Big Box Epoxy

[Garage ReNew]

Morning - An active member on this forum swears that "big box" epoxy is just as good as the industrial stuff. Others have said the big box stuff is just wall paint and is not even close to the "science" (e.g., bonding, durability) of the industrial products. Can you go with the "cheaper" epoxy and spend your money on quality polyaspartic or polyeurthea? I think that's a bad way to go but would like to hear from others. The pictures from the "Big Box" dude's garage do look good and he swears he's had it for 15 years. Hmmmm.

 

[doge]

If you do two coats of big box store epoxy and then do the clear coat it probably comes out close in price. I did it that way only because I had the epoxy for free. That said you might as well buy the good stuff here since prep takes a lot of work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Kevin54]

I'm no expert on epoxy, but from what I have saw in a few garages vs. what was put down in our shop, was a different as day and night. The industrial epoxy has held up very well with heavy foot traffic in an out of a doorway. It was people walking into an inspection on a constant basis. In the four years it was down, it held up and I don't think it had but one or two scratched in it. Other garages that I have saw that used the Rustoleum epoxy from Lowes was showing thin spots in areas.

 

[jedeyeben]

Sherwin Williams carries a great industrial epoxy, I did a floor with it about 7 years ago for a job and just recently went back to do some more work and saw it while I was there. It still looked as good as the day it went down. Average home garage with normal traffic and wear and tear, and you couldn't see much of anything other than a few drag scuffs where they had moved something metal and hard edged across it.

 

[Garage ReNew]

jedeyeben, what sealant did you use? Thanks!

 

[Armorpoxy]

We have a pretty subatantial business supplying epoxy to customers who used big box epoxy that prematurely failed. We get at least 3-4 calls a week about this.

 

[Shea]

You get what you pay for with floor coating products. If you want to save some money with the stuff you find in home improvement stores, just be aware that it will only last a few years or more depending on how many coats you use. It will not be as glossy nor provide as good of protection against abrasion and chemicals as commercial product. It also has a tendency to peel from hot tire pick up as well.

We did an article about these products which you can read here. As long as you understand that it's inferior and that you may have issues then it serves its purpose fine. If you want something that will last years and years then it's not a good choice.

 

[benwah]

Ask for performace criteria from the big box store epoxy, ask for performance criteria from the industrial coating manufacturer. Compare.

I can guarantee they are not the same animal. I will provide performance critera for comparison if you'd like.

 

[wagspe208]

Like this one.
Here is the spec sheet for Tennant MPE. It is our epoxy.
I honestly don't care who anyone buys from. I do care about anyone being misled by BS statements like "ours is exactly the same thing".
Wags

http://assets.tennantco.com/globalassets/webassets/floor coatings/gas_e_mpe_02-09-09.pdf

Remember... Tennant recommends top coating with urethane for uv resistance, and improved chemical resistance.

 

[rsanter]

I used the big box epoxy in my garage at home. So far I am happy but then I only park on it. Yes I would like to have gone with the more professional stuff but I was a bit short on time to get it done and move in, so I went the big box route.

It was a ***** to put down, it was flashing faster than they said it would. I had to work faster than I wanted to.
It is not shiny like the nice pro ones you see here in pictures but it is good enough for what I am needing in the garage. The main reason I went epoxy at all was the floor was stained horribly and looked awful.

It is not peeled or lifted anywhere and I park on it everyday for about three years now

If I were to do it again I think I would just use the garage floor paint like I had in the last house. Yes I scratched it dragging things across, and yes I got some hot tire pickup. But with the regular garage floor paint it was easy to touch up and you could not tell where it was touched up after a few weeks

So, in my un-expert opinion......if I were to do it again I would save some money and go the cheaper garage floor paint or I would go full in and go the full professional route

Bob

 

[Garage Flooring]

Morning - An active member on this forum swears that "big box" epoxy is just as good as the industrial stuff. Others have said the big box stuff is just wall paint and is not even close to the "science" (e.g., bonding, durability) of the industrial products. Can you go with the "cheaper" epoxy and spend your money on quality polyaspartic or polyeurthea? I think that's a bad way to go but would like to hear from others. The pictures from the "Big Box" dude's garage do look good and he swears he's had it for 15 years. Hmmmm.

The big box stores can buy the same quality products many of us offer. If you can find someone, say in an orange apron that actually knows his product and the process, GREAT.

I grew up working in my grandfathers lumberyard. I am biased. But my experience has been that you can sometimes find good products at box stores at a heck of a deal. Sometimes you can find an older retired gentleman keeping busy that knows his stuff and has been in the industry for years. Rarely can you find both.....

 

[openwheelracing88]

Some Home Depot carries multiple lines of epoxy floorings. Some costs way more than the normal "value pack". I believe they are all Rustoleum branded too. So perhaps the top of the line may be almost as good as professional grade?

I became 1st time home owner one year ago, and my first project was garage floor. I broke my back cleaning, scraping, etching....etc the entire floor, but allowed my brother in law to apply only one gallon of epoxy. He wasted the 2nd can by leaving it out. Well, now I need to re-sand and apply a proper coat because it is already lifting.

 

[frank001]

I used Rustoleum on my new garage. It's been in service for about a year now.
So far I have no problems.

Take a look here to see what it looks like:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284998&highlight=frank001

 

[jedeyeben]

I believe it was part of their "Armorseal" brand. But it was the industrial grade two part epoxy.

 

[James-W]

When you consider all the prep work involved in getting the floor ready for the epoxy, do you really want to take the chance of using a box store product when the industrial grade epoxy is not all that much more expensive?