Nitesco
Member
I have been reading a lot about it, here and googling in general. And I am more confused than when I started.
I had already bought a Rust-Oleum Epoxyshield 2-Part Gray Gloss Garage Floor Epoxy Kit from Lowes, I had de greased and pressure washed my floor, I even bought a Rust Oleum concrete patch just to fill in small holes, and was waiting for a couple days for my garage floor to dry before putting on the epoxy. The epoxy kit sat for almost a year in my garage as I waited for winter temperatures to rise, and then summer temperatures to fall.
Then I went online.
I already returned everything, convinced I was going to find something better. Two separate old ladies, one in Lowes and one in Home depot, looked at me with a raised eyebrow
as I returned everything. The Lowes lady couldn't even find the transaction in the system, because I had purchased it so long ago(I had a coupon back then). I just acted confident AF. 
What got me started was a post on Facebook of someone showing off their garage with Racedeck tiles. I googled Racedeck and ended up here (remembering in the process that I was a member of this forum for years).
I measured my oddly shaped garage, which came to about 16*20(with one trapezoidal section), and requested a quote from Racedeck given that they advertised a special price for GJ members.
They quoted me $958. After the mini heart attack
, I went on my search again.
Turns out these tiles are made in a company named Snaplock, which also make another, cheaper, version of the tiles called Garagedeck. The price for these ones were more than $600. Cheaper, but still not convinced, specially after seeing a few videos about how fragile all of these tiles can be(all companies). If you drop something heavy, you can easily break them. If you spill something, it can get to your floor beneath the tiles. And it is a pain in the *** to remove one tile (or end up having to remove the whole thing) if you want to clean your floor or replace one single tile.
I saw there's another guy on here with a beautiful black/white checkered floor with VCT tiles. Price looks good, but after reading the process he took it seems like something could go wrong at one of the steps and my OCD would not let me sleep if the tiles didn't end up looking 100% straight.
So, back to epoxy coatings, I guess.
I am not a mechanic. One of my cars is electric and the other I just take to a buddy of mine who is a mechanic. I don't work on cars, other than changing air filters or cleaning them. I DIY every once in a while. I have a nice circular saw I bought thinking I was going to start doing projects every day, and it lies still on its sarcophagus, waiting for the day it is called upon again. I call it Imhotep.
There are a ton of epoxy brands that come from the same manufacturer, but the two I'm currently looking at are: epoxy-coat and armorpoxy which, from what I have read, come from two different manufacturers. The kits I have seen hover around the $500 - $600 price range for the size I estimate I will need. Plus time consumed and stress with the probability of messing it all up.
To make things easier, of course, each one has a few options I could choose and inside each option, a plethora of mini options I could add or remove, including different flake colors.
I am not a huge fan of the flakes, and I prefer the light gray/glossy floor. But if its necessary to the "integrity" of the epoxy (as one quote I got to be professionally done [$1700, Jesus] said) then I am ok with it.
It seems like every time this question pops up, everyone just recommends their own company or the product they used, leaving the average homeowner none the wiser.
Questions:
- Is there a product that you can objectively recommend? I'm looking for something that more than one person has used, and has stood the test of time. I can work my *** off to do something once, but it has to come out well and I would not like to do it again.
- Is grinding absolutely necessary(instead of etching)? The concrete seems to be in good condition, and it feels bare (no coating or anything on top). If the grinding is necessary Ill probably hire someone to do the whole thing, which brings more stress in finding the correct contractor using the correct materials and process and feel like I'm not being scammed.
I have been spending WAY too much time on something I will seldom look at (only when driving in or out of my house). So I thought I would just go to the gods themselves and just ask.
I live in Austin, TX. If there's a good contractor that does this for a fair price or a company that sells good products in the area, let me know!
I kindly thank you for reading my post and I look forward to your replies or private messages. Be well, do good.
I had already bought a Rust-Oleum Epoxyshield 2-Part Gray Gloss Garage Floor Epoxy Kit from Lowes, I had de greased and pressure washed my floor, I even bought a Rust Oleum concrete patch just to fill in small holes, and was waiting for a couple days for my garage floor to dry before putting on the epoxy. The epoxy kit sat for almost a year in my garage as I waited for winter temperatures to rise, and then summer temperatures to fall.
Then I went online.
I already returned everything, convinced I was going to find something better. Two separate old ladies, one in Lowes and one in Home depot, looked at me with a raised eyebrow
as I returned everything. The Lowes lady couldn't even find the transaction in the system, because I had purchased it so long ago(I had a coupon back then). I just acted confident AF. What got me started was a post on Facebook of someone showing off their garage with Racedeck tiles. I googled Racedeck and ended up here (remembering in the process that I was a member of this forum for years).
I measured my oddly shaped garage, which came to about 16*20(with one trapezoidal section), and requested a quote from Racedeck given that they advertised a special price for GJ members.
They quoted me $958. After the mini heart attack
, I went on my search again.Turns out these tiles are made in a company named Snaplock, which also make another, cheaper, version of the tiles called Garagedeck. The price for these ones were more than $600. Cheaper, but still not convinced, specially after seeing a few videos about how fragile all of these tiles can be(all companies). If you drop something heavy, you can easily break them. If you spill something, it can get to your floor beneath the tiles. And it is a pain in the *** to remove one tile (or end up having to remove the whole thing) if you want to clean your floor or replace one single tile.
I saw there's another guy on here with a beautiful black/white checkered floor with VCT tiles. Price looks good, but after reading the process he took it seems like something could go wrong at one of the steps and my OCD would not let me sleep if the tiles didn't end up looking 100% straight.
So, back to epoxy coatings, I guess.
I am not a mechanic. One of my cars is electric and the other I just take to a buddy of mine who is a mechanic. I don't work on cars, other than changing air filters or cleaning them. I DIY every once in a while. I have a nice circular saw I bought thinking I was going to start doing projects every day, and it lies still on its sarcophagus, waiting for the day it is called upon again. I call it Imhotep.
There are a ton of epoxy brands that come from the same manufacturer, but the two I'm currently looking at are: epoxy-coat and armorpoxy which, from what I have read, come from two different manufacturers. The kits I have seen hover around the $500 - $600 price range for the size I estimate I will need. Plus time consumed and stress with the probability of messing it all up.
To make things easier, of course, each one has a few options I could choose and inside each option, a plethora of mini options I could add or remove, including different flake colors.
I am not a huge fan of the flakes, and I prefer the light gray/glossy floor. But if its necessary to the "integrity" of the epoxy (as one quote I got to be professionally done [$1700, Jesus] said) then I am ok with it.
It seems like every time this question pops up, everyone just recommends their own company or the product they used, leaving the average homeowner none the wiser.
Questions:
- Is there a product that you can objectively recommend? I'm looking for something that more than one person has used, and has stood the test of time. I can work my *** off to do something once, but it has to come out well and I would not like to do it again.
- Is grinding absolutely necessary(instead of etching)? The concrete seems to be in good condition, and it feels bare (no coating or anything on top). If the grinding is necessary Ill probably hire someone to do the whole thing, which brings more stress in finding the correct contractor using the correct materials and process and feel like I'm not being scammed.
I have been spending WAY too much time on something I will seldom look at (only when driving in or out of my house). So I thought I would just go to the gods themselves and just ask.
I live in Austin, TX. If there's a good contractor that does this for a fair price or a company that sells good products in the area, let me know!
I kindly thank you for reading my post and I look forward to your replies or private messages. Be well, do good.