Just wanna nice looking floor......

[BryanB]

Folks,

Need some advice. Trust me, read a lot on this forum and it's great info. My house is 20yrs young, and the garage (24x40ish attached) needs some sprucing up. Has some oil/grease stains, dirty, rust stains, etc. Normal stuff that comes along with do it yourselfers. I'm just wanting a nice, uniform looking concrete floor. I don't mind doing a lot of hard work....

I'm thinking about diamond grinding and sealing, or once I have that much into it should I acid etch it a nice even gray then seal?

Your thoughts are appreciated.....

 

[RaceDeck1]

Your at the right place... There is a lot of information on this forum and many experts in the industry from the various types of flooring. Whatever you choose to best fit your needs and budget are here, from paint, epoxy, tiles, sealers, stains, pads, tiles, etc.

Have Fun

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Welcome to the forum. You are on the right path with the grinding. If ground you will not need the etch and etching does not impart color.

If you want a gray color you should consider an epoxy coating.

 

[BryanB]

Is there a sealer that has a colorant/dye that would help give a nice uniform tone to the concrete after grinding?

Thanks

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Dyes and stains do not typically give uniform colors. There are "stains" available that are really paints so beware as they wear poorly in a garage setting.

 

[JMURiz]

I'm probably going to get Wolverine Coatings AcryliSeal 3501, they are old-time posters on this site. It's a good sealer for people that like the look of concrete, like I do.

 

[thegarageguy]

How about and grind, hone, stain and seal?

 

[BryanB]

Yeah, I'm thinking something along those lines.....any experience with acetone dye? Legacy has a grey that I think would look good if I applied it then sealed.

 

[thegarageguy]

The pics you see here is an acetone dye. I'll be using a medium gray stain next week...I'll post up pics when done.

 

[WinThePennant]

After considerable research, I decided to go with a GarageDeck tiled floor.

Why?

I've seen too many epoxy floors turn bad after just a few years. The acid etch stain was a no-go because I didn't want an earth tone floor.

I love my GarageDeck floor. LOVE IT!

 

[BryanB]

Your garage looks awesome...nice!

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Yeah, I'm thinking something along those lines.....any experience with acetone dye? Legacy has a grey that I think would look good if I applied it then sealed.

Brian:

Here are some pics from a customer who used our Acid Stain. He will be sealing in the next few days.
[/ATTACH]

 

[jasper]

I really like the acid stain above. Been pondering epoxy or stain myself.

On a newly poured garage floor when is the ideal time to use acid stain?

Thanks

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I would wait 60 days across the board.

 

[Craftsman86]

Folks,

Need some advice. Trust me, read a lot on this forum and it's great info. My house is 20yrs young, and the garage (24x40ish attached) needs some sprucing up. Has some oil/grease stains, dirty, rust stains, etc. Normal stuff that comes along with do it yourselfers. I'm just wanting a nice, uniform looking concrete floor. I don't mind doing a lot of hard work....

I'm thinking about diamond grinding and sealing, or once I have that much into it should I acid etch it a nice even gray then seal?

Your thoughts are appreciated.....

Look into a mongoose concrete etcher, They do a fantastic job. Most of decorative high end stuff I have seen is done with one of them by a guy that has a plan and is an ace with setting it up. The machine is easy to use but requires you to be nuts on with your measurements

 

[Jack Olsen]

There are a lot of good options available. I think Racedeck is great, and the pro-level epoxies (and even some of the big-box ones) are very good.

I'll say this, though: ceramic or porcelain tile is thick, durable, forgiving and cheap. I taught myself to do the installation on this project, and paid .59/sf for the tiles themselves. No hot tire has ever lifted my surface off. No jack or jack stand has ever left a dent in it. If I do crack a tile, it's easy to replace.

This picture was taken yesterday. The tile was installed four years ago:

How many floor treatments can you drag jacks, tools and sharp car components over and even slam with a hammer?. And how many of those are less than $1/sf?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Jack, if I owned a tile company you would have a job tomorrow. Garage still looks great!

 

[noweare]

Did you use epoxy grout ? That way you have the best of both worlds : )

 

[munkey]

Did you use epoxy grout ? That way you have the best of both worlds : )

Dunno about that... after all, one of the key points he's making about that installation is how cheap it is! I bet enough epoxy grout to cover that floor would cost more than the tiles.

 

[Anonymoose]

There are a lot of good options available. I think Racedeck is great, and the pro-level epoxies (and even some of the big-box ones) are very good.

I'll say this, though: ceramic or porcelain tile is thick, durable, forgiving and cheap. I taught myself to do the installation on this project, and paid .59/sf for the tiles themselves. No hot tire has ever lifted my surface off. No jack or jack stand has ever left a dent in it. If I do crack a tile, it's easy to replace.

This picture was taken yesterday. The tile was installed four years ago:

How many floor treatments can you drag jacks, tools and sharp car components over and even slam with a hammer?. And how many of those are less than $1/sf?

This is the reason I've lurked here; great ideas I never thought of. My garage improvements have consisted mainly of cabinets and paint. A new floor was out of my pocketbook's range. But I can lay tile. My daddy laid tile. It just never occurred to me! Thanks!

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thank you guys. No, I did not use epoxy grout. Instead, I used a naturally-100%-stain-proof grout -- or rather, grout color... it's dark brown. (What's it gonna do, stain lighter?)

There are some limitations to tile. It can break, usually where there was a glitch in the installation. It does get small burn marks on it from welding (I have many). If it's going to have freeze/thaw cycles, you have to get tiles with a low enough moisture content. Porcelain is a better option than ceramic, ultimately. But I don't have freeze/thaw issues -- only earthquakes.