Epoxy or stain on floor

[grabeb]

Getting ready to start my garage build in two weeks. I'm trying to decide on a finish for the floor. Looking for suggestions.....

Right now I'm leaning towards staining and sealing the floor, but it appears most is epoxy.
Thoughts on this?

 

[jrsavoie]

We did a stained burgandy colored floor - where you sprinkled the powder on the floor and power troweled it in in the late 1970's or early 80's. Still looks great.

 

[FMB4]

I used a breathable/latex clear sealer on our new (in 2004) G floor. Waited about 6 months to give the concrete time to cure. I don't remember the brand, but it wasn't real expensive and had very good reviews. This sealer worked well at blocking both clean and dirty oil stains, 'rusty' coolant, etc. Prep was nothing more that a good vacuuming followed by a heavy damp mopping or 2. Both application (foam roller) and cleanup was easy. I think I let it dry of several days before we parked on it. It did make the concrete very slightly darker. Never noticed any 'hot tire' pickup (due to it being clear?). I'll see if I can find the brand, otherwise there should be a number of brand options out there.

 

[tstaude]

I am at that same stage, pouring on Friday. I have done may 2 part epoxy floors and now I am considering doing a stained floor maybe with a clear coat. I kinda like the rust colored acid stained floors you sometimes see in businesses.

 

[dfiler2]

I have a friend who stained all of the floors in their house and garage, after 6 years, it still looks great. I've seen many epoxy floors that look pretty bad after 3 years, however, we are in an area where salty snow will be falling off your car most of the winter.

 

[grabeb]

I know the local quikrete rep, so I've been talking to him as well. I'm leaning towards charcoal or a rust colored with clear.

My concern is i don't see many strained, most seem to be epoxied. I wonder if there's a reason or if that reason is that not done from get go.

On our 100yr old basement floor i used drylok gray with wetlook over it and it's holding well and the say no hot tire pickup after X hours, but of course can't test that in basement. A year in and holding up great to foot and dog traffic.

 

[Jackfre]

The flooring section is the spot for you. I used Rustbullet which I did myself in a day. Epoxy is probably better, but for a shop floor, I like the RB and the way it went down.

 

[dcg9381]

Getting ready to start my garage build in two weeks. I'm trying to decide on a finish for the floor. Looking for suggestions.....

Right now I'm leaning towards staining and sealing the floor, but it appears most is epoxy.
Thoughts on this?

I actually did my residential floor in a water based concrete stain and sealed it with polyurea. It's much less expensive than epoxy, much less prep, and looks good enough for my spouse, it's probably almost good enough for the garage. I've done the shop porch in something similar, but took that budget down and used a plastic-suspended sealant...

I used clear polyurea in my shop, but it really looks spectacular over stain. I'm sold on polyurea for industrial / garage use.

You can get polyurea online through various vendors. I used Legacy Industrial who supports this forum.