Newbie floor question

[ajhester]

I was wanting to put the garage floor coating that lowest sells with the colored chips. And was wonder how it will hold up with stuff being rolled around on it. Everything in the shop will be on casters and i fountain want tire tracks all over the floor. Any advice will be greatly appreciated

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Not sure which brand you are referring to as there are many.
However, a 100% solids coating is best for traffic hands down.
Even better with a urethane top-coat.

 

[ajhester]

How often do you have to re coat it or do you have to

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

If done right should last longer than you need it to.
Re-coat depends on traffic. Most garages would not need a re-coat for normal residential use, cars, bicycles, lawnmowers, etc...

Key is prep.

 

[ajhester]

When you say prep you mean cleaned really well. Ive had bad luck with staining concrete that's why i'm hesitant about the floor coating

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

AJ:

It's cut and dry.
You need to profile the concrete in preparation for coatings.

You either need to do a good acid etch or diamond grind.
The etch will only work if the floor is coating, oil and/or grease free.

Google acid etch or diamond grind for more detail.

 

[danieldolin]

I used the rustoleum product from lowes about 5 years ago. Looked great for a year, color started to peal up under hot tires in year 2, now happening in high foot traffic areas as well. The cost to grind it down to bare concrete and start over at this point is prohibitive and I will be installing racedeck tile over the floor this summer. If I was going to do it again, I would have started with a better product installed by a professional so maybe it would have lasted longer for normal garage use.

 

[ajhester]

Thanks for chiming in. Where are you getting those tiles from. I seen what look likes some very durable snap tiles at lowest but those things are like 6 ot 7 bucks a piece

 

[admranger]

Thanks for chiming in. Where are you getting those tiles from. I seen what look likes some very durable snap tiles at lowest but those things are like 6 ot 7 bucks a piece

Race Deck is no where near $6 or $7 each. Not even 1/2 that price. With the Garage Journal discount, they are not too bad. PM the Race Deck president or just call them on their 800 number and get some samples. Dunja did my floor layout and she was very easy to work with. Free shipping helped a lot as each box weighs in at 44 lbs!

I've had epoxy and loved it. However, at this house, the initial "professional" epoxy install lasted about 9 years and now at 11 years it is in rough shape. I decided to go with Race Deck instead this time, but I'm not wrenching as much as I used to in the past. I just didn't want to bother with the diamond grind, etc., etc., etc. of epoxy. That's not to say you'd have to do all that if your garage floor is new and pristine (though you will have to prep the surface in some manner).

 

[dcs Inc]

If you have had an epoxy floor that has been abused and used and isn't up to par, the quick and easy is to just degloss and put a new application over it. That should be at a minimal cost. gene

 

[admranger]

If you have had an epoxy floor that has been abused and used and isn't up to par, the quick and easy is to just degloss and put a new application over it. That should be at a minimal cost. gene

Used and abused? Is using a floor jack abusing an epoxy floor? If so, I'm gonna abuse the heck out of it again as sometimes I don't put the car up on the lift and just roll one of the three floor jacks out and use it. Yes, dropping a differential on the floor is abuse (and somewhat annoying...), but what I've done can hardly be called abuse (well, with the exception of dropping the diff the one time ).

If the epoxy is coming up from the use of a floor jack, etc., it's going to come up again after deglossing and putting a new layer of coating down. The root cause of the problem hasn't been addressed. Surface prep is the key to any good coating job and it is clear that either the coating was sub-par or the surface prep was sub-par.

Since I do not have the desire to do the proper diamond grind surface prep, etc., etc., I went with Race Deck as my floor.

 

[dcs Inc]

No problem.... Maybe I didn't read the entire post. But if an epoxy application "had" been applied correctly in the first place and was showing age, then one cpuld just scuff and reapply.

If one was still interested in a bullet proof application the double broadcast quartz floor with a poly aspartic top coat will take the occasional ****** drops and rear end run aways as well as any steel wheel traffic.

I'm sure the tiles will serve you well. gene