Another thread about epoxy coating an oily garage floor.

[exploringnh]

I'm looking to epoxy coat my garage floor. I picked up some of the Epoxy garage floor system from Home Depot today. Not the colored stuff with the flakes, just plain high gloss clear. I want to tint it and apply. First, I need to get the floor moderately clean. I'm looking to stay in this garage for another 6 months of daily use, then I'm moving out. I want the floor to look respectable when I leave, but it doesn't need to be perfect.

I've already tried simple green and a heavy dose of manual labor with a stiff scrub brush.

I'm thinking of trying to find an alkaline cleaner and having at it. Do I also need to etch? Will the stains come up enough to look half decent?

My other question is that the spoxy I have says to apply at above 60*F. It's currently mid 50s but will be cooling off over the next few days. Is it possible to get this down with just an extended cure time in the colder weather, or is it just not going to work? I typically don't keep it heated at night.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Sooo how do I fix my starter with an alternator I just picked up at NAPA

I'm only giving you a hard time, but I am half serious. I put it that way because I am sure you have had a lot of people ask you car questions and you just kind of smile and nod....

You are not dealing with an oil stain here. Looks more like complete oil saturation and coating the floor with anything is not going to be easy. But coating it with a clear top coat, in cooler temperatures and some tint is definitely not the way to go.

You said 6 months. Is the goal here to hide what has been done to the floor, 'fix it' or give you a nicer working surface?

At minimum, I would think you are going to need to use a combination of cleaners (like simple green) and products to soak out the oil (like Pour N Restore). Then your going to need to grind the floor and see what your left with. Chances are, you are still going to need an oil inhibiting primer... If not... I would do a primer followed by high solids but if you wanted to be cheap you MIGHT get by with a good primer and top coat.

 

[Garage Flooring]

One more quick thought here... If this is an active shop, you are not going to want to stay off the floor as long as you need to with an epoxy. Polyaspartic might be a better bet for you but now we are talking a whole different ball game.

 

[exploringnh]

Basically I want it to look nicer for 6 months. I know the Home Depot stuff is garbage but was hoping to just get a little life out of it for <$200 or so in total.

Unfortunately, race deck, or a real epoxy floor just isn't in the budget for this place. It would be a waste of money to do it the way I want, then move out. I'll save the real stuff for the real shop. If this isn't going to work, I'll just leave it how it is.

 

[exploringnh]

One more quick thought here... If this is an active shop, you are not going to want to stay off the floor as long as you need to with an epoxy. Polyaspartic might be a better bet for you but now we are talking a whole different ball game.

Minimizing down time is important. I can stay off it for 5 days (basically I'll take a long weekend).

 

[Slowgsr]

Does the owner of the building have say?
Cheap floor paint, but that floors a mess.

 

[exploringnh]

Does the owner of the building have say?
Cheap floor paint, but that floors a mess.

That would be me. This garage has had a hard life. It was pretty messed up from the previous owner which led to me being pretty careless at first. Once I got the idea in my head a few months ago to do something about it, I've been careful to catch all fluids before they hit the ground. I've done very well, but the damage has already been done.

I definitely considered painting it and I may do that. It would be easy to touch up. I was hoping that a tinted epoxy would be a little more resilient and still easy to touch up.

 

[Shea]

I definitely considered painting it and I may do that. It would be easy to touch up. I was hoping that a tinted epoxy would be a little more resilient and still easy to touch up.

Paint or epoxy, I think Justin hit the nail on the head with the big issue - oil in the concrete. That definitely needs to come up first before any topical coating or paint is applied.

 

[James-W]

In my opinion, considering the amount of time it will take to clean up the oil spills on the floor, and the amount of work it will take to get the floor ready for epoxy, for the 6 months you plan on being there it is not worth the effort.

Now if you are considering doing it so that the place will sell quicker and/or be more attractive to a potential buyer, that is another story. Most people like to see a nice neat looking floor in the garage, not some dingy old oil soaked and dirty looking floor. So from a selling point it may well be in your best interest to epoxy the floor, or go with some other coating/covering that looks really nice.

 

[MagicMarker]

I'd say if you're just painting/ epoxy to sell the place, go as cheap as possible. And since it's so cool out, let it cure for more than 5 days.

I'm no expert, but can you wait until the last month before you sell the place to coat? Hopefully it'll be warmer by then?

 

[Garage Flooring]

Start here... See if anyone has a quart of Pour N Restore locally and try it in a spot. If it works for you great. If you need volume and they cant help you locally call me. Its not a question of how long it will last. It won't last at all in its present condition. You will have a bigger mess then when you started.

Do you have heat? What type? I can't imagine your working in the cold all day.

 

[exploringnh]

I couldn't find pour n restore but I grabbed some degreaser and went at it with a scrub brush. It made a big dent and it does look a lot better, but it's still bad. There is no way epoxy will stick to this. Water still beads up on it.

At this point, I'm leaning towards just doing vinyl tile. Race deck and the like would be nice, but too hard to clean every day.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Grind it, apply an oil-stop primer, coat as normal.
It is effective and you will be able to put your head on the pillow at night.

Keep in mind the primer is dark and therefore the next coat should not be lighter than medium gray.

The pic is from a customer's German Auto-Shop. He specializes in Audi repair and upgrades.

 

[ford33]

Six months will go by fast. Leave it as is and let the next person make a decision. Doing a sub-par job only complicates the next persons efforts at doing it right.

 

[borisdavenport]

I'm looking to epoxy coat my garage floor. I picked up some of the Epoxy garage floor system from Home Depot today. Not the colored stuff with the flakes, just plain high gloss clear. I want to tint it and apply. First, I need to get the floor moderately clean. I'm looking to stay in this garage for another 6 months of daily use, then I'm moving out. I want the floor to look respectable when I leave, but it doesn't need to be perfect.

I've already tried simple green and a heavy dose of manual labor with a stiff scrub brush.

I'm thinking of trying to find an alkaline cleaner and having at it. Do I also need to etch? Will the stains come up enough to look half decent?

My other question is that the spoxy I have says to apply at above 60*F. It's currently mid 50s but will be cooling off over the next few days. Is it possible to get this down with just an extended cure time in the colder weather, or is it just not going to work? I typically don't keep it heated at night.

Could you please update the details I am also trying to DIY project for my garage floor. I read that the strength of flooring dependents on the exact mixture of epoxy and urethane. Could you explain the ratio you used for mixing,

 

[borisdavenport]

Kindly update the details I dn't have previous experience on this matter.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Could you please update the details I am also trying to DIY project for my garage floor. I read that the strength of flooring dependents on the exact mixture of epoxy and urethane. Could you explain the ratio you used for mixing,

Whawhawhat????
Never deviate from ratios on cans!!!


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[sns1938]

Sooo how do I fix my starter with an alternator I just picked up at NAPA

...

At minimum, I would think you are going to need to use a combination of cleaners (like simple green) and products to soak out the oil (like Pour N Restore). Then your going to need to grind the floor and see what your left with. Chances are, you are still going to need an oil inhibiting primer... If not... I would do a primer followed by high solids but if you wanted to be cheap you MIGHT get by with a good primer and top coat.

Hijacking the thread a little. For a garage floor like this, with some oil staining, but not as bad as a gas station forecourt, is there any point scrubbing with simple green before grinding?

I will take possession of a 45 year old garage soon, and plan to grind before doing a primer+epoxy+topcoat. I don't want to waste a day scrubbing or the cost/time of Pour N Restore if that only cleans the top surface that I'll be grinding away anyway.

Thanks

 

[Armorpoxy]

We carry a special primer that will adhere to residual oil on floors. Works great.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Degrease it well, Grind it and then wet the floor. If it beads water you need to use an oil stop primer or risk delamination.

Here is a pic, from a Legacy Industrial customer, of what the oil-stop primer looks like.




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[DocRock]

Please don't to a cheap and dirty quick fix. It'll just create a big problem for the next guy. It'd be like spraying paint over rust just to hide it from the buyer. Your credibility/character is toast when the reality is revealed.

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