Rustoleum pro epoxy coating done

[sooperdave]

Started degreasing the floor on May 7th. This took a lot of time and effort but was well worth the effort! This was my birthday present to myself. If you have the time and patience I HIGHLY recommend doing this. It really makes the place brighter and feel brand new.

I read most of the related threads on here before I got started which turned out to be really helpful.

For perspective, here's how it looked around 6 years ago.

And then this winter.

Little by little I've been fixing it up over the last 6+ years. This year was time for the floor.

First degreased/scrubbed once with the rustoleum product, then a second time with mineral spirits, then a third time with a mr clean degreaser sold at home depot. Then pressure washed it and repaired the worst cracks and holes, etched it, rinsed it a few more times, kept it at 70* to let it dry out for two days and then shop vac'd before I started.

After all the scrubbing, degreasing and pressure wash, this was as clean as it ever looked.

Then was the easy part...two coats of base and a clear coat - the solvent based Rustoleum epoxy kit (not the water based one). Rolling out the clear was difficult to not miss any spots- which I did.

The worst part was keeping all my stuff outside for about 10 days - of course it raining almost every day.

It doesn't look bad for a 50+ year old concrete floor...the pictures don't do it justice.

Now most of my stuff is back in the garage and I was able to move my 91 Mustang notchback around on dollys without wrecking the clear coat - I made sure the dolly wheels were deburred and surface rust removed with a scotch brite pad.

Now I just gotta get my Z/28 back from my in-laws garage...I think my father in-law likes having it there.

 

[hillbill9889]

Looks real good.

I just did mine using Rustoleum Proffessional as well and was very happy with the results although I did not do the clear coat. I can only say good things about this product and guess I need to look at doing the clear coat now.

Let me ask though, did you put anything in the clear coat to make it not so slippery? I put the chips in the epoxy and I like the feel of it so I am concerned about if I were to put the clear on how that might end up. My dog already can't get much traction when her paws are wet.

 

[tomd]

looks great! nice job.
I am thinking of a similar project and I have a few questions: how may square feet is your garage and were you able to cover the floor with 1 gallon per application? I am thinking the first coat will require more epoxy due to the raw floor, and the second coat and then the clear will require slightly less 'coating'.

 

[hillbill9889]

For my install I had 1440 square feet and used 4 kits, each kit has 1 gallon part A and 21 gallon part B. Concrete was new and smooth, I only did 1 coat, it was all I needed and I could have easily gotten by with just 3 kits. The box says it will cover 350-400 square feet and in my limited experience, the coverage was equal to or better than the maximum that was suggested. Not sure if I just had the ideal floor or if I just initially put it on thin worrying about if I would have enough or not but by the end I was dipping my roller after each stroke and covering an area about 3' by 1 roller width.

 

[monteperformance]

Sooperdave, when you powerwashed your floor, did you cover up the walls? I was wondering how much of a mess that makes?

 

[sooperdave]

hillbill- thanks...I used the ant-slip additive they provide with the clear coat...it definitely helped

tomd- thanks...29x21 or 609 square feet...I used a little more than 1 1/2 gals per coat of the grey. I should have rolled the first coat on a little heavier. Yeah, the more porous the concrete, the more the first coat will require.

monte- I had some big pieces of cardboard - from a nordic track machine - that I kept moving around the garage but it didn't really even get wet. I was thinking along the same lines you are, but the pressure washing was not making a mess of the walls at all. I started by aiming outside to see how bad it would be first.