What is wrong with plain concrete?

[chromeyellow]

Is there really something wrong with just leaving your garage floor as is? I don't really get it, I mean some of the floor covers/stains look awesome, Racedeck is a neat touch, and tile floor can make a place look like a museum, but really... I guess I'm just missing something.

 

[nate379]

The reason I did it was to make cleaning up oil easier.

 

[Fish-man]

If you lived in a cold climate (read salt on the winter roads).... you'd understand the desire to protect the concrete. My concrete is 9 years old and with 9 winters, it looks like poop. I'm trying now to figure out how best to protect -after the damage.

 

[rsanter]

for a working garage, a painted floor will clean up easier and faster.
it also wont adsorb oils

bob

 

[nate379]

Depends on the quality of the slab I guess?

My Dad's 1st shop is close to 20 years old and the salt hasn't affected it at all. They live in Maine and the DOT isn't afraid of using salt at all. Trucks are all white come spring time.

About the only thing that has torn it up is cracking from the frost and snowmobile ski carbides and picks in the tracks.

If you lived in a cold climate (read salt on the winter roads).... you'd understand the desire to protect the concrete. My concrete is 9 years old and with 9 winters, it looks like poop. I'm trying now to figure out how best to protect -after the damage.

 

[Chris Adams]

I have 21 year old concrete that is very nice. However, my newer concrete is not quite as well finished or well done, so it will need some kind of protection. I can see it would absorb oil much quicker and worse than the older stuff.

So that is one reason I want to cover my new floor while I never did the old floor.

Another, I already have a chip out of the new floor. A cover plate dropped on it. If it had hit epoxy I really think it wouldn't have chipped. The 'green' concrete produced a divot.

Plus, a painted floor isn't as dusty as a plain concrete floor, and dust control is a big problem here in the desert.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Is there really something wrong with just leaving your garage floor as is? I don't really get it, I mean some of the floor covers/stains look awesome, Racedeck is a neat touch, and tile floor can make a place look like a museum, but really... I guess I'm just missing something.

Short answer is, no. Leave your floor bare if you want, it is your space, keep it as you want. Personally I doubt I would ever put money into finishing the floor in a shop, but then, that is just me.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Most of the benefits of a applying a good quality floor epoxy have been pointed out:

• Prevention of divots and other physical damage
• Elimination of ever present concrete dust
• Seals out chemical spills, preventing staining
• Cost effective way to rehab old damaged floor
• Much easier to keep clean - even sweeping is easier
• It just looks awesome!

One benefit that's often overlooked initially, but it's one that frequently gets commented on later, is the light reflection. That, plus the a fore noted attributes, is why a lot of commercial customers report that productivity increases after a shop floor is coated.

 

[chromeyellow]

thanks for the thoughts guys, I appreciate it

 

[e-tek]

As I said in another post - I'm REALLY HAPPY I never got around to painting/epoxying my shop floor. It would have looked like hell by now - welding, grinding, hammering, dropping tools and parts and dragging stuff around.
But I'm gonna epoxy my 2-car, which I want to be a little showier.

 

[AlphaGarage]

Dropping tools, dragging stuff, most of that can be handled. Welding is a bit different, we suggest that the tip be kept 3 feet from the floor, or use welding blankets.

In a heavy use shop over time the clear coat is going to gather a few battle scars, so when you know the in-laws are coming over, and you dictate that they need to sleep in the garage, you may want to freshen up the floor first. Usually that just entails scuffing up the existing floor, wiping it down with denatured alcohol, and putting on just a layer of the clear coat.

But if even that's too much effort for mom in law, a worn coated floor still keeps down the concrete dust, avoids stains, easy to wipe up spills, reflects light, avoids excessive chips and divots, less efort to sweep and clean, and although no longer showroom is still a lot more attractive than a stained scarred concrete floor.

 

[Jaguar Fan]

... One benefit that's often overlooked initially, but it's one that frequently gets commented on later, is the light reflection. That, plus the a fore noted attributes, is why a lot of commercial customers report that productivity increases after a shop floor is coated...

You've just described the Hawthorne Effect.

 

[river1]

another reason not mentioned yet, RESALE. if and when you want to sell a painted floor will help sell the place and an oil stained floor most definitely will not.

now don't say you'll never sell, someday day the funds will be there to step up to larger garage diggs. you'll be glad you painted.

later jim

 

[Torque1st]

Is there really something wrong with just leaving your garage floor as is? I don't really get it, I mean some of the floor covers/stains look awesome, Racedeck is a neat touch, and tile floor can make a place look like a museum, but really... I guess I'm just missing something.

No need to paint or epoxy etc, a good sealer will do the job of reducing stains and dust.

 

[jolakki]

Dust is whats wrong with plain concrete.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

No need to paint or epoxy etc, a good sealer will do the job of reducing stains and dust.

Many sealers dissolve or soften when oil or gasoline hits them. Thats the problem I have. I eventually hope to epoxy the floor, but with the large size (3600 sq/ft) it won't be cheap or easy.

Charles

 

[AmericanEpoxyFloors]

Here are a couple more reasons:

Over time, a coated floor will continue to look uniform while an uncoated floor will not; it will pick random stains.

A coated floor 'finishes' the garage. It makes the garage look like the room is no longer under construction.

 

[thegarageguy]

Same could be asked about anything. Why tile if the subfloor it's perfectly fine? Ok that may be extreme but it's the same as bare concrete IMO. So back to your thought process....why Corian counter tops if formica would serve the same purpose? Why Sub Zero rather than a regular fridge? Why a six burner Viking range if a standard oven is enough? Why Mercedes car if Hyundai can take as many people from point a to point b?

The answer is simple......some of us want the finer things in life.

 

[kaoss]

I built two trucks in my old garage, no floor coating, and the garge floor was a battered ugly mess by the time I moved out.
I am going to coat the floor in my new garage, because I don't want the same thing to happen to it.

So about this welding over epoxy, what's the deal with that?

 

[Falcon67]

The only thing that has hurt my epoxy floor is the slab shifting ( !@#$%# contractor) and dropping something like a cylinder head or anvil. I weld stuff all the time and haven't see where it hurt the floor. I have not used a cutting torch and the spark spray from that might have some effect. But I think 2300F molten metal would just about mark anything. I know it'll mark a tennis shoe.

 

[walrus]

No need to paint or epoxy etc, a good sealer will do the job of reducing stains and dust.

Whats a good sealer?

 

[Torque1st]

Behr makes a good penetrating sealer. It is solvent based. I forget the name but Home Depot had it last time I looked. The water based ones are better for indoor applications where the solvent smell and vapor are a problem but with good ventilation the solvent based sealers work.

 

[Pritch]

Nothing at all wrong with a nice epoxy job in a shop, but for my tastes it's like painting your redwood deck grey or your oak hardwood floor brown. There are some who will deny it's effectivness, but I've got 30 years working with concrete and this is what I use on my own stuff:

http://www.ashfordformula.com/

That's a brand name, there are others. It is a silicate based surface hardener and densifier. No dust and nothing much will hurt it. I spill bad stuff on mine all the time and it just wipes up. Battery acid and brake fluid have no effect. And it gets better looking with age, instead of the opposit. And it looks like plain old concrete.

 

[scottalbi]

this is what I use on my own stuff:

http://www.ashfordformula.com/

That's a brand name, there are others. It is a silicate based surface hardener and densifier.

Pritch,
I'm planning on using Euco Diamond Hard (silicate based densifier). Do you have any knowledge of its effectiveness compared to "tried and true" Ashford Formula? Any specific recommendations on a non-acid stain to apply prior to the densifier?
Scott

 

[MrWhy19]

I'm also planning on using Euco, and would like to hear about any comparison with Ashford. For either product, does it increase light reflection? Plain concrete seems to just soak up light, and I'm hoping that a lightly buffed Euco will improve on that.

BTW, I was in Home Depot yesterday and noticed that while their floor was not stained, it did look pretty good, and had a little gloss to it. Asked someone what they did and he said they sealed and waxed it with products they sell. Don't remember the name of the sealer, but it was in the concrete products section.

 

[Fish-man]

Nothing at all wrong with a nice epoxy job in a shop, but for my tastes it's like painting your redwood deck grey or your oak hardwood floor brown. There are some who will deny it's effectivness, but I've got 30 years working with concrete and this is what I use on my own stuff:

http://www.ashfordformula.com/

That's a brand name, there are others. It is a silicate based surface hardener and densifier. No dust and nothing much will hurt it. I spill bad stuff on mine all the time and it just wipes up. Battery acid and brake fluid have no effect. And it gets better looking with age, instead of the opposit. And it looks like plain old concrete.

And from Ashford's website:
Take precautions to prevent staining of concrete prior to application of cure-seal-hardener and for minimum of three months after application:
1. Prohibit parking of vehicles on concrete slab.

Help me out there... so I shouldn't park on the floor for 3 months?
Have you installed on older concrete? Mine is pitted due to road salt...

 

[JMURiz]

Dust is whats wrong with plain concrete.

Dust is the issue, I like the look, but dust *****. I'm going to seal mine to fix that issue, as I like the look of concrete.

 

[drsifu]

this is one of the reasons I epoxied my garage

 

[RaceDeck1]

To answer your question - Nothing is wrong with plain concrete...it makes the perfect sub-floor for RaceDeck

 

[79pacecar]

I don't see anything wrong with plain concrete, I have plain concrete in my shop, Use a little floor sweeping compound, Oil-dry, & wash it out every once in a while..

I just cant justify the cost, I would much rather spend that money on tools or go-fast parts!

 

[ripsnortMN]

I have a bare floor in my garage right now and will probably leave it that way. I would just ruin any kind of floor covering. No floor coating would stand up to what i do in my garage. My opinion is if your garage get used heavily, no coating will last very long in there.

 

[Torque1st]

I have a bare floor in my garage right now and will probably leave it that way. I would just ruin any kind of floor covering. No floor coating would stand up to what i do in my garage. My opinion is if your garage get used heavily, no coating will last very long in there.

That is why I avoid "coatings" and use penetrating sealers.

 

[waltmcq]

between the hot rods and harleys I'm slowly coating mine with 30w and 20-50w. It keeps the dust down just fine.