First time homeowner... First time garage owner :)

[dinanm3atl]

I close October 30th on my new house. It is being built, basically done now, and I want to epoxy the garage floor before we move in.

I am reading that prep is very improvement and want to get a quick run down on what exactly this means.

I also am looking for some guidance on what products to use. I have found some positive reviews of the Rust-Oluem products and more so on their industrial versions.

New member here and it looks like a fun site! Glad to have a full size garage for all my BMW toys

 

[thegarageguy]

If you don't desire quality, workmanship and the piece of mind of a warranty, then try it yourself. I hear Sears has a sale on epoxy paint.

 

[gesoffen]

Hmmm - the warranty I'll give you but the rest of your statement implies that the DIYer can't achieve quality and workmanship and that is just plain misleading at best. Granted, I'm sure there are many stories out there of DIY gone wrong due to a variety of reasons, probably mostly due to half-hearted efforts or cut corners. However, a quick view of the flooring section of this forum will show that DIYers can produce outstanding floors - in some cases, better than a pro. Most of those come from the fact that those DIYers have their own best interests in mind. Maybe your comment was tongue in cheek due to the initial preference for Rustoleum?

To the OP - as you look at those outstanding DIY floors, you'll probably notice a trend: most of them use a quality product. If you're looking to do it once and have it look great for years to come, take your time to research the best product (and best usually does not equal cheapest). Since you are new construction, you may have to wait a few weeks or months to let the concrete fully cure anyway. Decide on your flooring choice and then closely follow the manufacturers recommendations regarding new poors and surface prep. Usually this involves waiting until moisture content drops below a certain threshold and then acid etching or mechanically etching (i.e. grinding) the floor, filling cracks, removing contaminants, etc. before applying a primer, then body coat and top coat.

 

[dinanm3atl]

If you don't desire quality, workmanship and the piece of mind of a warranty, then try it yourself. I hear Sears has a sale on epoxy paint.

If I can strip a car down to a chassis and put it back together and it works/runs better after the fact I think I can follow some directions to do some garage flooring. Thanks though.

What kind of products are you recommending that are in the 'quality' realm? Being new and never doing this I simply don't know.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Here are a few projects from some forum members who seem to be pretty satisfied with their DIY floors:

Dave88LX
1-3-2-4
"George's"
tojan19

 

[timgr]

There's a sticky thread at the top of the forum that describes some of the epoxy products.

A few that come to mind: Wolverine, Benjamin-Moore M40, Dural 304 (Euclid Chemical, 304 discontinued but they probably have a replacement product), Sherwin-Williams product (can't get their web site to name a specific product - maybe you can), ICI Devoe 224 HS, Epoxycoat (kit)... there are others. Gesoffen is likely pointing you away from the big-box store and/or water based products. Most here use a high-solids 2-part epoxy that is typically listed at the paint companies under 'industrial coatings.'

 

[jmack]

I'm also a new homeowner with a 2 car garage that I want to put down some epoxy flooring. I guess it will have to wait until the spring now that temps in the mid-atlantic are below 60 during the day.

Anyway, I am new to this site as well. I have been reading in this forum and many people talk about the Wolverine floors, but there are references to the company stopping production earlier this year? If that product is no longer available, what do people like if my intented garage use is not as a full blown "shop" with welding and such as with others on here. I just want to use my garage for everyday vehicle storage, small area for tool storage and workbench. I want the floors to look great and I understand the value in paying more now to get many years of use. I intend to do the floor myself and am an expereinced DIYer.

Any suggestions given my intended usage? Any opinions on the Armorpoxy product called ArmorClad? They seem to have a kit targeted at 2 car garages. It has everything from the etch to the top coat and they talk about their product being 1--% solid epoxy (whatever that means).

 

[AlphaGarage]

Wolverine Coatings epoxies can be applied from 40f to 110f, and they are available to the public.

The "TV Guide Listing" goes like this...

Wolverine Coatings product line was exclusively available to large commercial clients, companies like the BMW plant in South Carolina, theme parks, warehouses, power generation facilities etc. On ocassion they would have surplus material, which they allowed a broker to sell to the public. He died. At the time of his passing some orders were in limbo. Wolverine Coatings stepped in to service those clients. At that point they explored supplying the retail DIY market, but choose to not pursue it since they were plenty busy with consulting, research & development, and manufacturing.

The demand, from this forum and other retail consumer sources, continued, so they decided to again offer some of their products through AlphaGarage. And we're ready to assist you with your floor coating projects - from planning to completion. Our contact info is in the sig below.

 

[mikeyr]

You can ignore thegarageguy he comes onto this forum for one thing and one thing only, to tell us that a homeowner can't put these floors down as if he has some magic that only he in the entire world has.

Yeah some people screw the floors up but I bet way more get it right and it looks every bit as good as his floors and are every bit as reliable. Its just painting and if you can't paint you are in serious trouble. Preparation is what is critical with these floors and there are plenty of instructions on how to do that prep. Its not rocket science or anything else that needs a PHD on how to do it, its just good and careful prep and painting.

Rebuilding a carb or gearbox is way more complicated, so is painting a car and many of us here do that quite well, its all in the prep work and common knowledge.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Preparation is what is critical with these floors and there are plenty of instructions on how to do that prep. Its not rocket science or anything else that needs a PHD on how to do it, its just good and careful prep and painting.

Rebuilding a carb or gearbox is way more complicated, so is painting a car and many of us here do that quite well, its all in the prep work and common knowledge.

Well put.

But I would add that just like with rebuilding a carb it pays to have the correct tools and use quality materials.

For what it's worth I'd rather choose to epoxy a panther than to rebuild my Healey's overdrive. And if I put down another coat of LiquaTile every time I rebuilt the carbs, I'd need to raise the roof a few feet.

 

[Dave88LX]

 

[thegarageguy]

With all due respect Alpha, a 72 dpi pic from afar looks great on any cpu screen. You don't honestly think a first timer can do as well as someone with years of experience and hundreds of floors under his belt.

Can a first timer make a new slab look decent? Sure. A barely flawed slab could look fine with any rolled on epoxy system.

Will it outperform a professionally installed floor? Most probably not. I won't speak for all pro's but the ones I know;
a. arrive with 15k worth of prep equipment not a $5 bottle of acid
b. pour their systems on, not roll it thin. Big difference between 100sft per gl and 400 sqft per gl.
c. use 100% solids. There is a difference between "commercial grade" and industrial products.
d. back up their work with a guarranty

A pro job is more than just rolling some paint on. First off we don't use paint and we sure as hell don't "paint". What you may think looks good and will perform well means nothing if you have not experienced a well installed flooring system.

You may be able to assemble and dissasemble an engine blindfolded, but what the hell does that have to do with having any experience, know how and proper tooling for resinous flooring systems.

Most DIY kits are ****. In this business you truly get what you pay for. Even if you get the most expensive chemicals in the world, it will fail without the proper surface preperation.

Bottom line is that sure, even a monkey could paint a floor. But can he asses a floor properly before and inbetween coats to see how to proceed. Does he know when to use a spiny roller? Does he know when to use a notched squeege, magic trowel, sponge squeegee or window squeegee? Does he know when to use a roller and which type? Does he know if the slab is profiled enough? Has the monkey rid the slab of all concrete dust? Has the monkey rid himself of any contaminants such as oils? Are ther any mastics on the slab? What tool or chemical do you need to get it off? How would he know if the slab has a sealer to grind off? Is the slab too pourus? Is it too detiriorated for an epoxy system? Does he know how to address cracks? Is it a stationary or moving crack? Do you just "paint" over it, chase it open or stitch it? How do you repair them and which formula or system would you use for them? Does the slab have moisture? What will he do then?

You see MikeYR, its much more than just painting. To you its just a floor, to some of us its our canvas. Have some respect for our work.

 

[bmwpower]

...

Can a first timer make a new slab look decent? Sure. A barely flawed slab could look fine with any rolled on epoxy system......

Then I guess the OP will be fine then. Thanks for your input.

 

[Dave88LX]

We're not monkeys.