Fresh concrete options - comments needed.

[bamaspivey]

New house with fresh concrete it will be 30 days old when we close. I know we need to wait a while to do anything with it and frankly it will be another month before I have time to do anything, anyway.

The concrete crew put a very smooth finish on it, after reading on hear I fear that may be a bad thing for the epoxy route. I am not expecting to do a lot of "work" in the garage it is truly a parking garage for cars and I want something that looks good but that does not mean I am looking for something cheap.

If I go epoxy, is acid etching going to be enough or will I need to grind it?

What about acid etching stain? I have seen it on patios and driveways, why not garages?

Polishing?

or maybe just a really good sealer?

thoughts and comments appreciated.

here are the garages....

 

[dcs Inc]

Shoot me an email and I'll give you the scope on the different applications.
[email protected]

Oh, I'm not trying to sell you anything. Our products are for certified installers.

 

[thegarageguy]

Your floor should be diamond grinded or shot blasted which is industry standard. No industrial manufacturer recommends acid etching. This prepping methodology removes the cream of the concrete, therefore acid staining will not work, since it reacts with the lime in the concrete which is mainly in the cream. If that is the look you want, then I suggest an acetone based dye with a good penetrating primer and high traffic polyurethane. I've have much success with this system in garage environments.

 

[slickgt1]

Tile it dude. You won't need to grind or acid anything.

 

[Garage Flooring]

You have a world of options and some great vendors in this forum to walk you through it.

• Roll Out Garage Flooring
• Coatings
• Garage Floor Tiles

 

[bamaspivey]

Tile it dude. You won't need to grind or acid anything.

never considered tiling the garage. Looks like a little debate over ceramic vs porcelain.... is this standard time from a home improvement store or garage specific tile? I have installed kitchen and bathroom tile and have all the tools including a very nice tile saw I bought for the last project. (around 800 sq ft)

I will do some more looking on the forum, please keep the comments and suggestions coming.

 

[bamaspivey]

Several people are talking about porcelain tile being cheaper than epoxy. What am I missing? I priced epoxy-coat brand epoxy and Lowes and HD tile....just the tile with no thinset or grout was more than the epoxy.

 

[Roger555]

Are you looking at the tile under 1$/sq ft? The tile Jack Oleson used was like 0.50 sq/ft I believe.

 

[brownbagg]

i would just park a car on it and get on with life

 

[bamaspivey]

Floor size 800 sq ft

Porcelain Tile method
Tiles @ $.69/sq ft $552
mortar $275 (11 bags @$25)
grout $60 (4 bags @ $15.00 each)
MISC $50
TOTAL $937

Epoxy-coat method
Kit 1 $195 (lowes)
Kit 2 $195 (lowes)
non-skid $10.95
shoes $39.95
extra flakes $30.00
grinder rental $100.00
MISC $50.00
TOTAL $620.90

 

[Woodsrider]

The tile will last the life of the house. Not sure about the do-it-yourself epoxy.
Did you factor in the cost of re-doing the epoxy? I'm not sure of the life span of epoxy but everyone I know that has done it themselves, it has peeled in spots within a few years.

 

[slickgt1]

Click the links in my signature. Do it yourself epoxy, will never get to the level and durability of the PRO installed Epoxy. DIY tile seems to be doing fine with everyone that does it. How many people have you seen ***** about their tiles getting picked up by tires? lol, I know that is just funny. How about it staying the same as the day you put it down? No scratches, nothing. That tile durability thread, I still have not seen anyone post a pic of a car on jack stands with nothing under the stand to protect the floor. Or jacking up a 5k lb car with no protection under the jack.

So yea, you will never have to redo your tile. Factor that in.

On and when you have to redo epoxy, factor in the cost of moving out your entire garage. There is no way you can make it seamless if you do it in sections.