Rust-Oleum Epoxy Condo Garage [images]

[HandBanana]

Hello all! Name is David and I've been lurking on this forum for quite a bit. Thanks to all for the great posts as it has aided me tremendously in my garage project. Since I live in a condo, I could only do half-at-a-time. I purchased this place last year and I've been putting it off until this year.

Living in San Diego, CA I really didn't have to worry too much about temperature changes as its always usually around 60-75 degrees year-round. Funny though that it was raining when i finally cleared out the garage so I had to postpone it even a bit more.

I started by prepping the floors as recommended. Filling all the cracks and holes. Deciding to go with the Rust-olemum water-based epoxy because there won't be much heavy work going on in here. So no need for industrial grade stuff.

I did this project by myself, so I recommend if you're doing a floor with epoxy to get someone to help you. I was quite sore the next day as I had to move quickly before the pot life expired. Starting with the edges and corners then working the floor in 4'X4' sections sprinkling the flakes.

Using a roller and a paint brush. I also used one of those disposable tray liners which saved the cheapo tin can tray from HomeDepot.

Finally after about two hours I finished the first coat, waited a few days and re-coated again. As you can see, there were uneven strokes. But the second coat covered it quite nicely.

After the second coat, all is well.

The garage's dimensions are a bit weird. Its 10x40 with that little nook you see above. So its around 450sq/ft. I suspect for the second half of the garage, one kit should be sufficient.

The flakes were used sparingly as I do not like the look of extreme flakes everywhere. They do provide good traction. I can imagine and see how people mention that its super-slippery when they track in snow or water.

There you can see the junk a little bit, luckily my car is quite small and my toy is in storage until I finish the entire thing. Rain expected for tomorrow so I'll have to wait until Monday to prep the second half of the floor.

I do have a question about the solvent-based Rust-oleum clear coating. I haven't had time to call the hotline listen on the box and the one time I did five minutes was too long to wait. So for those of you with experience, is it safe to use a solvent-based clear coat on a water-based expoxy?

Learned a lot and had tons of fun doing this.

* excuse the quality of the images as they were taken with a phone camera

 

[porschedude996TT]

Hand, it looks pretty good for lower end kit. I'm sure you are going to like that it makes the clean up easy and the dust should be less of an issue.

So what goes on in your garage???

Thank for posting.

 

[sikopal]

HB,
Welcome a great first post, good job on the floor looks great!

 

[PontiacFan]

Looks good for a Rustoleum project!

 

[HandBanana]

Thanks for the welcomes everyone.

Hand, it looks pretty good for lower end kit. I'm sure you are going to like that it makes the clean up easy and the dust should be less of an issue.

So what goes on in your garage???

Thank for posting.

That's basically what the project was for. Tired of looking at the flat concrete and the way dust would be a bit difficult to sweep up. We'll see a few months from now how the epoxy holds up.

As far at what goes in the garage besides the daily driver. My 1991 240sx and your regular household storage. The little "nook" area is where I'll be putting one of those 6ft craftsman work benches. You'll see more stuff in a bit.

I'm probably not going to end up with the layer of clear coat. I've read that it yellows over time.

 

[SHELLFISH]

Thanks for the report and pictures!
It looks good! Glad it all worked out for you.

 

[HandBanana]

Alright finally finished the entire floor! Topped it off with solvent-based Rustoleum clear coat. I called Rustoleum today and asked if it was ok to use a solvent-based clear on a water-based epoxy. The lady on the phone said yes as long as the epoxy coat has had 24 hour of drying time.

With this advice I opened the box and sure enough it says in the instructions that it is ok to use the solvent-based clear on the water-based epoxy. So away I went.

It really looks nice. I am glad I went with the clear, the floor looks wet. Now I'll wait a few days to move back everything in there. The missus is getting a bit ticked since its all in the foyer haha.

Good stuff!

 

[vtx531]

So you used two kits for 400-something sq ft? How much clear did you use? Any more pics? Can you post a close up of the clear at a sport where there is a expansion joint and the wall? How easy is it to scratch? Thanks -Chris

 

[HandBanana]

So you used two kits for 400-something sq ft? How much clear did you use? Any more pics? Can you post a close up of the clear at a sport where there is a expansion joint and the wall? How easy is it to scratch? Thanks -Chris

I ended up using two 250sqft kits for about 45o-ish garage. I used it on the sides of the concrete as well and I put it on pretty thick. I definitely recommend going with the solvent-based Rust-oleum clear coat because I remember dragging a box and it left scuff marks on the regular epoxy. So far I've dragged these huge craftsman boxes (sorry for the mess) and the floor has been fine.



I'd say that its pretty scratch resistant. I also used two coats of clear because I missed a large size patch since I was doing this in low lighting. Use A LOT of light on your project!!

Specifically I like how stuff just wipes off the floor now. We had a little bit of rain and water that dries up from tires just wipes off that same day or the next. I also use cardboard underneath the car to keep it a little more tidy. Go to your local supermarket and ask if you can have a couple pieces of pallet cardboard. Its basically cardboard that they line the pallets with. If they're nice enough they'll hook you up.




If I had to re-do it again the only thing that I would change would be using Silver Gray instead of Gray Gloss, its just a shade tad bit too dark. But all-in-all its what I wanted.

Hope that helps.