Best DIY Epoxy Garage Flooring

[JetDriver480]

Ok - I know this subject has been beaten to death but what is everyone's opinion on THE BEST epoxy flooring for the DIY'er.

It will be for a 3-car garage.

I am also debating between Grey/Tan color. What does everyone think?

Thx!

 

[AlphaGarage]

I think Wolverine's the best - but then I'm biased.

One of the benefits of the Wolverine system is it uses a dedicated primer epoxy, one that will give you a long lasting floor coating because it penetrates and chemically bonds with concrete, and steel also for that matter. We haven't had cases of failure at the concrete line, not even hot tire lift.

There are two interesting threads here, which sadly I've lost the urls to, both concerned GJ members who used BondTite 1101 as a primer for their floor system. In both cases some BondTite went where it wasn't meant to, no harm though; in one case a small amount of BondTite 1101 oozed under some existing cabinets, in the other situation some BondTite 1101 got underneath a door threshold.

In both cases the BondTite inadvertently cured and hardened on sections of concrete that were not etched, not grinded, heck not even broom cleaned, and it wasn't even back rolled either.

Months later both members went to do some garage upgrades, one replacing cabinets, the other installing a new door. When they demo'd the old stuff they discovered the wayward BondTite, and both of them went to remove it. In both cases the only way they could dislodge the BondTite was to chisel it out, and in both cases it only came up with chunks of concrete still attached - the concrete failed before the BondTite did.

A quality primer is key to a quality room painting project - it's key to painting a car - and it's key to a durable floor coating system.

 

[gav'spurplez]

i used the rusto-leum kit for my garage and think it looks great.
easy to read instructions and the whole job went smooth

 

[Markgyver]

I like PPG Aquapon

 

[TheBanker]

Epoxy-Coat

 

[SUPERCOAT]

There are several great products on the market - and represented on this site as well. We think ours is a fantastic product and it's offered at a very competitive price. Check it out... www.SUPERCOAT.us

 

[YEAHLOH95]

i just did my garage and i think it all comes down to the prep work, if you take the time and do a good job most products will give you the desired results

 

[rugerlady]

We would like to blow our horn as being the best

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

We supply to the industrial marketplace and don't include step by step instructions or tools like my colleagues. Our residential sales are usually limited to concrete repair materials, densifiers, stains and sealers.

However, if you are looking for coatings and know what you are doing, then you won't be disappointed with our materials.

Good luck.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Scotty - You bring up an interesting area... instructions.

Another thread had someone writing about one of the big box store mass market coatings - he noted that the instruction were "short", or "easy", or something like that.

Let's be honest here - a system of one or more layers of a two component is not as simple as painting the guest bathroom. These coatings aren't cheap, and factoring in the time and effort they just aren't a simple room paint project, they're a home improvement project more similar to replacing windows or moving walls. That's not to say they're complicated jobs, just ones where you need to carefully follow the directions - and hope the directions cover the particulars of your unique situation.

A few years back I attended one of the floor coating courses presented by NACE or SPCC. It was a 3 day course dealing mostly with epoxy and rein coatings. One thing that was pretty clear is that the prep for 99% of these products is 99% the same. Sure, there are differences, some of them critical (ratios of A:B etc.) but for the mosty part you need to clean the concrete, profile it, measure and mix the components, and apply.

Considering that so much of the instruction is essentially identical, what's interesting is how some retail products have a page or two of instructions, while others run a dozen pages or more. Having looked at a lot of them there's no doubt that some companies just simplify and present the essential steps, great if your floor is a typical floor - but not so great if you have a question that's not covered.

Picture two packages, the exact same product inside, but with different names, pictures, and visible instructions. Box X has 6 paragraphs of direction, while box Y has 12 paragraphs, with the notation that even more instructions are inside. My guess is that all other factors being somewhat equal, the detailed instruction box will sell worse that the simple one. Customers, understandably, want to take the path of least resistance, or more accurately the path that appears to be easier.

Despite that we're of the mind that more info is the best course to take, and that works for us and works for our clients. We have very few calls from clients who run into trouble. I've heard stats of trouble calls from some of those other products (even field quite a few calls and emails from their users when they hit the wall), and the numbers are shocking, but not surprising when their instructions skim over some of those seemingly minor details that can actually make the difference between success and failure.

Now then complete and detailed instructions can't take all the glory there, I think we have a special group of customers (an unusually high proportion of engineers, technicians, mechanics etc.), and our unique product characteristics also come into play, but I think overall presenting more info is good.

 

[macguy787]

I like PPG Aquapon

Hi Markgyver;
Can you post a pic of your PPG Aquapon floors? I have a local shop here selling the same product but it's not discussed at all with regards to people's experiences.

Thanks in advance,

 

[kmacht]

Although good instructions are important keep in mind, so isn't the company you are buying it from. They need to stand behind their products. You can spend a few thousand dollars on wolverine coatings, do everything per instructions and if it fails you are on your own. Do a search on the forum and you will see what I am talking about. Personally I think that the stuff from quickrete or rustoleum is the best solution for most homes. It is cheap, easy to apply and you won't be out thousands of dollars if it fails.

Keith

 

[Jeremy W]

I used epoxy coat on mine and am very happy. This was the second epoxy floor I have done, I did one at work a few years ago but we used some cheap stuff from Lowes, it was very thin and went on like regular house paint, didn't like it much. epoxy-coat is much thicker, much better product and Christine was very helpful.

 

[xJoey Dubsx]

Where's pictures as proof people?

 

[regguy1]

Where's pictures as proof people?

SUPERCOAT used on mine
More Here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66867

 

[Jeremy W]

Where's pictures as proof people?

here is the link to my floor with pics!

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73964

 

[gmhill33]

Scotty - You bring up an interesting area... instructions.

Another thread had someone writing about one of the big box store mass market coatings - he noted that the instruction were "short", or "easy", or something like that.

Let's be honest here - a system of one or more layers of a two component is not as simple as painting the guest bathroom. These coatings aren't cheap, and factoring in the time and effort they just aren't a simple room paint project, they're a home improvement project more similar to replacing windows or moving walls. That's not to say they're complicated jobs, just ones where you need to carefully follow the directions - and hope the directions cover the particulars of your unique situation.

A few years back I attended one of the floor coating courses presented by NACE or SPCC. It was a 3 day course dealing mostly with epoxy and rein coatings. One thing that was pretty clear is that the prep for 99% of these products is 99% the same. Sure, there are differences, some of them critical (ratios of A:B etc.) but for the mosty part you need to clean the concrete, profile it, measure and mix the components, and apply.

Considering that so much of the instruction is essentially identical, what's interesting is how some retail products have a page or two of instructions, while others run a dozen pages or more. Having looked at a lot of them there's no doubt that some companies just simplify and present the essential steps, great if your floor is a typical floor - but not so great if you have a question that's not covered.

Picture two packages, the exact same product inside, but with different names, pictures, and visible instructions. Box X has 6 paragraphs of direction, while box Y has 12 paragraphs, with the notation that even more instructions are inside. My guess is that all other factors being somewhat equal, the detailed instruction box will sell worse that the simple one. Customers, understandably, want to take the path of least resistance, or more accurately the path that appears to be easier.

Despite that we're of the mind that more info is the best course to take, and that works for us and works for our clients. We have very few calls from clients who run into trouble. I've heard stats of trouble calls from some of those other products (even field quite a few calls and emails from their users when they hit the wall), and the numbers are shocking, but not surprising when their instructions skim over some of those seemingly minor details that can actually make the difference between success and failure.

Now then complete and detailed instructions can't take all the glory there, I think we have a special group of customers (an unusually high proportion of engineers, technicians, mechanics etc.), and our unique product characteristics also come into play, but I think overall presenting more info is good.

How much do you think it would cost to do a garage floor 460sf? I was going with the kit from Costco but the two stores in my area stop selling it. So something along the lines of that is what I'm looking for.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[SUPERCOAT]

You would need two SUPERCOAT kits to do that size garage and I would recommend a coat of our Industrial Glaze Coat to go over the top. It would run you less than $300 delivered. www.SUPERCOAT.us

 

[regguy1]

You would need two SUPERCOAT kits to do that size garage and I would recommend a coat of our Industrial Glaze Coat to go over the top. It would run you less than $300 delivered. www.SUPERCOAT.us

Can the industrial glaze be added over the standard glaze coat ?

 

[gmhill33]

You would need two SUPERCOAT kits to do that size garage and I would recommend a coat of our Industrial Glaze Coat to go over the top. It would run you less than $300 delivered. www.SUPERCOAT.us

Can a person just add some kind of sealer over the existing floor with putting down epoxy.

Thanks.

 

[AlphaGarage]

How much do you think it would cost to do a garage floor 460sf? I was going with the kit from Costco but the two stores in my area stop selling it. So something along the lines of that is what I'm looking for.

Thanks,
Gary

For most home garage and auto shop applications we recommend a three layer epoxy coating system for maximum durability and lasting appearance. The primer coat would be BondTite 1101, a 100% solids epoxy with extremely tenacious grip strength. That would be followed with a coat of LiquaTile 1184, this pigmented epoxy will give your floor the ability to withstand shock and impacts minimizing chip outs. Finally a clear coat of EnduraShield 2254 to help resist abrasion and give the floor a high gloss finish. In addition to curing to an extremely hard and durable surface, EnduraShield 2254 is also UV resistant.

For your 460 sq ft your ideal system would have 1.5 gallons of BondTite 1101 for the primer coat, 3.75 gallons of LiquaTile 1184 as the body coat, and 1.25 gallons of EnduraShield 2254 for the UV resistant clear coat. For most colors those would be $645. With those recommended materials, combined you would have a floor coating system with a nominal thickness of around 22.2 mils (not including waste – material left on brushes, in cans etc.).

By the way - we do encourage you to find and read all the threads on Garage Journal posted by our clients. Here's a list of all the Flooring forum threads with "Wolverine" in their titles. You'll find that although we're not perfect, we're damn good. We have a solid product that not only looks great (all coated floors look good right after they're applied) but clients have come back later and share how their floors still look great after they've been used and abused.

There's also a couple of threads from folks who had some of our BondTite Primer leak onto areas that weren't prepped in any way, not even cleaned. Later when they went to clean up the BondTite it took hammers and chisels to remove the BondTite, and even then the BondTite cam up with the concrete still attached. (BTW I lost the link to those threads, I'll send AlphaGarage TShirt to whoever finds them and posts the links).

Read all the threads, if you do you'll know as much about putting down a coating that lasts as a lot of the guys who do this for a living (but not as much as some of them so don't get cocky).

You'll read about people who have turned to us after the other stuff they put down failed. You'll hear of a few screw ups we made, and how we fixed them. And you'll find out about some mistakes our clients made, and how we helped them get things turned around.

And I'm not too shy to point out that many folks also compliment our customer service, we put a lot of effort into answering calls, crafting instructions, replying to emails, and addressing concerns here on this forum. I have to mention that over at Wolverine they spend a lot of time and expend a lot of energy developing and improving new and existing products. There are a couple of items in the pipeline that we can't wait to offer.

A lot of companies just shop for the cheapest stuff out there, slap their name on the label, and then pretend as if they make and know all about "their" coatings. We don't do that. Wolverine makes our products, they deserve to have their name on the label.

Yup - read all about it, then call us to get started on your floor.

 

[SUPERCOAT]

Can the industrial glaze be added over the standard glaze coat ?

No... You would need to strip the Residential Glaze before applying the Industrial Glaze Coat. Give me a shout and I'll explain it to you!

866.679.7154

 

[gmhill33]

For most home garage and auto shop applications we recommend a three layer epoxy coating system for maximum durability and lasting appearance. The primer coat would be BondTite 1101, a 100% solids epoxy with extremely tenacious grip strength. That would be followed with a coat of LiquaTile 1184, this pigmented epoxy will give your floor the ability to withstand shock and impacts minimizing chip outs. Finally a clear coat of EnduraShield 2254 to help resist abrasion and give the floor a high gloss finish. In addition to curing to an extremely hard and durable surface, EnduraShield 2254 is also UV resistant.

For your 460 sq ft your ideal system would have 1.5 gallons of BondTite 1101 for the primer coat, 3.75 gallons of LiquaTile 1184 as the body coat, and 1.25 gallons of EnduraShield 2254 for the UV resistant clear coat. For most colors those would be $645. With those recommended materials, combined you would have a floor coating system with a nominal thickness of around 22.2 mils (not including waste – material left on brushes, in cans etc.).

By the way - we do encourage you to find and read all the threads on Garage Journal posted by our clients. Here's a list of all the Flooring forum threads with "Wolverine" in their titles. You'll find that although we're not perfect, we're damn good. We have a solid product that not only looks great (all coated floors look good right after they're applied) but clients have come back later and share how their floors still look great after they've been used and abused.

There's also a couple of threads from folks who had some of our BondTite Primer leak onto areas that weren't prepped in any way, not even cleaned. Later when they went to clean up the BondTite it took hammers and chisels to remove the BondTite, and even then the BondTite cam up with the concrete still attached. (BTW I lost the link to those threads, I'll send AlphaGarage TShirt to whoever finds them and posts the links).

Read all the threads, if you do you'll know as much about putting down a coating that lasts as a lot of the guys who do this for a living (but not as much as some of them so don't get cocky).

You'll read about people who have turned to us after the other stuff they put down failed. You'll hear of a few screw ups we made, and how we fixed them. And you'll find out about some mistakes our clients made, and how we helped them get things turned around.

And I'm not too shy to point out that many folks also compliment our customer service, we put a lot of effort into answering calls, crafting instructions, replying to emails, and addressing concerns here on this forum. I have to mention that over at Wolverine they spend a lot of time and expend a lot of energy developing and improving new and existing products. There are a couple of items in the pipeline that we can't wait to offer.

A lot of companies just shop for the cheapest stuff out there, slap their name on the label, and then pretend as if they make and know all about "their" coatings. We don't do that. Wolverine makes our products, they deserve to have their name on the label.

Yup - read all about it, then call us to get started on your floor.

Thanks for the info.