Hellfire after failed epoxy install because of moisture?

[La Rides]

I was going to get epoxy, but after installing the base layer and flakes the installer said that my garage floors get too damp after a rain (water comes up from the slab) for epoxy. And what do you know, it rained a lot the weekend before they installed and the moisture was 6-7%. So they are going to remove what they installed (water barrier and flakes) instead of doing the final top coat.

My feelings about this aside, I'm wondering what this leaves me with an option like hellfire. I've heard good things about it from here but don't know whether it would work on concrete with high moisture after rains.

I also don’t know what prep work would be required in a case like mine. The concrete was ground 3 days ago, but I’m not sure what would be left over when they remove the half-done epoxy floor. Would it be already ready after a shop vac? Would it need to be ground again (which I’m not keen to do)? Thanks for any help or tips!

 

[La Rides]

I should say that my main goal is just for it to look nice. The house is 45 years old so the concrete is just sort of the bleh brown color. I’d like something more light gray and/or just less overall brown. I don’t use it as a workshop — just a general garage.

 

[Pugs10]

following, Im intersted in hellfire as well. I've seen mostly positive reviews, but a couple that have me hesitant.

 

[Andy Smith Jr.]

Hellfire is a great product but when it comes to moisture, you need a moisture vapor barrier epoxy put down first. Some of the vendors on here may have one - i know Armorpoxy does - https://armorpoxy.com/moisture-vapo...dSYO1G6CRVK8QMxnHdbp71Jk1no87f-Wx-T5po3bys1-I

You can put their flake system on top of that. I'd call them to verify all of this of course.

 

[Black300zx]

Gotta ask, did you go the epoxy route because of looks? Protection against oil? Cost?

There are a lot of great experts here on liquid floor coatings, but if my garage floor had moisture issues, I don't think I'd ever be comfortable with a coating. Have you considered any of the snap-together tile systems that are available?

 

[La Rides]

Looks and easier cleaning. I’ve thought about tiles, but get plenty of bugs and don’t want to have to clean them out of crevasses.

Definitely did NOT choose because of price — it was on the very high end of my budget.

If there’s a permeable coating, I’d 100% be interested in that as well.