Floors started this morning

[428]

Wow, the contractor showed up at 7:20, ten minutes early

We moved everything out over the weekend. Found a nice rats nest under my work bench cabinet.
Grinding had started by 7:30 on the 2 car.

Only got a few before pics of the 2 car before they started grinding, geez that stinks. I was only in it for a minute and I can still smell-taste it.

 

[428]

3 car before pics. This one will take them awhile. I just hope they can fix the cracks good, please...

 

[428]

Pool house floor. This one will be tricky. Not a lot of room to work.
I raised the vanity a few inches to get under it, couldn't remove it though. Curious how well they'll get around the pipes and pool filter. No way was I going to remove all that just to coat the pump room.

 

[428]

2 car, after coated with chips. Two coats of clear get put on today.

 

[428]

3 car, after coated and sand added. Darker rectangles get put in the bays today. Crack repair was pretty good. On a 1-10 scale I call it an 8. But probably much better than I'd have done. The grinder ran all day.

Pool house looks ok, color shade is a bit off. Waiting for it to cure more and clear coat before taking pics, might tone it down a bit.
Blues are something they didn't have many color matches for.

 

[bmwpower]

Looking good. Wish my floor went down that quick. What are they charging per square?

 

[428]

I don't have the paper work with me, but the total is around $3800 for about 1750 total sq ft.
They broke the quote down into the 3 different floors.

The 3 car is about 1000 sq ft and I think around $1.60 a sq ft for the solid, add $150 for the 4 darker grey rectangles they'll add today. To be honest I was tempted to put a halt on those rectangles this morning, but that much unbroken floor in a solid color shows a lot of waves. The darker I hope will break it up some and the cars and tractor will be on darker tones now. Hopefully that will help with tire marks and grease and grass stains off the tractor.

The floors with the chips with clear coat cost about double the solid.

They had 5 guys there for 10 hours yesterday. Only two there today finishing it.

And yes it was nice to come home and it be done rather than the amount of time and effort it would have taken me and the misses.
Sometimes you just have to say, enough is enough, I'm hiring this job out.

 

[428]

3 car is done, but I'm falling into the Midas Well

I think I might as well paint the brick inside. It just doesn't go with all the grey. I have a few gallons of grey paint left over from another project anyway and it matches the trim and floor.

Opinions?

 

[wrigh003]

3 car is done, but I'm falling into the Midas Well

I think I might as well paint the brick inside. It just doesn't go with all the grey. I have a few gallons of grey paint left over from another project anyway and it matches the trim and floor.

Opinions?

I like the brick- it goes OK to me. Plus, if you paint it, it'll be all grey all the time in there. A little contrast never hurt anybody.

 

[bmwpower]

Don't paint the brick! Brick gives it that classic look. Painted brick makes it look "cheap"...IMHO. If it was cinder block, that's a different story.

 

[428]

Looking at your shop BMW, I kinda like the grey you have on the lower blocks.

I feel the same about painted brick but I have a lot of mortar and concrete splashed on mine.

It's a tough decision for sure.

 

[bje31]

Great looking Floor...I agree, don't paint the bricks...

 

[Winmon]

Man that looks great! What a difference. You got a hell of a good price on the work. My contractor stopped by yesterday as I was patching the cracks/divets and mentioned there is a guy here who wants $3/ sq foot!

 

[Red Car Garage]

yeps sorry I like the brick as well

 

[bmwpower]

Looking at your shop BMW, I kinda like the grey you have on the lower blocks.

I feel the same about painted brick but I have a lot of mortar and concrete splashed on mine.

It's a tough decision for sure.

Keep in mind, that is epoxy on the walls - the same stuff as on my floor. Before I coated the wall, I put on a thick primer to fill the voids.

If you do paint the wall, I would prime it first.

Can't you merely remove the mortar and concrete splashes with a grinder or a chisel?

 

[428]

I was going to chisel some tonight to clean it before painting. Doubt it'll ever be a "nice" brick job though. Some serious splashes of concrete in places.

The pics look better than it does in person. IMO anyway.

It also has scratch mortar joints instead on the rounded tool joints, there about 1/2" deep. So even if I prime before paint, not sure how it'll turn out. Be a lot of shadowing lines at the joints.

I might leave it as is for awhile, move everything back in and think it over. Told the wife it's one of those I wish I could do it to see if I'd like it deals. But no way to undo it.

She doesn't care one way or another as it's my shop but she says I cannot paint the 2 car attached garage brick regardless. But that garage has Brick steps leading into the house which ties it together more so I never considered painting that.

Drink beer tonight and think about it.

Thanks for all the input.

Had another thought. Maybe some of that rubber baseboard used for tile floors. Get a Graphite grey to put on the bottom where the floor meets the brick. Might give it a more finished look and cover most of the concrete splashes.

 

[bmwpower]

That would work. Give it a try. Should be cheap.

If you paint, you could spray it, too.

 

[428]

We had another idea come up. Maybe paint just the bottom row of Brick. Wish maybe I'd had it coated but...

I have a stack of brick, I can paint several and lay them across the floor, go to the far side and look back to get an idea of how it will look.
This would cover the bad areas, most problems are at the bottom, and give a transition from floor to brick.
The brick does add something to the garage, just has an unfinished look about it.

Hard to believe we're talking about a freaking garage here.

What would Martha do?

 

[bmwpower]

Shame on you. Martha would KEEP the brick for sure. She might change the drapes, though.

Plenty of people on here have the rubber trim around the perimeter. It definitely gives it the finished look.

How about wood trim? Paint or stain.

What about painting the concrete/mortar splatters with brick red paint?

 

[Itzkwik]

Had another thought. Maybe some of that rubber baseboard used for tile floors. Get a Graphite grey to put on the bottom where the floor meets the brick. Might give it a more finished look and cover most of the concrete splashes.

+1 for the cove base idea. Go to a tile store. They have the nice 1/8" heavy duty base. Also, they should have lots of shades of grey. Should be easy to match the grey in your floor. And get the good cove base adhesive from them. Works a lot better than the stuff you will find at HD/Lowes. It comes in tubes like caulk. Get a couple of the nozzles to use with it. Lays down nice even rows of the adhesive. Should be able to knock out the whole garage in a couple of hours.

 

[SteveL]

I like the idea of a base molding, BUT the vinyl stuff will end up too wavy on the brick. There just is not enough flat surface there to support it. DAHIKT!!!

I would use a standard 5" wood base molding painted a grey to match the floor, or you could go on the cheap and get some 1/4" masonite and rip your own. My preference would be wood base and leave the brick alone. Looks classy!!

Nice job on the floors!!! Looks great!

 

[428]

After several beers I decided not to decide on painting the brick on the 3 car. Even painting the first row may not look right since I have 1 brick (2 inches) fall from back to front and it crosses a mortar joint.
Sat and Sun I got everything moved back in and started concentrating on the 2 car. Painting cabinets, walls, new lights, etc...
Probably take a couple of weeks to finish it, then I'll move back to the 3 car.
But it really makes the garage feel like a room instead of a garage. I highly recommend finishing garage floors now. They do show dust and dirt more but easier to sweep.

Just not enough time to devote to finishing both at the same time, especially during ski season but looking forward to using them this fall-winter.

Instead of working on them Friday here's what I was doing.
My Mon-Wed-Fri ritual.

http://www.aquaskier.com/gordon/Cap0027.mpg

 

[Willy Victor]

Glad you decided not to paint the brick and ditto for the cove base molding. I hate that stuff, makes it look to commercial. You made the right decision subbing the job out. Did they give you any kind of guarantee? Now I'm getting antsy to finish my floor. Your job is looking FANTASTIC.

Willy

 

[428]

Rather than start a new post, just a little update until I can post pics of the finished work.
2 car we've been painting. Took over 2 hours just to get everything down and the shelving off the walls. Filled old holes that won't get re-used, sanded the walls, sanded and painted the cabinets, putting moulding down on top of the brick where the sheetrock starts, got to paint that next. Not painting the brick, just the moulding. Painting a garage with 11 foot ceilings with a 6 ft ladder is rough on the neck cutting it in at the top. Long pole works good on the walls though. Hope to be finished with the two car this coming weekend. At least most of it. Few hangers and stuff we're not sure about what to do.
Wife just wants her car back inside.
But at least she's been helping.

3 car garage is waiting in the wings. Not a lot to do there except organize.

Pool house I still have to hook the vanity back up. I put a brick in the middle under it to raise it so they could epoxy under it a ways. Well, they got epoxy on that brick. I had to break it loose with a hammer, it pulled the concrete up under the brick. No big deal as it's under the vanity, but man, that stuff really does adhere to the concrete. It ain't paint that's for sure.

 

[ponjohn]

what product?