Do I want epoxy?

[davidlee]

I had almost had made my mind up to do an epoxy floor in my shop(1300sq.ft.). It's used to house three of my vehicles and i do some repair work, welding and cutting. Here's my question. After reading a bunch of threads it seems no matter how good the prep I can expect some delamitation, hot tire pick up. Is this correct or am I mistaken? Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Stee6043]

I had a high solids solvent based epoxy floor with good prep and never experienced any lifting or issues with hot tires. Six years after laying the epoxy I covered it with RaceDeck, however. The only problem I had with my floor was loss of gloss/shine after time...

 

[hardhat]

What brand did you use ?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I can tell you are making your judgement based on a few mishaps. 99 percent go very well. It they don't make this board, they move on to the next project. The mishaps end up here as the DIY wants help to fix the problem or wants to hang the vendor, some both.

 

[davidlee]

I have not made my decision yet. I just don't want to put down any product that will not hold up or look good for a long time. Unlike most people I have been in my house for 40 years and probably be here till I die.
I am a DYIer and like most I want to make the correct choice of product. I appreciate all opinions and input.

 

[JimVonBaden]

IMHO, For a DIY type, porcelain tile is the way to go. Look up the build by Jack Olsen. It is impressive to say the least.

Jim

 

[noweare]

Porcelain is usually very slick. If you are going to get liquods on the floor then it could
be very slippery.

 

[911mike]

I have had both porcelain tile and epoxy and they are both good IF installed correctly. For a garage that is in a warm year round climate I would think about tile. If you have freezing winter temps I would epoxy. I like the epoxy with a medium amount of fleck as it covers up most flooring imperfections and shows little abuse. You need to be very careful choosing a tile that will not get too slippery when wet. Just my 2 cents.

BTW. I have installed 8 epoxy floor jobs and have never had any problems. Perp the concrete properly and let it dry before coating.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Porcelain is usually very slick. If you are going to get liquods on the floor then it could
be very slippery.

It depends on what the surface style is that you install.

Jim

 

[haugy]

I have epoxy in my shop. Pull in with very hot tires in one vehicle and haven't had a lick of problems from my Wolverine floor.

I will be doing porcelain in my wife's garage for looks and since I do all the wrenching in my garage.

 

[slickgt1]

I hose my floor, and live in a freezing winter, never fell, and my tile is still there.

Two links in the sig to help you out.

 

[Garage Flooring]

I can tell you are making your judgement based on a few mishaps. 99 percent go very well. It they don't make this board, they move on to the next project. The mishaps end up here as the DIY wants help to fix the problem or wants to hang the vendor, some both.

I agree with Legacy. If you purchase a quality garage floor coating and you do the prep the correct way (not the easy way) than you will have a coating that will last a long time and can be cleaned up by adding additional top coat over the years.

 

[Falcon67]

I had almost had made my mind up to do an epoxy floor in my shop(1300sq.ft.). It's used to house three of my vehicles and i do some repair work, welding and cutting. Here's my question. After reading a bunch of threads it seems no matter how good the prep I can expect some delamitation, hot tire pick up. Is this correct or am I mistaken? Thanks in advance for your input.

I used a no-name epoxy of unknown content from Lowes on my old 20x24 shop. After building the shell, I etched the floor with pool acid. I dried it for three days, then rolled the two part epoxy with nominal 400 sq/ft of coverage over 480 sq/ft of floor. The floor would take rubber off hot drag slicks, not the other way around. I had to periodically remove the rubber on the floor left by parking our race cars in there. 12 years in there, now it's somebody's pool/party room.

Do a proper prep and follow the mfg's instructions and there should be no problem with the finish. A lot of the problems I see posted here have to do with the substrate and not the finish. Good epoxy over bad concrete is going to be a disaster in the making.

 

[miken123]

I used a no-name epoxy of unknown content from Lowes on my old 20x24 shop. After building the shell, I etched the floor with pool acid. I dried it for three days, then rolled the two part epoxy with nominal 400 sq/ft of coverage over 480 sq/ft of floor. The floor would take rubber off hot drag slicks, not the other way around. I had to periodically remove the rubber on the floor left by parking our race cars in there. 12 years in there, now it's somebody's pool/party room.

Do a proper prep and follow the mfg's instructions and there should be no problem with the finish. A lot of the problems I see posted here have to do with the substrate and not the finish. Good epoxy over bad concrete is going to be a disaster in the making.

So what do you recommend as the 'right' way to prep? Grinder? Muriatic acid? Both?
Teach me!!

 

[Garage Flooring]

GRINDER

http://www.garageflooringllc.com/garage-floor-coating-instructions/

 

[mayday0017]

I have epoxy and this is 3rd house with it, next house I plan on doing tile. It is easy to lay, looks nice, and if an area gets damaged I can pull out a $1 tile pop the damaged one out and replace it. Fixing a tile or 2 will cost under $5, with epoxy you have to repaint the whole floor (well have to buy a batch and it's use it or waste it).

 

[PeterT]

I agree, unless your a pro with the professional tools I would go with Tile. You can find tile on sale for $1 sqft. The mortar and grout are relatively inexpensive.
I had a disaster story with my epoxy. I did all the steps, but I used a cheap primer that wasn't in the instuctions and my floor is peeling.

 

[slickgt1]

I chose tile for a lot of reasons. One of the major ones, was that if I do break one, no biggie. It is astonishing what I have done on my floor thus far, and still have not broken a tile. You guys can check out my thread that I keep updating in my signature. I was going to do epoxy, but then it dawned on me that the prep would be ridiculous. I would have to empty out my garage. And then, still, no one would guarantee perfect results. The price for Pro install was insane too.

With tile. I installed it in the winter. I was able to do a mud job to correct pitch at the same time. I was also able to move stuff from one section to the next as I laid tile. I didn't have to clear out the whole thing. I didn't do any prep at all. Which, after reading people grinding the floors with a 6" angle grinder, is just insane. I have two boxes of tile left over, but I think I am going to just use them somewhere. I can't see any of them breaking anytime soon. And if I do break any, I want to put a completely different color. Like a war patch.

 

[Falcon67]

So what do you recommend as the 'right' way to prep? Grinder? Muriatic acid? Both?
Teach me!!

What the supplier says. Usually you have a choice. I'm two for two on acid etch. The last floor required two etches because I used a "safe" etch product and it's didn't work very well. So I did it over with the deadly product and got a good result. Whatever you do, you want to give the surface a tooth for the finish. I looked for no shine on the floor and a finish that kinda felt like 400 grit. And, that water didn't bead up on. Almost like wet sanding a car. Rinse, sweep, rinse, sweep, etc. Make sure it's clean and Death Valley dry before you apply. If the surface is good concrete and you get the pores open with some tooth, once that stuff dries you'd have to grind it off to get rid of it. The only thing that hurt the floor in my old shop was dropping a sharp piece of metal or 50 lb cylinder head.

 

[bglad]

I've been reading all this stuff on flooring and am still confused over which to use, tile or epoxy. My floor is 45 days old now. If you use tile, what kind and does the floor need grinding. Also I'm wondering about how slippery it is if there is fluid spillage.

 

[Falcon67]

Spray WD-40 on epoxy and it's a skating ring. Spray Pam on the kitchen floor tile and it's a skating rink.

 

[slickgt1]

I've been reading all this stuff on flooring and am still confused over which to use, tile or epoxy. My floor is 45 days old now. If you use tile, what kind and does the floor need grinding. Also I'm wondering about how slippery it is if there is fluid spillage.

Click on link in my signature. Tile floor for the win. No grinding for tile. Just lay right on your concrete.

As far as slippery, get the tile meant to not be slippery. You are not putting down kitchen tile. You are not putting it down like you would kitchen tile. You want it to be much stronger. Yes I slipped on about 2 gal of transmission oil on the floor. But I also got to use brake cleaner to clean it up. I can also park in my garage, with hot tires and all, and turn my wheels left and right till I am blue in the face. If I leave rubber on the floor, I can use a wire wheel. After all my floor has been through, I still did not break a tile, nor would I do a different floor system ever again. If I do break a tile, all I have to do is pop it out, and put a new one in. Have fun repairing epoxy, or redoing it X years from now. Clean out garage again, grind the hell out of it, apply, hope for the best, pray it all sticks.

I consider DIY epoxy a temporary floor. Key word, DIY. There is a big difference with how the Pros do it, REAL PROS, not wanna be pros, and the DIYers. The epoxy will need to be redone at some point, to bring it back to how it used to be initially. I can't see having to redo the tile, ever.

 

[Garage Flooring]

I've been reading all this stuff on flooring and am still confused over which to use, tile or epoxy. My floor is 45 days old now. If you use tile, what kind and does the floor need grinding. Also I'm wondering about how slippery it is if there is fluid spillage.

If you ask "whats the best floor" on this forum, you are going to get a lot of opinions. One thing most, if not all of us agree on is the best floor for you might be different than the best floor for someone else.

You then have to weight out answers from other members who are users versus answers from other members like me that sell and or make product.

For tile there is Interlocking tiles in various materials which require little to no prep, ceramic and porcelain tile, VCT Tile and the list goes on and on. Give us an idea of your garage, how you use it and what your budget is and you are certain to get a lot of answers

 

[14shelby]

That is very good logic. I never thought of it like that. If it works no one says any thing.

 

[AlphaGarage]

I consider DIY epoxy a temporary floor. Key word, DIY. There is a big difference with how the Pros do it, REAL PROS, not wanna be pros, and the DIYers. The epoxy will need to be redone at some point, to bring it back to how it used to be initially. I can't see having to redo the tile, ever.

Properly installed and using good materials an epoxy floor will last decades, whether installed by a pro or DIY.

Even in a heavy use environment a quality floor system will look great for years with just a bit of attention and maintenance. With harsh use one should keep an eye on the clear coat - in high traffic ares if the clear coat wears down and starts to expose the underlying top coat it's time to apply a bit more clear coat. That's a fairly quick and painless task that doesn't involve grinding back down to concrete, once some fresh clear coat is applied you're good for another few years.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Agree with Fred and Justin.
SlickGT, tile is great. However, you know full well that tile is NOT forever.

It's not forever because of a sharp point load, hollow grout, hollow mastic, slab shift, change of taste/trend, etc...

Everything meets it's maker, eventually.

 

[Garage Flooring]

First and foremost you have a world of options. If your going to go with a coating, go with a good one from a company that will support it and walk you through the install. Lots of options but I can make a suggestion without having a better understanding of how you use the garage.

 

[slickgt1]

Agree with Fred and Justin.
SlickGT, tile is great. However, you know full well that tile is NOT forever.

It's not forever because of a sharp point load, hollow grout, hollow mastic, slab shift, change of taste/trend, etc...

Everything meets it's maker, eventually.

I'm guessing you haven't been to NYC subways much. You know those areas that are all tiled, like a few billion square feet of tile. The stuff that's 100 years old. The place that sees more traffic than you can imagine. Times square stop sees 1/4 million people during rush hour alone. Probably sees more chemicals than you can test for. You really can't get more high traffic than this. And I can guarantee you no one even lifts a finger to wash those floors. Maintenance is not even a word MTA uses, so there isn't any.

Oddly enough, I have never seen epoxy there.

That's what I mean forever. Not even going to go into detail about the 100 year old original tile I just replaced in my house. If it wasn't ugly as sin, it would still be there.

 

[houstonhusker]

I'm guessing you haven't been to NYC subways much. You know those areas that are all tiled, like a few billion square feet of tile. The stuff that's 100 years old. The place that sees more traffic than you can imagine. Times square stop sees 1/4 million people during rush hour alone. Probably sees more chemicals than you can test for. You really can't get more high traffic than this. And I can guarantee you no one even lifts a finger to wash those floors. Maintenance is not even a word MTA uses, so there isn't any.

Oddly enough, I have never seen epoxy there.

That's what I mean forever. Not even going to go into detail about the 100 year old original tile I just replaced in my house. If it wasn't ugly as sin, it would still be there.

I don't think commercial epoxy was even tried until late 1920's or 1930's, so the option to epoxy the subway wasn't an option 100 years ago....just sayin...

 

[slickgt1]

I don't think commercial epoxy was even tried until late 1920's or 1930's, so the option to epoxy the subway wasn't an option 100 years ago....just sayin...

Still isn't. Even after Sandy, they are keeping tile.

The NEW 2nd ave line they are building looks great, all tile. 4th Ave stop, that is getting a complete renovation for the past 3 years, also looks great with new tile.

The key thing that MTA always wants is Zero Maintenance. Even if Epoxy has to be re-coated or cleaned in 10 years, that is too much maintenance.

They daily abuse these tiles get every day is epic.

 

[JimVonBaden]

Still isn't. Even after Sandy, they are keeping tile.

The NEW 2nd ave line they are building looks great, all tile. 4th Ave stop, that is getting a complete renovation for the past 3 years, also looks great with new tile.

The key thing that MTA always wants is Zero Maintenance. Even if Epoxy has to be re-coated or cleaned in 10 years, that is too much maintenance.

They daily abuse these tiles get every day is epic.

DC metro is all tile as well.

Jim