Thank you so much for the info, Justin. They are very helpful.
To answer your question, our GC is going to apply the proxy for us. The garage will be for normal residential usage, but we paln to install a car lift inside. Will that have any impact on the choice of the proxy product or anything else?
Many Thanks.
Maggie
Maggie,
The decision as to what to use on your floor is critical. The decision will likely impact you every time you enter into the garage for as long as you own the home. There is nothing more frustrating than having spent a lot of time and money investing in your home, just to have have a garage floor that looks terrible every time you pull in.
Depending on where your budget is and the look you are going for, there are really several things you can do. If it is truly just a place to park your car, you could use a combination of a densifier and concrete conditioner. This will protect the floor, be kind to your budget, reduce dusting, increase resistance to abrasion and generally strengthen your floor. It will protect your concrete from the elements and help with stains, BUT it does absolutely nothing for appearance. If this is what you want products like TL37 Concrete Densifier followed by TL40 concrete conditioner would be ideal. You could also use a basic densifier (like TL37) and products from a company called Ghostshield. I spent a lot of time researching them this last week based on a question from another member and if you use the right product they have a very good track record -- but I have never used it myself. Even they will tell you, buy someone else lithium based densifier first for best results
If you want to go with an epoxy product, it is important to use a quality system, to do the prep work and follow the instructions. There are several good products out there. Legacy Industrial and Epoxy Coat have great systems. Obviously I am fond of ours
Our high solids system gives you the benefits of high solids with just enough solvent to make it easier to install:
http://www.garageflooringllc.com/high-solids-garage-floor-epoxy/
Sometimes people use the word epoxy and really they mean they want to coat the floor and make it pretty. We have a urethane system that does that very inexpensively and without the prep work associated with epoxy. You can find some information on that here:
http://www.garageflooringllc.com/rust-bullet-concrete/ If I was looking for a good and affordable solution to coat my floor, this is the way I would go. The industrial and commercial testimonials on this product are amazing.
Regardless of if you go with a product from us or a product from someone else, they key is selecting good product and, if it is epoxy PREP PREP PREP. To reiterate, for epoxy: grind or etch the floor. Use a primer. Use something in the 90-100% solids range for epoxy products.
