What to do about those ratty short walls?

[SCutchins]

I have a 3-car garage that is ringed by a maybe 2' tall really ratty concrete wall on 3 sides. It has little foam bits stuck in it from where they poured it, but I can easily pressure wash those off. The finish on it is terrible and there are lots of protrusions sticking out.

I bought two of the CostCo epoxy kits with the intention of rolling the sides and brushing the little 2" lip on top of the wall, but now I'm not so sure.

Given that epoxy dries quickly and these walls won't see any traffic, should I just paint them?

Should I break out my Bosch bulldog and chip off the protrusions, or should I go crazy and grind them smooth with the angle grinder (I doubt I want to put up with the dust.)

Most importantly, if I do decide to go with the epoxy on these little walls (I figure I already have it so why not use it), how will I apply it? I envision making a "paint tray" out of plywood with 2x4 sides and pouring the epoxy in it and then rolling it onto the walls, but prior experience from you guys would help.

Thanks!

 

[Inzane]

I'm in the exact same boat as you and was wondering the same thing.

However I did recently find some inspiration from this example (found on Autopia):

See how he painted the garage's grade beam (foundation/footing) to match the wall? I really like how that turned out. And I think it would look better that way than epoxying it to match the floor.

Here's the whole thread:
http://www.autopia.org/forum/garage-gallery/90323-first-house-garage-makeover.html

 

[blitzede21]

^^^ Future pro driver in that family!

I'm planing to cover my foundation walls with diamond plate as sort of a base board. I order a few sheets of diamond plate from the guys at work and will just cut them on a shear press in 8" tall by 8' lengths, hopefully it gets the look im after. At my old house I just painted them with epoxy, it was just a garage after all.

 

[3baysofplay]

I primed and painted mine to match the walls. You can see photos in my thread:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22609

 

[menz300]

I give people the options of matching the walls with the floor or will paint them to match other walls. I am working on discovering the best way to get chips to stick and look alright on those walls as they are a pain in the ****. I usually think the painting the same as walls looks best.

 

[PAToyota]

Without pictures, it is hard to get a feel for how rough the wall is. What were the forms?

Assuming that it was formed properly with wood or steel forms, get a concrete block and break it into smaller pieces. Use the flat side of one of the pieces as a "scouring pad" and rub it across the concrete wall to knock off the protrusions. Pressure wash the wall to clean it up and get the dust out of it from your scouring. Roll on a coat or two of block filler primer to even things out. Paint it with a good, quality gloss exterior latex of the color of your chosing - again two coats minimum.

The epoxies used for floor paints typically want to be self leveling - this doesn't work well on a wall and will do its best to self level, usually ending up mostly on the floor...

 

[Lone Wolf]

[QUOTEI'm planing to cover my foundation walls with diamond plate as sort of a base board. .[/QUOTE]

I'm looking to do the same thing. I found a resource for cosmetic grade diamond plate, .024" thick that's supposed to be very easy to work with in terms of shaping and cutting. I'm going to need it to be - on one side of my garage I have concrete that's about the same height and thickness as standard base board, and as it moves around the walls it gets gradually higher and thicker until it's about 3 feet tall with and six inches thick. I'm afraid it's going to be a royal pain to make it look seamless, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

 

[FFPL]

The epoxies used for floor paints typically want to be self leveling - this doesn't work well on a wall and will do its best to self level, usually ending up mostly on the floor...

I've done this 2 times now. On my own garage and my neighbors. You are correct in that the epoxy wants to level (i.e on the floor). I use a thickener (supplied by my epoxy manufacturer) to enable the epoxy to 'stay put'. My first experience with this thickener was not much fun as I put too much in the mix which made it very difficult to apply. But since then I've found an ideal compromise that allows the epoxy to stay where its meant to be and be reasonably easy to put down.
I was originally thinking of diamond plate but I'm glad I did the same as the floor as I think it looks a little classier.

My garage:

I did spend a lot more time grinding to wall on my neighbors as he wanted them flat. And I beveled all the edges. I still need to do his floor; over the next week hopefully