sealer for fabrication shop?

[scout80]

I'm about to close on a new to me house tomorrow. One of the first things I want to address is the garage floor (of course! ). I've been searching here and other forums for so long that my head is almost in a state of perma-spin, lol.

I do heavy fabrication work in my garage, and need something to stand up to the typical mechanical repair work, jackstands, as well as grinding/welding sparks, plasma slag, steel dropping off the end of the saw because I forgot to support the end, my general clumsiness, etc.

I'm not at all wild about the epoxy coatings after reading of the many horror stories and seeing what happened to my Dad's professionally done epoxy coating (he has a buddy that does industrial floor coatings..came out and did the whole nine yards of professional grade prep/application...we still managed to damage the coating in short order, lol).

Things like the Race Deck flooring will be an absolute no go for me as well due to the hot stuff falling on it.

A fancy looking appearance is of zero concern to me, and I'm 100% OK with the look of bare concrete. But I know the floor will see frequent oil drippings, solvent drops, etc as well as weekly welding use and I may not be able to get to immediately cleaning up spills.

What I'm really shooting for here is keeping things like oils and solvents from seeping into the concrete and making it a bear to clean up later. I also want to keep it a relatively light color for better reflecting of light/ability to find dropped parts/screws/etc. I'm ok with regular maintenance on the floor if I need to.

From what I've come up with thus far, it looks my best option will be to apply a densifier, and penetrating sealer. This may be something I will have to reapply the sealer on a yearly basis, and again, I'm OK with that.

Am I on the right track here, or is there a better option still?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

You are close to a solution but need to clarify some things.
Give us a ring tomorrow, if you care to discuss.

 

[Garage Flooring]

I'm about to close on a new to me house tomorrow. One of the first things I want to address is the garage floor (of course! ). I've been searching here and other forums for so long that my head is almost in a state of perma-spin, lol.

I do heavy fabrication work in my garage, and need something to stand up to the typical mechanical repair work, jackstands, as well as grinding/welding sparks, plasma slag, steel dropping off the end of the saw because I forgot to support the end, my general clumsiness, etc.

I'm not at all wild about the epoxy coatings after reading of the many horror stories and seeing what happened to my Dad's professionally done epoxy coating (he has a buddy that does industrial floor coatings..came out and did the whole nine yards of professional grade prep/application...we still managed to damage the coating in short order, lol).

Things like the Race Deck flooring will be an absolute no go for me as well due to the hot stuff falling on it.

A fancy looking appearance is of zero concern to me, and I'm 100% OK with the look of bare concrete. But I know the floor will see frequent oil drippings, solvent drops, etc as well as weekly welding use and I may not be able to get to immediately cleaning up spills.

What I'm really shooting for here is keeping things like oils and solvents from seeping into the concrete and making it a bear to clean up later. I also want to keep it a relatively light color for better reflecting of light/ability to find dropped parts/screws/etc. I'm ok with regular maintenance on the floor if I need to.

From what I've come up with thus far, it looks my best option will be to apply a densifier, and penetrating sealer. This may be something I will have to reapply the sealer on a yearly basis, and again, I'm OK with that.

Am I on the right track here, or is there a better option still?

I would strongly consider the Truelock PPC clear sealer (no densifier required) http://www.garageflooringllc.com/tl...le-interior-exterior-concrete-sealer-coating/ OR

TL37 + Ghostshield 8505

 

[Slowgsr]

Let me know what you go with.
I have similar requirements, and don't want fancy epoxy or rust bullet and get burn marks and damage all over it

 

[Domn8r]

subscribing to this thread

 

[scout80]

Let me know what you go with.
I have similar requirements, and don't want fancy epoxy or rust bullet and get burn marks and damage all over it

For me, I don't even care so much about burn marks, I just don't want something that's going to chip off, peel, etc so that fluids can get in underneath the coating where I can't do anything about it. The _appearance_ of oil stains doesn't even bother me...it's the weeks or months of pulling oil back out any time I slide across the floor, or the slick as greased snot floor that results if it gets wet in that spot, that concerns me. That's my big thing against the epoxy flooring - it wasn't even a month after putting the stuff down that Dad and I were damaging the coating....sure, we could have been "abusing" it, but at least in my case, what I'm doing out there is probably a lot more than what the typical home garage sees. That's what was driving me towards the densifiers - thinking strengthening the top layer of concrete would be beneficial.

However, I recently learned of the porcelain tile thing, and that's looking like it may very well be the best option for me. Certainly doesn't appear as it will be cheap, and while it may not be "bulletproof" per se, being able to replace tiles if/when I damage them could be pretty handy too. It's funny...all the time I spent searching and learning, I never thought to search with terms like garage floor epoxy alternatives to learn what else is out there, lol.

Either way, I expect to have keys to the place this afternoon, so I'm going to have to make a decision pretty quick, lol.

 

[Armorpoxy]

We would recommend a coat of our SPGX Coating. Inexpensive, fast drying, virtually impervious to common fluids, and easy to apply with little, if any prep.

 

[scout80]

Well, tile is out. Just went to pick up the keys to the place, and take a better look at the garage floor....it is significantly out of level, with some wave as well. I won't have the time to get it fixed before I have to have all my stuff out of the old place, so back to sealing it somehow.

Oh well, I'll plan to tile the shop when I have it built next year

 

[TauntDevil]

Wow, working on moving to a new place as well and had this exact same question for the exact same stuff. Definitely subscribing to this. I hope it is figured out soon so we all benefit from it. Was going to do Sealant and then tile above it for the hard stuff even though I hate tile. Race stuff wasn't great because of when using a creeper or rolling something, just would not do well. Looking forward to this!

 

[scout80]

Well....turned out to be a dismal failure, lol. I ran into a time crunch, between the owner of the last house I was in telling me I had 24 hours to get my '62 out of his yard or it's going to scrap, and new appliances getting delivered this morning...

I tossed down some Behr paint stripper, followed by phosphoric acid, and coated it in Homex sealer from Home Depot.

With how wavy the floor is, it was an exercise in futility to attempt to keep the acid and sealer from puddling, and resulted in some pretty wicked splotching of the concrete.

Then to top it off, while moving the washer, I gouged the sealer and it's already peeling, lol. Granted, my prep left a lot to be desired, and I'm blaming that more than the product.

That said, I'm not doing anything else to it at this point, amd instead just saving like mad to get the shop built. Afterwards, I'll have someone come in to fix the floor, and likely tile after that.

 

[Gotcha640]

I'm always a little confused by posts like this - people want to do heavy duty, dirty work in their garage, and want the floor to look new. Maybe for resale value?

The garages I've done engine swaps and frame off restorations and the like in have had bare concrete or crummy diy epoxy floors. My in-laws keep old carpets under their cars, but I've dripped oil and chipped the floor there too.

I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't just put something under a potential leak (old carpet, cardboard, etc), plywood under engines/other heavy or damaging things, and plan to patch and grind when you leave if you're in a market that values spotless garage floors.

 

[rajincajintj]

I'm always a little confused by posts like this - people want to do heavy duty, dirty work in their garage, and want the floor to look new. Maybe for resale value?

read the post maybe

A fancy looking appearance is of zero concern to me, and I'm 100% OK with the look of bare concrete. But I know the floor will see frequent oil drippings, solvent drops, etc as well as weekly welding use and I may not be able to get to immediately cleaning up spills.

 

[Gotcha640]

Yeah I read the post, still not sure why a concrete floor doesn't work. Resistant to spark/flame/dragging and dropping most of the things that could possibly be lifted in a residential garage. As for the spills, I usually put down cardboard or old towels or have the kitty litter on hand when I'm doing grubby work.

My most recent house has about a third of its epoxy coating still stuck to the floor. Once I finish the current project, I'll be borrowing a scrubber and get all the loose stuff up to make sweeping easier, but definitely not putting anything new down. It seems to cause more work maintaining than its worth.

 

[philofab]

In the shop I used to do UPS truck maintenance in we just painted the floors with a gray paint from Home Depot. It made clean up easier and although it wore through in spots it was cheap and only needed redone once a year. I can't remember if it was oil based or epoxy of some sort. We just rolled the stuff on.

 

[Daddy Fish]

Subscribed. I too wonder why not use paint. Seems like maintenance is required even much more expensive options. So I don't honestly understand the additional expense.

 

[MIKE L B]

Let me know what you go with.
I have similar requirements, and don't want fancy epoxy or rust bullet and get burn marks and damage all over it

I would like to keep bare concrete floor in new shop but seal it against oil staining etc. Is this also what you are looking for and if so, have you learned anything more along these lines? I'm thinking maybe a sealer like you would use on tile and grout such as "511 Impregnator." (just a thought)
If you have any ideas or knowledge, please let me know. Thanks, Mike

 

[Garage Flooring]

I would like to keep bare concrete floor in new shop but seal it against oil staining etc. Is this also what you are looking for and if so, have you learned anything more along these lines? I'm thinking maybe a sealer like you would use on tile and grout such as "511 Impregnator." (just a thought)
If you have any ideas or knowledge, please let me know. Thanks, Mike

Keep in mind that most sealers to do not have long term resistance to automotive fluids. I would consider a densifier and Ghostshield 8505 or TrueLock PPC urethane sealer