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Ready to start my epoxy project

syorg

New member
Joined
May 7, 2020
Messages
3
Location
California
My first post on this awesome forum.

Honestly, I never really cared about garage floors until a few months ago. My daughter and her husband bought a house and the husband asked for my help to epoxy the garage floor before they moved in. I'm thinking, why? Its where the car goes. I was happy to help but I didn't really understand what the fuss was about.

His floor was tough because the previous owner had painted the floor. So, we had to grind the whole 3-car garage. We rented proper equipment, watched the how to videos and got started. We used Rust-oleum Epoxyshield Professional. The floor came out amazing! So much so that now I'm hooked and want to do my own garage.

I'm looking for some advice from the group on a couple of things. I've read product reviews, posts on this forum, and watched videos, but I cannot find answers make it clear which way to go, so I thought I'd reach out to you guys.

1) Do it myself or have it done? I'm inclined to do it myself. I'm handy. I know how to follow instructions. I've successfully done an epoxy floor before. What do you think?

2) What product should I use? I've had success with Rust-oleum Epoxyshield Pro. But, my floor is just for parking our cars. It will not be heavily used at all. So, would the regular Rust-oleum epoxyshield be better? I've read about Polycuramine. Is it worth the extra cost since my use is just parking cars? Are there other products that I should consider instead of Rust-oleum?

3) Is grinding necessary? My floor has never been painted. It is in great shape no cracks. Don't want to cut corners, but if grinding is entirely unnecessary, I'd love to skip it. I would like to just degrease (just a couple of minor old spot stains), pressure wash and acid etch.

4) I have built in work bench with legs. There is 4" clearance under the workbench so I could tape off the legs and roll epoxy under the bench, OR, I could tape the floor right at the work bench and stop the epoxy job at that point?


I'm happy to provide photos if necessary. Thanks!
 
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Shea

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 19, 2012
Messages
2,871
Location
California
1). A professional installation is going to start around the $4 per square foot range for a quality coating system and go up from there. A huge night and day difference in quality, looks, performance, and life compared to DIY home improvement store coating kits.

2). If applying a DIY home improvement store kit, I would recommend the Rust-Oleum Professional. It has less issues with hot tire pickup compared to the water-based EpoxyShield kit and it will last longer. RockSolid has issues with color uniformity due to the generous coverage rates stated in their instruction. If you reduce those by 20% it will typically perform as it should. It will be glossier than the Rust-Oleum Professional.

3). Providing you don't have a sealer present, grinding is not necessary for these type of kits. I would not acid etch for RockSolid. Use their provided citric acid etch. Acid etching provides too porous of a profile for RockSolid which creates color uniformity issues (patchy gloss and color tone from the coating being too thin) from the coating being absorbed. A second coat is required to fix it.

4). Try to coat under it if you can. It will look nicer and will avoid issues with spills that may migrate under the bench and stain the concrete.

If you are going to make the extra effort to do this yourself I would highly recommend using better quality coatings than what you have listed. They will cost more money, however, you truly get what you pay for when it comes to garage floor coatings. The money you save in the long run for a coating system that lasts 10 - 15+ years over one that wears out in 3 - 5+ years and needs replacing is worth it if it's in the budget.

Many of the vendors who participate here sell these types of coatings and will eventually chime in.
 
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syorg

New member
Joined
May 7, 2020
Messages
3
Location
California
Thanks for the suggestion. I used the website to work up a price for the color and amount of covering I want. Can you tell me why the huge price range?

sale
$459.00 - $899.00 (original $499.00 - $999.00)
Code: SPGX-MB-KIT
 
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