New member, old garage

[Ovidiu]

Hi everyone, I'm new here! This board is awesome, I've read quite a few things on here.

Now onto the subject at hand, flooring! I've recently moved into a older house (built in 1977) with an unfinished 3 car garage. That's great, a clean slate

The floor isn't in too good of a shape, there's various things that seemed to be spilled on top of some shoddy looking concrete. I think at some point in time someone has poured some "aftermarket" concrete over the original slab, as evidenced by the uneven concrete and cat-paws in one area.

I am thinking of renting a concrete planner from sunbelt or something to make the floor even and smooth in preparation for epoxy, anyone have any experience with this and think it's a good (or bad) idea?

If the concrete planner doesn't work, I will probably need to pour some more concrete to even it all out I think. Anyone have any resources on doing this, or should I just contract it out? How long before I can put epoxy on top?

As for the finishing layer, I plan to do epoxy. I've seen the Wolverine threads in here and it looks pretty good, I'm inclining towards going that route. I'd like to get a rough estimate of the cost though before I commit to that.

Dimensions for the garage are:
- overall length: 20.5 ft
- overall width: 31.5 ft
There is also a border on the side and back of the garage, but that shouldn't matter much, since it's included in the above dimensions.
I will have cars and trucks in the garage, and on top of that I am planning on restoring my project pick-up in there, so it will see jacks, jackstands, engine stands and cherry picker traffic in there.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to the suggestions!

 

['the epoxy floor guy']

I'm afraid I have a couple of bad news items for you. IF they have poured a 'bag mix concrete' to patch up the floor Especially if they just put it over the top, GRINDING can do MORE harm than good.

In my experiance the bag mix just "explodes" when the diamonds touch it. So hope you may have better luck. As to the "planer" I would suggest a grinder. Without a $40,000 grinder you will not get ALL the poor workmanship in the concrete to disappear.

I would suggest using an Epoxy Concrete repair product as the Strongest fix. 2nd I would suggest using a Bagged 'patch' material. like: HERE

Adhesion on this is OK, If you want to add some thinset (like you would use on Ceramic tile) it will help it bond to the old concrete.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ovidiu]

Hmm, thanks for the info.

I guess the shoddy patch work would be good riddance if it disintegrated, I'd rather re-do the whole surface with some good concrete or something, as you are suggesting (btw the link on HD doesn't work).

This is the planer I plan on renting, or one that looks similar:
http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/equipment.aspx?itemid=0320240&catid=s344

Also, I notice you have some epoxy coating, would you mind giving me some pointers on what the steps involved are and approximate cost? (if you want by PM that's fine)

 

[Jaguar Fan]

Can you post a few pictures of what it looks like now? see this link for directions on posting a large picture (rather than just a thumbnail):

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13567

 

[Ovidiu]

Yes, I will make a "build thread" for my garage pretty soon.
I need to take some good before pictures, hopefully later today. There's no telling though, it's supposed to rain pretty bad all week.

Edit: I found a pic I took a few weeks ago, can't really see everything:

 

[SC-Eric]

As for the finishing layer, I plan to do epoxy. I've seen the Wolverine threads in here and it looks pretty good, I'm inclining towards going that route. I'd like to get a rough estimate of the cost though before I commit to that.

cool... I hope that you've already contacted Fred (http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=22680)... I think if you can get him some more detailed pics we can give you some good recommendations of patching vs. self-leveling concrete vs. epoxy mortar resurfacing... OR... even a self-leveling epoxy slurry.

There are a ton of options to consider for a ton of situations. I think you're getting ready to uncover a diamond in the rough!

Good Luck! Eric

 

[Ovidiu]

cool... I hope that you've already contacted Fred (http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=22680)... I think if you can get him some more detailed pics we can give you some good recommendations of patching vs. self-leveling concrete vs. epoxy mortar resurfacing... OR... even a self-leveling epoxy slurry.

There are a ton of options to consider for a ton of situations. I think you're getting ready to uncover a diamond in the rough!

Good Luck! Eric

I hope so!

I've PM'd him and asked for wolverine advice/pricing in this thread, still waiting on his reply...

It's been raining hard and getting dark early, so I can't really take good pics right now...

 

['the epoxy floor guy']

This is the planer I plan on renting, or one that looks similar:
http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/equipment.aspx?itemid=0320240&catid=s344

I can't tell exactly but it looks like the pic in the link is NOT the type of equipment you want to use.

You should be looking for a GRINDER , NOT a PLANER.

is more like what you want.

 

[Ovidiu]

I can't tell exactly but it looks like the pic in the link is NOT the type of equipment you want to use.

You should be looking for a GRINDER , NOT a PLANER.

is more like what you want.

The guy at the rental place said a planer takes more concrete faster than the grinder. Why exactly is it that I do not want a planer?

Thanks for the help by the way, it is much appreciated!

 

[Ovidiu]

Well, I was finally able to get some pictures of the garage floor. Without further ado, here they are:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ocristea/Garage#

I suppose this will be awesome for a before/after slideshow once it's done.

 

[Ovidiu]

OK, a little update on my progress is in order.

I rented the following equipment, both from sunbelt rentals:
- Edco 2 disc (6 stones) grinder (model 2GC-11H)
- Edco scarifier/planer (model CPM-8-9H)

The planer was the PERFECT tool for the job at hand, took about a day of grinding between me and my dad but it came out looking very even. It's a really cool tool once you get the hang of it, took out all of the high spots in the floor. It was a tad expensive to rent, but it did a great job and I'm very happy with the results.

The scarifier leaves this grooved surface kinda like you see on the road when they take out asphalt to put new one. I passed it both parallel and perpendicular to the doors, and this left a criss-cross pattern on the old concrete (which seems to have a good stone content).

Started going at the rough surface with the grinder, and it seems to work pretty good, except the stones ran out about half way (stupid, I know). I'm gonna have to re-rent that at a later point in time, but I want to address a few more issues before I do that.

Now onto the bad part: it seems like there are a couple of low spots, biggest one of which is a 3x5 ft that may be at its deepest point about 1/2 inch deep. I bought some concrete patch that I will apply in there pretty soon if it's safe to do so. How long do I need to wait on that one to cure before I epoxy over it?

 

[SC-Eric]

- Edco 2 disc (6 stones) grinder (model 2GC-11H)

Diamond Cup Discs work MUCH better than stones...

Now onto the bad part: it seems like there are a couple of low spots, biggest one of which is a 3x5 ft that may be at its deepest point about 1/2 inch deep. I bought some concrete patch that I will apply in there pretty soon if it's safe to do so. How long do I need to wait on that one to cure before I epoxy over it?

First, adding the concrete patch could be a weak layer depending on the exact epoxy system you are planning on installing. You should always ask the supplier of the product you intend to use. A general rule is a 28 day cure... Again, ask the supplier of the products you intend to use!

Good Luck!

Post the pics!

 

[Ovidiu]

Suggestion taken, to finish up the bulk of the work I will get a diamond insert for one of those big 10" grinders.

I also bought a grinder and a diamond cup (4 1/2") to clean up all the edges and make some nice bevels and whatnot.

And last but not least, my order is in as of Thursday for some Wolverine goodness. Can't waaaaaait!