Using Normal Box Store Floor Paint..(not epoxy)

[lazyazz]

Sorry for possibly an old and redundant question, but here goes. The "issues" seem endless with epoxy paint...prep / install / durability / lifting up / etc. Plus it is costly, but I'm ok with that.
I have a brand (35 days) new 30x40 concrete floor with stress cuts. No sealer as in bare naked.
Long ago and far away I painted a 25 year old floor with normal..buy it at the home store enamel cement driveway / garage floor paint (grey). It held up ok, on a really old floor.
My question is will the epoxy just look better (shiny/showroom) or will it really hold up better. Or will I be just as far ahead with the normal paint?
Will use the shop with a welder / garage lift / shidsteer / motorcycles.
Also if the epoxy is a headache is it still liveable or is it an even larger headache to repair remove.
I haven't included pics, I'll assume you all can picture another slab of concrete.
Thanks in Advance.

 

[Randar68]

Not sure where you live, but anywhere that uses road salt in the winter will absolutely destroy any of the box store paints, epoxies, or that rustoleum home kit stuff.

The stuff I just put down (Wolverine) was a lot of work and not cheap, but it is beautiful and essentially permanent.

As for touch-ups, it is a question of what you will be doing on it and what needs to be touched up. I think the paint stuff where you can keep it on-hand, is easily replaced at a later date, etc, is probably easiest, but it will be MUCh higher maintenance cost and it will stain, scratch, peel, etc much more easily, meaning you will be messing with it much more frequently.

 

[rieferman]

I've wondered a couple times now why they even make the paint if it (reportedly) ***** so bad.

Is this one of those scenarios where realistically the run of the mill floor paint will work just fine in 99% of applications, but the expensive epoxy finish will work even better in those same situations? That is, do you really NEED to upgrade?

 

[rsanter]

back in 96 I bought a new home and painted the garage floor with the hardware store $20 a gallon garage floor paint.
I actually thought it held up well to all the stuff I did in there.
there was a little hot tire pick-up of the paint where the car would sit, but I would mop the floor and repaint that area every couple three years and all was good again.
there were also some times I had scratches the floor and I did the same thing about doing a touch up.
it was totally worth it because dirt or liquids would clean up easier when it was painted and the garage was not a show garage but a working garage.

I painted this garage a couple of years ago with similar stuff and so far its held up ok. not as well as the floor before as I have had some lifting and peeling but this floor was very dirty when I moved in. I did the degrease and atching thing but it just does not seem to be as good as painting onto a floor that was clean in the first place.

it was cheap and relativly easy to do. for the cost I would say it worth it as I have no concern if I scratch the floor or spill something that 'softens' the paint.

bob

 

[Randar68]

In the north here where we use tons of road salt, my buddy who painted his floor never puts his car in the garage wet and parks on little carpet scraps to keep from hot-tire pickup on the box store paint. He touches it up 2-3 times a year.

If you live in an area where salt isn't an issue, and you're willing to touch it up a few times a year, it's prolly not worth the epoxy (although the epoxy cleans up and is more resistant to just about any chemical you can spill on it.

 

[SUPERCOAT]

As the other guys have stated, epoxy is definitely better. It's more durable, it doesn't lift on hot tires and (with SUPERCOAT, anyway) you get a much nicer, glossier finish. If you're going to go to the trouble of preparing your floor, go ahead and spend a little more to get a quality coating instead of paint.

 

[lazyazz]

Supercoat, I'm wasn't going to blow my brains out prepping. I was just going to:
1. acid etch the with muiratic
2. floor caulk the control cuts
and then put down..??...well that is my question.

 

[Randar68]

If you're going to go to the trouble of preparing your floor, go ahead and spend a little more to get a quality coating instead of paint.

I spent around $500 bucks to prep my floor (shot blaster) and it was in terrible shape and the epoxy system (Wolverine) ended up around $1100 The paint never would have bonded to the concrete in the same way the epoxy did (the epoxy was much more forgiving), and I had expansion joints, cracks, and spalling and concave depressions that had to be filled... paint would never have covered that in a similar fashion. Now it looks and feels seemless, is entirely bonded to the concrete substrate, and essentially zero maintenance.

I know that would not have been the case with paint and if I am going to spend that much time/money prepping the surface and such, I don't ever want to have to do it again or have to continually touch it up.

Every situation is different and every person has a different tolerance level for those kinds of things, so you have to measure things by "what is going to make and keep you satisfied".

 

[Randar68]

Supercoat, I'm wasn't going to blow my brains out prepping. I was just going to:
1. acid etch the with muiratic
2. floor caulk the control cuts
and then put down..??...well that is my question.

look, if the floor is in good shape, you can probably get an epoxy system down in a weekend (or long weekend). So your biggest consideration will be cost vs durability/longevity. And as I wrote before, that is a very personal choice.