Product Suggestions

[EstherJVB]

New to the forum and hoping for some help.

My husband and I designed and built our dream house a year ago and he has been wanting to finish out the garage with a nice floor instead of just the bare concrete since the day we moved in. I decided that I would do it for him this year as a Christmas present and have been trying to decide what product to use.

He really wants tile, but doesn't want to spend the money. In his opinion the best choice for the cost is an epoxy product with color flakes. In the research I've done the product itself is almost as important as the prep. Most places I've been looking have warned against any big box products, but I don't really know where to go from there Do you guys have any suggestions on a product to use and how to apply it?

I am a Metalsmith and an artist and have a small amount of experiencing using acid etching on concrete and applying/removing sacrificial wax coats both with and without a burnisher so feel that I am able to handle a more complex prep process.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Do some searches on this forum.

 

[COgarage]

Esther....

I will steer you away from the Home Depot/Lowes products for one reason. In my experience, they tend to lift up where you would bring your vehicles into the garage.

On the forum here there are a bunch of posts that show how well an epoxy garage floor can hold up. I am leaning this direction.

To "legacy"....nice job not even offering an opinion or some advice.....it might work for you but as a moderator on other boards (not associated to garage stuff) you turned a person off that is looking for assistance. SARC..." NICE WORK ".....

Esther....I hope you are still here but you can get a nice look for doing a Behr product but be advised (as mentioned earlier) you might have the tire "pick up" and find that it isn't something that will last. Again, this is from my experience in 2007 when I did my "dream house" and was not happy with the results after a couple of years. Was the product better than the bare floor????

YES!!

But having to do it all over again now in a new home of 2 years.....I am looking at a better epoxy system.

Cheers!

 

[Zmw]

I have only done my 1 garage, but I used a 3 part system and it has worked great in the AZ heat (no hot tire pickup) and with a truck parking on it.

1) Primer coat - I used a water based "cheap" epoxy from Lowes. Quickrete/valspar. Thinner water based epoxy supposedly sinks into the conrete and forms a good initial bond
2) Base coat - Solvent based epoxy, Rustoleum professional grade. Stuff smells big time, get a respirator. Decent solid count and easy to use
3) Polyurethane clear coat, I used HPU 747 urethane. I actually did 2 coats since I got a free box by accident. Use a respirator!

My floor is great so far. Prep is the key. I diamond ground my floor and I think that is was huge!

 

[bazzateer]

New to the forum

Welcome!

He really wants tile.

So get him tile! Porcelain would be my choice, have a look at Jack Olsen's garage on here. He got a great deal on his tile, something you may be able to do as well.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55006

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

CoGarage, short-poster, sir,

We see the same questions day in, and day out. They have been answered ad-nausea. I can easily steer the OP to my site as I would only recommend our materials. However, in the spirit of actually letting the OP form her own opinion and see what's available I directed her to search the forum and see which is the correct direction for them. Frankly, they may change direction all together, there are many alternatives to coatings (tile, racedeck, mats, etc...).



Cheers.

 

[EstherJVB]

Thanks for some of the feedback.

Legacy, I had searched the forum and had come to the conclusion that if I wanted something to last and be durable I really need to spend more money on an epoxy than what I want to spend. From what I've seen the Wolverine products are wonderful, but if i'm going to spend in the realm of $1200 for my three car garage why not just tile? I was hoping by posting to get additional information that could help.

I was really hoping to find an alternative that would be a nice compromise between price and wear. In research on this site and others and in conversation with my husband I think we've decided that for the money we want to spend now it's not worth doing an epoxy because the we won't get a reasonable wear out of it. I think we're just going to stain the floors with an acid stain and let it wear off. That is a lot less money and I know it will need redone, but in two to three years time when it needs refinished I can spend more money tiling over it without having much cleanup first.

I don't know, any additional thoughts?

 

[Shea]

I think we're just going to stain the floors with an acid stain and let it wear off. That is a lot less money and I know it will need redone, but in two to three years time when it needs refinished I can spend more money tiling over it without having much cleanup first.

Hello Esther,

If you just take that idea a step further and apply an epoxy/acrylic sealer on your floor after you stain it, you won't have to worry about the stain wearing away. Epoxy/acrylic sealers are not expensive and are a film forming topical sealer that are easy to apply. They are used all the time over stain. They will wear, but they will protect the stain and can easily be reapplied.

After you have saved your pennies over the years, the sealer can be ground away when properly prepping your floor for epoxy.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Hello Esther,

If you just take that idea a step further and apply an epoxy/acrylic sealer on your floor after you stain it, you won't have to worry about the stain wearing away. Epoxy/acrylic sealers are not expensive and are a film forming topical sealer that are easy to apply. They are used all the time over stain. They will wear, but they will protect the stain and can easily be reapplied.

After you have saved your pennies over the years, the sealer can be ground away when properly prepping your floor for epoxy.

Agree with Shea. Frankly, any acid-stain absolutely requires a sealer or you will not get the full effect of the color. Invest a bit more $$ and you will really have an excellent looking floor.

Lastly, consider applying a few coats of floor wax over the sealer, once cured and it will last longer.