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Garage Floor finish... So many choices... HELP!

jack straw

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Messages
5
First post... I live in western WA so we get rain 9 months a year, climate goes from 30 - 85 typically throughout the year but can be colder or hotter some days.

First off the shop is shy of 900 sq ft ( room for my toys), I'll be buying an angle grinder and renting a concrete grinder to get the floor prepped, I've read it should feel like 60grit sand paper. So that will be going on next weekend 7/15.

I am wanting to paint it the following day and I understand depending on the product I use I could be painting it more than once. It seems the more I read the more confused I get but have a few ideas I need help with.

I'm not looking to blow the budget on this we have many projects ahead of us on this house. I'm looking to stay at or under $300 (if thats unreasonable please let me know) for the floor coating and durability and quality are much more important than sparkles in the floor, though I would prefer it to be a color other than grey (something with a tint or just something that comes colored).

Here is where Im confused, some sites say epoxy can't be clear coated, others say you can put a poly clear coat over epoxy. It sounds like Poly is the more durable product, would it be best to do a poly base with a poly clear coat or Epoxy base with a poly clear coat? Or is a clear coat not even something I should be thinking about? I'm asking these questions having already read many website opinions but those sites tend to be trying to sell something also.

There are so many products on the market I could really use some help in deciding on a good use product. My local home improvement store just sells Berh epoxy and some rustoleaum kit, I'm sure those are probably not the best I can get for the money I'm looking to spend.

thanks in advance.
 
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Toomanytools?

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
855
Location
Washington
Hey Jack;
I'm with you lot's of choices it can get daunting trying to decide. I'm sure the vendors will chime in here soon but at your budget .33 cents / ft you need to at least double that. There are some products available for around .60 cents - .85 cents/ sqft, but in reality I think your looking at least $1/ sqft.
Epoxy can be cleared and a Urethane is best because it is harder and has better UV protection. Not sure but think you would want an epoxy primer then your color epoxy then topcoat clear, also you can add flakes or non skid in there.
The product you use depends on your budget and the look you want and the use of the shop space. You could do a concrete densifier and sealer, which protects from oil and gas type spills but doesn't give you a film or build up like epoxy.
So look through some of the older posts and you can get a lot of info. I'm in Eastern Washington "Tri-Cities" enjoying the triple digit heat for the last week...not I miss the cooler temps of Seattle. Good Luck
Jeff
 

Armorpoxy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Messages
3,735
Location
NJ
Hi
Thanks for your inquiry.

If you are using an angle grinder, you should use a diamond cup wheel, it will last longer and give much better results. Sandpaper usually doesn't work well on concrete. As soon as you finish grinding you can start coating.

If you want something better than a home center epoxy, your least expensive option is either a sealer like Ghostshield which we carry and which would run in the 40-50 cents per sq foot range or our SPGX clear one part polyuerea/polyaspartic which runs about 60 cents per sq foot.

A standard 3 layer epoxy system with primer and topcoat like our www.armorcladepoxy.com would run about $1.00 per ft .

Please contact us directly at below for firm pricing for your project if this interests you. Thank you and best of luck with your project.
 

Toomanytools?

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
855
Location
Washington
Hi
Thanks for your inquiry.

If you are using an angle grinder, you should use a diamond cup wheel, it will last longer and give much better results. Sandpaper usually doesn't work well on concrete. As soon as you finish grinding you can start coating.

If you want something better than a home center epoxy, your least expensive option is either a sealer like Ghostshield which we carry and which would run in the 40-50 cents per sq foot range or our SPGX clear one part polyuerea/polyaspartic which runs about 60 cents per sq foot.

A standard 3 layer epoxy system with primer and topcoat like our www.armorcladepoxy.com would run about $1.00 per ft .

Please contact us directly at below for firm pricing for your project if this interests you. Thank you and best of luck with your project.

So would the 600 sqft kit plus the 300 sqft be enough product to do a 900 square foot area?
 
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jack straw

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Messages
5
Too many tools thanks, I have some direction now. Still don't know if I'm going to do but it's a bit clearer. I guess my initial cost estimate was a bit off, I'm wanting quality on a budget I guess. Try and stay cool down there.. we hit 85 yesterday.


Armor hey thanks, I've been on your sight it's actually partly why I'm here asking I realized I had many questions after seeing your product.

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Garage Flooring

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
May 21, 2011
Messages
5,288
Location
Grand Junction, CO
First post... I live in western WA so we get rain 9 months a year, climate goes from 30 - 85 typically throughout the year but can be colder or hotter some days.

First off the shop is shy of 900 sq ft ( room for my toys), I'll be buying an angle grinder and renting a concrete grinder to get the floor prepped, I've read it should feel like 60grit sand paper. So that will be going on next weekend 7/15.

I am wanting to paint it the following day and I understand depending on the product I use I could be painting it more than once. It seems the more I read the more confused I get but have a few ideas I need help with.

I'm not looking to blow the budget on this we have many projects ahead of us on this house. I'm looking to stay at or under $300 (if thats unreasonable please let me know) for the floor coating and durability and quality are much more important than sparkles in the floor, though I would prefer it to be a color other than grey (something with a tint or just something that comes colored).

Here is where Im confused, some sites say epoxy can't be clear coated, others say you can put a poly clear coat over epoxy. It sounds like Poly is the more durable product, would it be best to do a poly base with a poly clear coat or Epoxy base with a poly clear coat? Or is a clear coat not even something I should be thinking about? I'm asking these questions having already read many website opinions but those sites tend to be trying to sell something also.

There are so many products on the market I could really use some help in deciding on a good use product. My local home improvement store just sells Berh epoxy and some rustoleaum kit, I'm sure those are probably not the best I can get for the money I'm looking to spend.

thanks in advance.

Yes. That is unreasonable :)

If you want to just go inexpensive put a good sealer down. 8510 would be a good choice.

If you want a shop floor.... Rust Bullet shop system would run about $1000.00. A good, high solids epoxy system (primer, epoxy, aliphatic top coat) would be about $1100.00


https://www.garageflooringllc.com/garage-floor-epoxy-kits/
 
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jack straw

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Messages
5
Ok so a 3 part system and about $900-$1100 sounds reasonable, think I'm ready to pull the trigger. Rust bullet looks good but I'm not going that route, already reserved a 2 disc grinder.

Thanks for all the good info and I think I'll be going w/ one of the 2 vendors that posted here.

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