Wood floor in garage. Epoxy?

[Jaredmcginness]

Hey all,

First time poster here. I’m glad I found this place. Just purchased my first home with a sweet detached garage.

I spend a lot of time in the garage, like most of us here I’m sure.

In my old (rented) garage, I’ve structurally restored an old 914, building an Harley Shovelhead, maybe a bit of woodworking, beer drinking. Etc.
so I am welding, cutting, spilling, blah blah. I need a good floor!

The garage:

My new home has a recently (2010) built Prefab garage with a wood floor...
Gravel base, cemented piers, 12" Pressure treated joists and 5/8" hardboard floor.
It used to hold music/ jam space equipment and riding mower/lawn gear.

The issue:


I would like to strengthen this. I was recommended to lay #15 Asphalt felt (or Tar Paper) directly over the hardboard, then lay another 5/8 (or 1") layer of plywood over that and coat.

That seems like a decent plan, but I would like to epoxy over this. I found some great products that seem to work well (see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=yJL3xBUYg9o

Seems like my set up, then vapor barrier, plywood, sand, fills gaps and lay the epoxy down.

My questions:

-What would be a good plan of action if I wanted to go with the paint chip epoxy floor?

-what would be a good plan if I went with a vinyl tiling, or faux wood (cement lined) floor.

-what is a good vapor barrier.

I understand I need to consider the weight of a car (light, but it’s a car)
And it has to be flexible, anything rigid would crack.

Do you guys have any other ideas? Pouring cement is out of my budget.
Would be nice to not totally break the bank and get 7 or 10 years out of this.

But I love that paint chip floor.

Thank you!!

 

[JOE.G]

I have a small section of my old garage which was just Plywood, It held up fine for over 20 Years and it was the entrance to the garage so it was always wet. I would make sure the floor is strong enough to support the weight and then I would seal it with a quality sealer and call it a day, I think you will be surprised how long itll last.

 

[kngelv]

I will look at some thing like a tile floor. RaceDeck or similar.

James

 

[Shea]

Epoxy is very hard, but it does not flex. It will crack and break if forced to do so. Despite reinforcing the floor, it is going to flex when a vehicle is driven on it. Instead, I would recommend using polyurea. It is much more flexible than epoxy and will not crack under this type of use.

Also, use an epoxy primer (I know I said don't use epoxy) that is formulated to flex and bridge gaps. It's not designed as a wear surface (because if flexes) so it can't be used as a color coat. This is an example from Legacy Industrial.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi,
We offer a flexible 100% solids epoxy that can be a solid color or with flecks (please contact us directly at below for info and pricing, not PM please) that many wood floor users have used. While the product is flexible and won't crack due to floor movement, if your joints pull apart from expansion or contraction and such, you can develop cracks so for that reason we recommend extra screwing down and caulking of the joints pre-coating. Make sure to use the primer since wood is so porous.

Our last comment is that in some cases we have seen rarely hot tire lifting but when the pieces were examined the tires pulled up the wood, not that epoxy delaminated from the wood so it was the wood that failed. Since wood is not really an ideal substrate for vehicle parking, just be aware that this can happen and would not be a warranty failure. Unlikely, but possible. OSB is more prone to this than good quality plywood.

Alternately, you can just cover over the floor with our www.supratille.com solid PVC interlocking tiles or something similar. Zero chance of failure and just a few hours to install. More expensive but less labor.