supercoat or epoxy-coat or..... for working hobby garage

I am planning on coating my garage floor...it is about 2.5 years old. Somewhat soiled but I will scrub it before it gets coated.

Either way I am looking for a brand suggestion....I would like to spend under $600. It is 864sq ft...

This is a garage that I park my DD in year round (michigan, snow, ice, salt, etc) and I also work on my hobby cars. The garage sees light fab....welding, etc etc
I might also paint a car in it.

So with that said I am looking for suggestions on what brand coating to go with. I would like the wolverine coating but I cannot see spending $1200 on the floor. I would just leave it bare for that price.

Also...do the flakes help it keeping the floor slip resistant? If not can I just leave the flake off? I am wondering if the flake will hide things I drop, screws, nuts, etc .

What does sparking from grinding do to an epoxy floor? What about welding ? Any heavy welding I do will be on a welding table but body work will be over the floor.

Is a epoxy floor going to work for me? Or would it be better to just leave it bare? I like the idea of making it look better and make spills easier to clean up but don't want it to be in bad shape in a couple years.

I am thinking about some sort of blue for the floor....would it be better to go lighter to help light reflection?

I used the Supercoat and I'm satisfied with it, it's a low cost product. The kit from Sam's club had clear topcoat and I added the non-slip aggregate provided. We washed and acid etched before application. I bought 4 kits for this 780SF garage, even with other supplies I had only about $400.00 in the job. (Stone Gray Color) Here's the thread and photos of floor:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66867

Here's Sam'sClub Supercoat link:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=138905&navAction=

Here's a thread regarding the product before I did the floor:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55995

The floor is so nice to clean, well worth the effort to install it.
I have no problems parking on it, no tire pickup. I waited 7 days before parking cars on the floor. Whatever you use do a through preparation. I think welding would burn any epoxy floor, I bought a welding blanket on eBay and will put it on the floor for protection. I'd go light color for reflection. Let us know what you decide

There are at least 4 or 5 vendors actively participating on this forum.
Talk to them.

regguy1: thanks for the sams club link. The price through sams is a deal!! $63 a kit, I should need 4 or maybe 5 kits. Your floor looks really nice. Does the flake help for slip resistance as well as the "grit"? Does the non slip stuff come with the kit? How long has yours been on?

On another note, what lift do you have? I have never seen one like that.

jakeb said:

regguy1: thanks for the sams club link. The price through sams is a deal!! $63 a kit, I should need 4 or maybe 5 kits. Your floor looks really nice. Does the flake help for slip resistance as well as the "grit"? Does the non slip stuff come with the kit? How long has yours been on?

On another note, what lift do you have? I have never seen one like that.

Click to expand...

The chips help only slightly for non slip, the additive for the top clear coat comes with the kits from Sam's. I did the floor in early June, so about 2 1/2 months it's been down. Take time to fill defects / cracks in your floor, they will show up more after the epoxy is down. The Supercoat is designed as a DIY kit and they seem to minimize prep in their instructions...I'd reccomend you do the acid etch, that seemed to make the concrete a bit rougher and let the epoxy adhere better.

Costco sells Epoxy Master 100% solids kit Here:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...oxy floor&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode matchallpartial

The lift is the MaxJax:

http://www.maxjaxusa.com/

Here's a thread about it:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71225

And Here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35763&highlight=maxjax

Here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71554&highlight=maxjax

I got the lift on the GJ group buy if you can't do that Costco has the best price I've seen Incl. shipping:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...540&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C

wow thanks for all the info...

I actually have a lift from gregg smith, baseplate so it just fits in my 10' ceiling garage. I love my lift!!

regguy1 said:

The chips help only slightly for non slip, the additive for the top clear coat comes with the kits from Sam's. I did the floor in early June, so about 2 1/2 months it's been down. Take time to fill defects / cracks in your floor, they will show up more after the epoxy is down. The Supercoat is designed as a DIY kit and they seem to minimize prep in their instructions...I'd reccomend you do the acid etch, that seemed to make the concrete a bit rougher and let the epoxy adhere better.

Costco sells Epoxy Master 100% solids kit Here:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...oxy floor&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode matchallpartial

The lift is the MaxJax:

http://www.maxjaxusa.com/

Here's a thread about it:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71225

And Here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35763&highlight=maxjax

Here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71554&highlight=maxjax

I got the lift on the GJ group buy if you can't do that Costco has the best price I've seen Incl. shipping:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...540&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C

Click to expand...

Awesome info regguy! When I saw the before and after pics I was really impressed with the flooring results you got and then suddenly was twice as jealous over the lift and wanted to know more!

My dear wife managed to destroy part of the freshly re-done kitchen with a hot oil mishap and the insurance company is still dragging their heels on paying up because of all the recent work we did. So we're starving for a bit while we wait and I'm finding the delay is giving me more things to consider as I see some of the great results you guys are posting.

Thanks a ton!

joelietz
Junior Member Said:

Awesome info regguy! When I saw the before and after pics I was really impressed with the flooring results you got and then suddenly was twice as jealous over the lift and wanted to know more!

My dear wife managed to destroy part of the freshly re-done kitchen with a hot oil mishap and the insurance company is still dragging their heels on paying up because of all the recent work we did. So we're starving for a bit while we wait and I'm finding the delay is giving me more things to consider as I see some of the great results you guys are posting.

Thanks a ton

Keep coming on GJ and you'll have your retirement fund spent.......

Look what happened to me, I spent so much on the garage I had to sell the house and move here:

regguy1, did you use the clear glaze that was included with the Sam's Club kit? What were your thoughts about it? I'm debating whether or not it's worth the extra money to buy the Industrial Glaze Coat from Supercoat direct and use that instead. It would only be an extra $100 or so for a double garage, based on the information at http://www.supercoat.us/pc-185-46-supercoat-waterborne-industrial-glaze-coat.aspx. Thanks.

Paul

pawolf said:

regguy1, did you use the clear glaze that was included with the Sam's Club kit? What were your thoughts about it? I'm debating whether or not it's worth the extra money to buy the Industrial Glaze Coat from Supercoat direct and use that instead. It would only be an extra $100 or so for a double garage, based on the information at http://www.supercoat.us/pc-185-46-supercoat-waterborne-industrial-glaze-coat.aspx. Thanks.

Paul

Click to expand...

I did use the standard clear provided, I would use the clear, one thing I noticed, and this is mentioned by a reviewer on the Sam's Club site...when water sits on the floor for awhile the clear turns milky white under the standing water, when you wipe it up or it evaporates it goes back to normal clear after several hours. After a couple of months this goes away.(doesen't turn milky anymore) I'm thinking I'd probably upgrade to the industrial stuff if I was doing it over.

Just looked at the link for the Ind Glaze:They're saying to put mats under "high performance" ?? tires for 90 days with the Ind. stuff ? Maybe just stick with the standard clear ?? Ask Brian, mine is ok with the standing water now after 2 1/2 months. It didn't delaminate from the epoxy, just turned white. Kinda funny, brake fluid / oil / anti freeze won't turn it white, just the water. Probably has a curing period.

I'm not sure what kind of tires they're talking about, need more info / research
Caution: Some new, high-performance tires may stain fresh urethane coatings. Based on industry standards, a protective mat should be used under each of these tires for at least 90 days (until the cure cycle is complete).

FYI: I could wash a car and Squeegee to floor and it didn't turn white, the water had to sit for hours before it did that.

You could PM Brian @ Supercoat and maybe he could fix you up with the better stuff ? He posted the last entry in this thread, GJ name SUPERCOAT:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66867