course:

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/concrete-repair-c-1.html?zenid=defb6687db5782143a48b6a88f9fafd0

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tommyoneil38 · Aug 15, 2019

It's nice to have a coloured concrete Brisbane floor garage. Easy to drive in to.

Armorpoxy · Aug 17, 2019

We would recommend an epoxy mortar to repair this. See helpful link below about corroded floors.

Another alternative is to skim over with a cementious product and then overlay with our solid www.supratile.com interlocking tiles. Much faster and easier.

https://254gg219z24i1qbcah3y1wxe-wp...t/uploads/2017/11/CORRODED-FLOOR-BULLETIN.pdf

Badbob1919 · Aug 19, 2019

Go epoxy motar. Prep will be a *****, a bunch of mystery things going on there. Need to find a guy with a ‘walk behind’. No Home Depot parking lot trolls need apply on this one...and it’s only being used by a car, at least your not landing an airplane on it!

Garage floor concrete repair suggestions

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