Cheap Floor Covering Alternatives

[kmacht]

So I see alot of people using racedeck and 100% solids epoxy. While the garages look great when finished I can't justify spending $4 a square foot just to cover my garage floor. I have a 24x24 pre-fab garage coming soon and it would cost me $2300 to do it with racedeck and about $1000 for epoxy. I looked into the quickrete and rustoleum epoxy and it will still cost about $500 to do. Even that is tough to swallow since i know the floor is going to get pretty beat up from use. I have an airplane and a classic pickup project going on in the garage so it is going to be used for real fabrication work and not just to display a finished product. I see jacks being dragged across the floor, weld spatter, etc. My biggest concern are oil stains. I really would like to just be able to wipe up oil dripping out of a motor and not have to treat the floor every time I have a leak. My other issue is that I extended an existing concrete pad to fit this garage. I have a big L-shaped section that is very bright white colored concrete and another section that is a tan / worn concrete look. I would like to make it look as uniform as possible. How about stain and some sort of sealer? Has anybody had luck with this? Does it hold up? What about some sort of mat that can be rolled out (sort of like you can buy linolium). Any suggestions?

Keith

 

[Ford12508]

My garage has Hot Trax Paint on it, the stuff wears away though after time and has to be reapplied. It has been about 16 years with the current paint job, and I would say about 5 years ago it could have been repainted, but it is not in poor enough shape for me to want to repaint it. Paint and sealer seems like the way to go for you since you want a working garage, not a show off garage with some small jobs done inside.

 

[scottzilla]

Not sure how the Rustoleum/Quickcrete epoxy will cost you $500.
I just did my 20x30 and it required 1 two car kit. $120 at Lowes and I got it credited down to $104 after I complained about the price.
You have less square footage than I do and I actually had a decent amount of product left over.
Though my epoxy is new, i've been dragging stuff across it and working on my motorcycles and it's fine.

Oh, a bristle brush is $12.99 and if products to further clean/prep the concrete are required you can expect to pay $20 more.

I have you out the door for $153 + tax and that's a worse case scenario.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

We make a sealer that will work.

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/acrylic-urethane-sealer-5-gal-p-149.html

Thanks and good luck.
-Scotty

 

[Jack Olsen]

I treat my ceramic tile pretty badly, with jacking, welding and such.

It's held up very well, and only cost .59/sf.

I put it in myself over the course of a weekend.

I've jacked up cars on it, dropped tools -- no serious issues yet from normal use.

The garage is clean in most of the pictures I post online. But it gets a workout in between cleanings. In the back of this picture, you can see the 760-pound (each) cabinets I installed. I had to drag them in, cut off their feet, and get them positioned on the tiles. I used pieces of carpet under them when I was sliding them, but the tile took it just fine.

The tiles do get damaged by weld spatter -- which burns tiny spots in the glazing. Now I set a welding tarp down under where I'm welding.

Here's the pretty picture. My slab was poured in 1925 and was NOT flat -- not by a long shot. But the tile has held up well. You can walk around in it barefoot, comfortably, and clean up oil spills with a paper towel.

 

[AlphaGarage]

We're going into a hanger floor up in Oregon this week, about 5,200 ft2. EnduraShield does a great job with Jet-A, Jet-A1, and Avgas. Likewise jack stands, oil spills, motor stands, etc. are no prob; weld splatter isn't an issue if the source is about 3 feet from the deck, and closer it can leave small darkish marks, easily masked with flakes in that area.

Your estimates are pretty close, due to package sizes the 500 - 600 square foot size area is our highest per sq ft price range - about $1.71, or $985, of course on the plus side you'd have the thickest coating depth at around 29.7 mils (before waste).

 

[kmacht]

I'll have to look into the hot-trax stuff. It sounds like a cheap alternative if it proves out. I don't have a problem re-painting every 5 years if needed, I just don't want the stuff to peel up the first time I park a car on it. I'm a little leary of a latex paint being able to hold down to 50 year old cement no matter how well I prep it.

The sealer listed above looks nice but I don't need 5 gallons of it and won't go through the hassle of finding someone to split it with. If you start carrying it in 1 or 2 gallon buckets let us know.

How do I get to $500 for the rustoleum/quickrete stuff? I based it off of their coverage charts. They claim that the 2 car garage kit is only supposed to cover 500 square feet. A 24x24 shop is 576 square feet. My floor isn't perfectly smooth so I am guessing that even 500 square feet would be a stretch. So that is two kits of the base coat at $120 each ($240). Add to that two coats of the clear coat at another $100 each ($200) and I am up to $440. Add in 6% sales tax, brushes, some extra acid to prep the floor and I am well over the $500 quote I mentioned above.

So while the ball is still rolling, what else is out there? There has to be something I can buy an a big box store or similar that will work half way decently. I'm still thinking about acid stain and some sort of inexpensive sealer. Anybody done this before?

Keith

 

[Jeff]

I was in the same dilemma last year. I ended up using 24"x24" foam tiles that interlock. I found the gray tiles at Costco. 8 tiles for $9. After I set up my workbenches, stationary tools, and work table I set in the tiles. They were super easy to cut in and form around anything. The big bonus is how comfortable they are when working in the shop for extended periods. I also have no vehicles in my shop except for my Bonnie.