Garage Renovation Project

[wmblanken]

So, I am redoing my garage, spent WAY to much time on this forum for ideas. But it's been super helpful so I wanted to share back what I am doing and the progress to date. First, the scope of the project:

- Coat 15 year old, never before coated garage floor with epoxy, flakes, clear top coat. I chose Supercoat kits from Sams Club
- New cabinets, New Age Pro series
- Install proslat type wall system for hanging tools, extension cords, etc.
- Nerf Gun rack/storage for all of my kids dozens of nerf guns
- Patch and paint walls/ceiling
- Install vinyl base around the entire garage to give a more finished look (and to cover up some ugliness at the bottom of the walls)

What I have done so far.
- Installed nerf gun rack
- Purchased cabinets (but not installed)
- Put up a 4x8 section of proslat
- Cleaned, ground, and coated the floor

I'll post about the floor next since this is the floor forum (with some pictures).

 

[GregL2015]

How do you like the ProSlat? I'm thinking of doin a 16' and a 8' section.

I only have 6.8' high stud walls sitting on 2 courses of block, so I'm just going to center the proslat vertically, that should leave about 1' of wall above and below the slat wall

 

[wmblanken]

Proslat is great. Looks very nice compared to pegboard. Easy to install. I cut it using compound mitre saw (they are 8 ft length and my wall is 7 1/2 feet) and that seems to work well.

Proslat is not a panel, it’s interlocking strips aboit 6 inches tall. And each strip has to be secured to studs. I don’t think you could go below your stud wall, unless you want to fasten the lower parts to the block, but I’ve never been good at securing things to block.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Having 6 kids at home, your post is an awesome illustration of how every garage has very specific needs and there is no one perfect product Nerf Gun Rack

 

[wmblanken]

I wanted to share a bit more about the floor. I did a lot of research and landed on SuperCoat. Good review, good price. We basically just park cars in the garage, so does not need to be too tough.

Prep was a ton of work and I made some mistakes. I first cleaned and degreased no problem. Trying to get any sort of profile on my very smooth garage floor was harder. Acid etching did not do anything. So I rented an Edco 10" from home depot. Slow, tedious work and after multiple passes I still had places where I could not get a good profile. Moreover, in trying to profile some of these hard to get spots I ended up creating a decent amount of swirls and smiley faces. Having never used a grinder before, not sure if the diamond disc was worn or it was operator error. Even with the vacuum attached, a lot of concrete dust is left on the floor, which took me HOURS to wash out with a power washer.

I don't think I ever got the floor prepped the way I wanted, but after 6 hours I decided I would move forward, and if the epoxy did not go down right I'd hire a pro to come back and do it. That was the low point!

Fortunately, the epoxy itself was easy. Since I did some damage to the floor, I decided on two coats of epoxy, then the flakes, then two coats of clear. Epoxy was easy to mix and rolled out nice and even. The water based stuff has a long pot life, so I could take my time. I let the first coat dry overnight, then did the second. I did 6 sections...roll one out, flakes, roll another, flakes, an do on. I think it came out well, but as others have noted, its tough the first time to get the flakes on evenly. Also, event with tow coats of water based, it's easy in the right light to see the smileys (most of the swirls disappeared though). Some pictures of the finished product are included, you can see the smileys in the second picture where the light from the window is hitting the floor.