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Looking for floor coating advice

fehren2800

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
50
Location
NE Ohio Rustbelt
I am finally in the final stages of my garage build. It has been a long process and now I am almost ready to put down the floor coating.

Some specs;
Garage is 32x38
Located in Eastern Ohio near Youngstown
I have radiant floor heat that I keep around 55f during the winter
2 8x9 overhead doors that are on the east side of the building
The building is fully insulated and drywalled/painted
2 man doors one on the east side and one on the west.
I also have 2 floor drains, one in each bay

I will use the garage for storing motorcycles and a car that only gets driven once a week during the winter (if not less) I have a work area in the back that is 10x32 and that will be used for light fabrication and mechanical work. No matter what floor system I chose, I will have a 10x10 area of diamond plate where my weld table will be set up so spatter and slag are not much of a concern.

This garage will see mostly light to medium use, but I want a decent floor finish that both looks good and is easy to clean. I mostly work on motorcycles, although I do occasionally jack a car up now and then to change to winter/summer tires. The concrete floor was poured last October and I had no sealer applied. Basically it is bare concrete. I would ideally like to apply something without doing much prep, but that isn't a strict requirement.

Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than I planned. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
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Garage Flooring

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
May 21, 2011
Messages
5,288
Location
Grand Junction, CO
I am finally in the final stages of my garage build. It has been a long process and now I am almost ready to put down the floor coating.

Some specs;
Garage is 32x38
Located in Eastern Ohio near Youngstown
I have radiant floor heat that I keep around 55f during the winter
2 8x9 overhead doors that are on the east side of the building
The building is fully insulated and drywalled/painted
2 man doors one on the east side and one on the west.
I also have 2 floor drains, one in each bay

I will use the garage for storing motorcycles and a car that only gets driven once a week during the winter (if not less) I have a work area in the back that is 10x32 and that will be used for light fabrication and mechanical work. No matter what floor system I chose, I will have a 10x10 area of diamond plate where my weld table will be set up so spatter and slag are not much of a concern.

This garage will see mostly light to medium use, but I want a decent floor finish that both looks good and is easy to clean. I mostly work on motorcycles, although I do occasionally jack a car up now and then to change to winter/summer tires. The concrete floor was poured last October and I had no sealer applied. Basically it is bare concrete. I would ideally like to apply something without doing much prep, but that isn't a strict requirement.

Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than I planned. Thanks in advance for any advice.

High solids epoxy or Rust Bullet IMHO
 

Jsf721

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Messages
4,126
Location
LI, NY
Don't use epoxy professionals and get a warranty from a company that will be around in the future. I got screwed by this outfit. They're out of Michigan.
 
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mrtbolt64

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2017
Messages
14
Location
Medina Ohio
Just bring this back from the dead and I am curious as to what the OP used and is he was happy with it. I am in same boat as I have radiant heat in floor and in NE Ohio
 
OP
F

fehren2800

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
50
Location
NE Ohio Rustbelt
Just bring this back from the dead and I am curious as to what the OP used and is he was happy with it. I am in same boat as I have radiant heat in floor and in NE Ohio

I'm satisfied with the floor. If I had to do it over again I would use rust bullet again, but forgo the flakes. Having the flakes makes it near impossible to find anything you drop smaller than a camshaft. I only did the main part of the garage with the flakes, and in the back room I just did plain rust bullet and clear top coat.

The only complaint I have is this coating isn't UV resistant at all. I coated all the way out past the overhead doors a couple inches to the expansion joint. The bottom coat faded to a lighter gray, but the top coat yellowed and is peeling up. I'm going to have to put a tiny cut joint into the coating to keep the top coat from peeling past where the door seal sits.

The system was pretty simple and much easier for a DIY project than epoxy, at least to me.

Good luck.
 
OP
F

fehren2800

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
50
Location
NE Ohio Rustbelt
fehren2800 used Rust Bullet I believe. He lives just down the road from me.

How is your project progressing? I have 95% of what I need done, but that last 5% is taking forever. :lol_hitti

I am putting up trim upstairs and all I have left is the flooring up there and I'm done. Finally, now I can start using the garage.

The only thing extra I'm considering is a mini-split system for the upstairs to keep it cool. I had a window A/C unit up there last summer and it wasn't really cutting it, and when it wasn't really hot it prevented the window from opening and getting a cross-breeze.

:beer:
 

Dick in Wisconsin

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2012
Messages
3,048
Location
Shawano, Wisconsin
fehren 2800 ... why did you go with a clear top coat? I used RB and didn't do a top coat. I didn't go with flakes either. Just plain RB.

Did you find that the RB isn't slippery when wet like I did?

Did you have any areas that looked like it had nubs and pimples? I attribute that to the RB curing in the pan ... I think I should have tossed in a little solvent as I got to the bottom of the 5 gallon pail and then a bit into the roller pan as I got to the end of my 1000sf floor.

I would do RB again. Put it on the bare wood floor of my race trailer and like it.

This is my first DIY garage/shop floor. I have nothing to compare it against.
 
OP
F

fehren2800

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
50
Location
NE Ohio Rustbelt
fehren 2800 ... why did you go with a clear top coat? I used RB and didn't do a top coat. I didn't go with flakes either. Just plain RB.

Did you find that the RB isn't slippery when wet like I did?

Did you have any areas that looked like it had nubs and pimples? I attribute that to the RB curing in the pan ... I think I should have tossed in a little solvent as I got to the bottom of the 5 gallon pail and then a bit into the roller pan as I got to the end of my 1000sf floor.

I would do RB again. Put it on the bare wood floor of my race trailer and like it.

This is my first DIY garage/shop floor. I have nothing to compare it against.

I went with the clear top coat to give it more shine and also to make it easier to clean up. I don't know what it would be like without it, I did it all in a weekend. It isn't really slippery, but you wouldn't want a group of kids with wet feet running around in there, they would surely fall a time or two. I have some not so perfect finished areas too, but one is under my stairs behind a door and the other is the bottom landing of my steps. They were not applied with the same care as the rest of the area. I'm also happy with the outcome, it was worth it and has held up so far.
 
OP
F

fehren2800

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
50
Location
NE Ohio Rustbelt
So you did Rust Bullet. Any pictures of this amazing shop?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not really amazing, but here ya go :beer:

IMG_1543.jpg


IMG_1544.jpg


IMG_1547.jpg
 
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