Coating an OLD floor

[sicklyscott]

Hi,

I've read quite a few threads here about the epoxy coatings which I'd love to use, however I think I have a bit of a problem that i'd like your input on. The slab in my garage was probably poured about 60 years ago and has 60 years of oil, antifreeze etc on/in it. I've been reading that prep is the key for the epoxy coatings and I'm worried that I won't be able to scrub all the residue off/out of the slab. Would it be possible to put a skim coat of a bonding cement over the slab? Is there another way of sealing the old cement so i can coat it?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Scott

 

[AlphaGarage]

Even very old floors can be cleaned up enough to take a good epoxy coating. The goal isn't to clean it up and make it look good - the epoxy will do a great job of covering all the ugly. The goal is to open it up so that the epoxy can adhere well.

Grinding by itself will often be enough prep for some of the worst of floors, although heavy oil stains may need extra attention.

Try clean up the grease spots with some of the methods you can find on this forum, then do the water test. If water is absorbed, a good epoxy primer will adhere.

 

[sicklyscott]

Found a picture of my garage (it's much emptier and tidier now that I built a storage shed for our lawn/sports equipment)

 

[AlphaGarage]

Please don't take this the wrong way, and no disrespect intended, but as far as nasty garage floors go your floor doesn't even rate.

First, you can see concrete, that's a pretty good start. Second, it looks like you could drive from one end to the other without engaging 4 wheel drive. And it doesn't appear to merit toxic superfund clean up appropriations. So all in all you shouldn't have any trouble prepping and coating that garage.

When you have a few minutes you may want to review our instruction manual, it has a few tips on the entire process. Download it here.

Did you see the new Discovery Channel show "Motor City Motors"? In a few days I hope to post a short review of the Wolverine Coatings floor system used on their set. I managed to take some notes and a couple of pictures recently when we were in Detroit fixing and coating their 4,000 ft2 production floor. Now that was a floor that could make grown men cry! Oil stains were the least of its problems; try embedded steel rails, strange chemical burns, and an asphalt patch the size of Jimmy Hoffa. If that floor could be fixed, yours should be no problem at all.


A pic of one of the better sections...