Flooring..opinions needed

[gnxtc2]

My garage/shop is 2100 sq ft (60'x35'). The shop has heat and is located in northern NJ.

The shop will be used to it's capacity, ie: jacks will be rolled across the floor, jack stand stands will be placed on the floor, vehicles will be washed inside during the winter months, brake cleaner/ brake fluid/ gas will be spilled on the floor, cars/trucks/trailers will be parked inside, etc, etc.

I don't know what type of flooring to go with.

I've searched to have my shop professional done and it came close to the $10K price area, too much for me. I've looked into VCT tile but have no clue if the tile will stand up to water and cold concrete. Also thought about concrete stain but don't know much about it.

Totally confused on what floor to go with.

Opinions?????

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Billy:

Choices:
Stain the floor and seal with an oil/gas resistant clear sealer
Seal with an oil/gas resistant clear sealer without stain
Etch/Grind the floor and epoxy coat, yourself
VCT tile, some folks coat clear epoxy on top

Hope this helps.

Where in NJ are you? We are near Hackettstown.

 

[gnxtc2]

Billy:

Choices:
Stain the floor and seal with an oil/gas resistant clear sealer
Seal with an oil/gas resistant clear sealer without stain
Etch/Grind the floor and epoxy coat, yourself
VCT tile, some folks coat clear epoxy on top

Hope this helps.

Well, sort of.......could you elaborate the pros/cons of each. When you mean Etch/Grind, etch with acid and grind with machines????

Whatever I do here is going to cost me due to the size but don't want to spend an arm and a leg.

Where in NJ are you? We are near Hackettstown.

PM sent.....I just passed Hackettstown on Friday

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

ACID Stain the floor and seal with an oil/gas resistant clear sealer
Fairly unique for a garage space/color is not uniform
Not too bad to do yourself

Seal with an oil/gas resistant clear sealer without stain
Good protection, natural look/no color, little bland
Fairly easy to do yourself

Etch/Grind the floor and epoxy coat, yourself
Uniform color, good light reflectivity/evasive, hard work, multi-step, etc..
Generally what people do in a shop space.

VCT tile, some folks coat clear epoxy on top
Uniform, good build/ I hate tile and am not a fan of tile with epoxy on top.
Keep the darn tile in the bathroom!! -Save your pics your not changing my mind-

 

[thegarageguy]

Unfortunately Billy, installing a proper system for your type of abuse is expensive. From everything you have mentioned, in my professional opinion, you need at a minimum a slurry broadcast or double broadcast quarts floor, which translates into an 1/8 inch to 3/16 inch thick floor. They run from $6 to $8 per sqft.

I know it may seem like alot but what will it cost you in the long run, when you are constantly painting and scraping, reapplying, not to mention the on going everyday annoyance of working on a failed floor. Not to mention what it'll cost you to shut down if you ever do commit afterwards.

Its spec'd in Fire Houses, Lube Centers and Major Work Shops.

Do it once right and never worry about it again! Good luck

 

[gnxtc2]

Unfortunately Billy, installing a proper system for your type of abuse is expensive. From everything you have mentioned, in my professional opinion, you need at a minimum a slurry broadcast or double broadcast quarts floor, which translates into an 1/8 inch to 3/16 inch thick floor. They run from $6 to $8 per sqft.

I know it may seem like alot but what will it cost you in the long run, when you are constantly painting and scraping, reapplying, not to mention the on going everyday annoyance of working on a failed floor. Not to mention what it'll cost you to shut down if you ever do commit afterwards.

Do it once right and never worry about it again! Good luck

I'm sorry but there is no way I'm going to spend between $12,600 - $16,800 to finish a floor for a hobby type shop.

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[stafford]

I had stain added to my concrete and it was mixed thru and thru, when it was finished we put an acrylic sealer on it. Looked really nice.......... for a while. It was poured in June, here's what it looks like now. The sealer is wearing off and it's changing colors. It didn't cost all that much extra but I wouldn't do it again.

 

[Harley Monster]

I am subscribing to this post as I am going through the same decision process on my Dream Garage which is now being designed.

I had an aircraft hangar and did the floor in it. I used a waterbased sealer applying about 3 coats to seal and fill the pores, then a couple coats of waterbased polish. All of the coats were very easily mopped on with the polish being the sacrificial layer. The floor had the wet look, was very easy to keep clean by using a 3' wide dust mop dampened with Endust with an occasional wet mopping. Grease and oil wiped right up with no penetration. It was easy to recoat with the polish when the traffic areas began to get a little dull from the abrasion of walking on it. The polish was there to add more shine and to protect the sealer. There was never any separation, bubbling or unrepairable scratches.

The only downside to the system I used was that it showed tire marks when rubber tires were parked on it for any length of time. These tire marks were impossible to remove without stripping. I ended up getting 12" carpet squares and would have to park the airplane, golf cart and cars on them to avoid the tire marks.

I would use a system like this in a heart beat if I could find a sealer/polish system that would not show the tire marks. I loved the natural, but wet look of the floor.

Does anyone have any experience with a product like this that does not show the tire marks or have any other downside?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I am subscribing to this post as I am going through the same decision process on my Dream Garage which is now being designed.

I had an aircraft hangar and did the floor in it. I used a waterbased sealer applying about 3 coats to seal and fill the pores, then a couple coats of waterbased polish. All of the coats were very easily mopped on with the polish being the sacrificial layer. The floor had the wet look, was very easy to keep clean by using a 3' wide dust mop dampened with Endust with an occasional wet mopping. Grease and oil wiped right up with no penetration. It was easy to recoat with the polish when the traffic areas began to get a little dull from the abrasion of walking on it. The polish was there to add more shine and to protect the sealer. There was never any separation, bubbling or unrepairable scratches.

The only downside to the system I used was that it showed tire marks when rubber tires were parked on it for any length of time. These tire marks were impossible to remove without stripping. I ended up getting 12" carpet squares and would have to park the airplane, golf cart and cars on them to avoid the tire marks.

I would use a system like this in a heart beat if I could find a sealer/polish system that would not show the tire marks. I loved the natural, but wet look of the floor.

Does anyone have any experience with a product like this that does not show the tire marks or have any other downside?

We have a water based sealer, a urethane sealer and a floor wax.
See links:

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/hd031-concrete-sealer-5-gallon-p-198.html

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/hd356voc-urethane-sealer-5-gal-p-199.html

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/commercial-wax-5-gallon-p-201.html

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I had stain added to my concrete and it was mixed thru and thru, when it was finished we put an acrylic sealer on it. Looked really nice.......... for a while. It was poured in June, here's what it looks like now. The sealer is wearing off and it's changing colors. It didn't cost all that much extra but I wouldn't do it again.

Reapply your sealer. The sealer protects the color.
You need to keep up with it especially exterior.

You will get better results from a solvent based sealer or a clear poly aspartic.

 

[Harley Monster]

Scotty,

Thanks for the reply.

I have been to the Legacy website and I need some clarifications.

My floor is new construction, approximately 5466 sq. ft. under roof divided into 3 sections.

One section is motorhome storage, one section is my display (clean storage) area and third section is the work shop (dirty area) where welding, grinding, etc. will take place.

As I said I was very happy with the sealer/polish I used in my hangar, but that deck suffered from tire marks. That was my only complaint.

As I recall I put about 3 coats of sealer and about the same for the polish and I have glossy, wet looking, low maintenance, natural concrete.

I see you recomend HD7936 Desifier or HD377 Sealer or HD344 Poly-Aspartic clear sealer.

Which product would suit my needs? Or do you do them in a series? I would like to put a polish (wax) down as a top coat to protect the sealer.

As in any garage there are occasional spills of solvents, oil and gasoline. Which product works the best in this situation and WHY?

Do any of these products resist tire (hot tire) marks? The system I used before would mark anytime a rubber tire touched it for any period of time whether the tire was hot or cold.

Let me put it this way Scotty: "If this was your dream garage what would you do?" I want to keep this to a DIY effort.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

My dream garage is a palm tree that I can park my dune buggy under in the Caribbean.

Wet look in a working man's garage?

(2) products to choose from:

(1) coat of HD-344 Poly Aspartic Urethane Coating
or...
Multiple coats of HD356VOC Urethane Sealer

The 344 does not give you much working time but gives a heck of a gloss with only one coat.

The 356 allows much more working time but will need multiple coats for a wet look depending on how smooth your floor is.

Either can resist gas/oil, etc...

They will not hot-tire lift but can be marked if the tire is turned on it.
Both can be waxed to help protect the sheen.

 

[Harley Monster]

Does anyone out there have any experience with jmendez25's Silikal's products?

 

[slickgt1]

How about Porcelain Tile. It can take all the abuse you can throw at it, and if something does break, really easy to take out and replace.

 

[thegarageguy]

We have the right answer for your flooring problem. Super-fast curing with no disruption to operations, the exact degree of slip resistance required, processing even at very low temperatures, a large selection of color design options and much, much more – all thanks to Silikal’s product range.

WOW! That was a mouthful!


This the deal Billy....you get what you pay for. Applying a few thin coats of 100% solids epoxy may look good at the beginning but it will not hold up to your type of abuse. It'll scratch, gouge and slowly stain.

A cost effective and possibly viable option is to put down 2 to 3 coats of a high solids polyaspartic, but your still in the $4-$5 range. Even then, it may not quite take the abuse that you may put it through

If you can't afford that, then you may want to consider a smaller location