Seeking Recommendations for garage floor paint.

[mikegeaney]

I replaced a window in my garage today and started thinking that I needed to spruce the place up. I have a 1 car attached garage with a small loft that I built for storage. The entire garage is pretty much a storage facility....freezer, kids stuff, my Adam's products (when it's warm), etc. I hit the Home Depot today and picked up insulation for the walls. I plan on covering that with peg board and painting it. I also figure I'll grab a nice storage cabinet or two and take it from there.

 

The floor is poured concrete that has a lot of stains from years of abuse. I would like to paint the floor and know that there are several epoxy based products out there on the market. Does anyone have any experience with anything like that? Any recommendations (positive or negative)?

 

Thanks, in advance, for the input.

[Team Adam's]

We put down something recently and it's working great - I'll try to get the name. What you want is something that is stain resistant but does not get dangerously slick when wet.

[Bill-V8V]

I used the kit they sell at HomeDepot, it came out good but I think I should have doubled up on it.

 

[Team Adam's]

We put down the Lowe's kit, can't find a can though with the name on it.

[Bill-V8V]

Found the one I used, it was Rust-Oleum.

[Marylander]

Are you guys happy with the Epoxy kits? I've been tempted to try one, too, but I keep hearing stories of peeling. anyone having that issue?

[Bill-V8V]

No peeling but I spent a LONG time on the prep.

[Tmag]

No peeling but I spent a LONG time on the prep.

 

 

I have been looking at U-COAT but the prep work has me thinking not sure I want to pay around with muriatic acid. How long has your finish been down?

[Rich427]

I retired last year and moved from Maryland to Florida into a new home. I decided to epoxy my garage floor before I had a chance to drop fluids on the raw concrete. I used a product called U Coat It. I had seen this stuff at Carlisle for a number of years and was pretty impressed with it. It is not cheap, but, if applied correctly it is great stuff. Here are a couple pictures I took right after having my Corvettes shipped to Florida and before I had a chance to finish my garage. I can drop brake fluid on this stuff and it does not do a thing to it. Being in Florida, you will get hot tire marks on the floor, but they just wipe up with a wet rag. I keep some scrap carpet pieces under the tires to keep me from having to wipe the floor up very often.

 

I am also including the U Coat It website, which is pretty good. You will have to clean your floor to get up the grease and oils because I don't think that anyone makes a product that will just go down over top of oil and not eventually lift. I did find that the service reps at U Coat It are really easy to deal with and they can tell you what you have to do to prep your floor.

 

http://ucoatit.com/pgs/main.htm

 

Good luck with your decision.

 

Rich

[Bill-V8V]

I have been looking at U-COAT but the prep work has me thinking not sure I want to pay around with muriatic acid. How long has your finish been down?

 

It's been down for 3 years but it doesn't look so good anymore, maybe I should wash it and see what it looks like under there

 

Oh well back to work detailing the truck

[mikegeaney]

Thanks Rich. I had heard about that product, but you are the first person I have heard from that used it. It appears expensive, but it shouldn't be too bad on a 1 car garage. I just finished putting insulation in the garage so I am ready for a nap. It's tough getting old.

 

Nice looking stable by the way. Floor looks nice, cars look great!

[Huckleberry]

Getting old is fine. Its when you stop ageing maybe not so good.

[Bill-V8V]

Getting old is fine. Its when you stop ageing maybe not so good.

 

 

I think Huck has a point

[jjwvette]

I retired last year and moved from Maryland to Florida into a new home. I decided to epoxy my garage floor before I had a chance to drop fluids on the raw concrete. I used a product called U Coat It. I had seen this stuff at Carlisle for a number of years and was pretty impressed with it. It is not cheap, but, if applied correctly it is great stuff. Here are a couple pictures I took right after having my Corvettes shipped to Florida and before I had a chance to finish my garage. I can drop brake fluid on this stuff and it does not do a thing to it. Being in Florida, you will get hot tire marks on the floor, but they just wipe up with a wet rag. I keep some scrap carpet pieces under the tires to keep me from having to wipe the floor up very often.

 

I am also including the U Coat It website, which is pretty good. You will have to clean your floor to get up the grease and oils because I don't think that anyone makes a product that will just go down over top of oil and not eventually lift. I did find that the service reps at U Coat It are really easy to deal with and they can tell you what you have to do to prep your floor.

 

http://ucoatit.com/pgs/main.htm

 

Good luck with your decision.

 

Rich

 

Great looking floor:thumbsup:

[Rich427]

Great looking floor:thumbsup:

 

Thanks!

[Marylander]

I retired last year and moved from Maryland to Florida into a new home. I decided to epoxy my garage floor before I had a chance to drop fluids on the raw concrete. I used a product called U Coat It. I had seen this stuff at Carlisle for a number of years and was pretty impressed with it. It is not cheap, but, if applied correctly it is great stuff. Here are a couple pictures I took right after having my Corvettes shipped to Florida and before I had a chance to finish my garage. I can drop brake fluid on this stuff and it does not do a thing to it. Being in Florida, you will get hot tire marks on the floor, but they just wipe up with a wet rag. I keep some scrap carpet pieces under the tires to keep me from having to wipe the floor up very often.

 

I am also including the U Coat It website, which is pretty good. You will have to clean your floor to get up the grease and oils because I don't think that anyone makes a product that will just go down over top of oil and not eventually lift. I did find that the service reps at U Coat It are really easy to deal with and they can tell you what you have to do to prep your floor.

 

http://ucoatit.com/pgs/main.htm

 

Good luck with your decision.

 

Rich

 

 

I got to your post and completely forgot that this was a thread about floors... I just started admiring your collection of Vettes. I read the post, moved on, and then literally came back and visitied again to look at the floor. (which also looks great, btw!)

 

Rich

[Rich427]

I got to your post and completely forgot that this was a thread about floors... I just started admiring your collection of Vettes. I read the post, moved on, and then literally came back and visitied again to look at the floor. (which also looks great, btw!)

 

Rich

 

Thanks Rich. I see that your from Rockville. I was wondering whether you are a member of G'Burg Vettes? Prior to moving from Maryland I was a member of the Bel Air Corvette Club and always enjoyed the events and people from G'Burg.

 

Rich

[Marylander]

Thanks Rich. I see that your from Rockville. I was wondering whether you are a member of G'Burg Vettes? Prior to moving from Maryland I was a member of the Bel Air Corvette Club and always enjoyed the events and people from G'Burg.

 

Rich

 

Hi Rich -

 

No, I'm not a member of any clubs up here, but I have bumped into some of the Gaithersburg guys very casually at a few Criswell events. There's also a club (maybe the same one) that I met doing a show up in the Pep Boys parking lot in Germantown a year or so back. Some very nice cars there.

 

Rich

[Rich427]

Hi Rich -

 

No, I'm not a member of any clubs up here, but I have bumped into some of the Gaithersburg guys very casually at a few Criswell events. There's also a club (maybe the same one) that I met doing a show up in the Pep Boys parking lot in Germantown a year or so back. Some very nice cars there.

 

Rich

 

Yea, G'burg used to have a big show at Criswell every year. I used to show the '69 there occasionally. Nice group of people!

 

Rich

[Bangastang]

I did a combination of Rustoleum Epoxy and Motofloor which is the checkered race tile that's available from Costo. My floor looks great and cleans up easily. With the Rustoleum I would suggest putting on a coat of clear, because it did lose the shine after a year. I did hear that U-Coat is nice stuff.

Edited November 28, 2008 by Bangastang

[c5golfguy]

Are you guys happy with the Epoxy kits? I've been tempted to try one, too, but I keep hearing stories of peeling. anyone having that issue?

 

 

I put down the epoxy kit from Lowes just recently. Its held up great until I put a jack on it and jack up any of the cars. I have a 3 car garage with about 850sq ft. It took me a better part of 3 weeks for prep and 2 coats of epoxy and a clear coat.

 

I swept and rinsed the concrete to get a clean base to start. From there I etched with the acid etching liquid. I noticed some areas that just didn't etch right (keep in mind.. brand new home I had built end of 2007) so i went to Home Depot and bought a grinder. Let me tell you.. I got my *** kicked with that grinder on the concrete floor but once I figured out how to man handle the thing and kept it from throwing me into the steel poles in the garage... the floor turned out pretty darn good. Had a nice base to clean again and then put down the first coat of expoxy. Let it dry for 4-5 days with no traffic and then put down my first coat. Let it dry for 4-5 days and then put the clear coat on. There are still some areas that its held up great but where I jack up the Vette quite often (I have rail savers installed) it's started to peel up.

 

While it looks great and wipes up any oil/antifreeze/water but once it cracks and peels... its all over with! I'm so unhappy with it right now and I'm dreading what to do next.

 

I know I should have just went with the race deck or something similar to that but at 850 sqft garage... no way in hell am I going to drop 5k on the fllooring.

 

I suggest going a primer route, base route, 2-3 coats after your base route and then 2 coats of clear. But thats still a good bit of money and time involved. There are these new mats on sale at Home Depot I'm considering trying at around 170 dollars per 1 car garage... so I figured I'd need enough around 4 car garage after doing beyond the typical 10x10 foot print of a conventional garage.

[Bangastang]

First off nice Vette. I love my Motofloor it's very easy to install and cleans up great.

I actually laid down my epoxy first then put down the race tiles. With your white Vette

it would like very cool. I bought the tiles at Costco this summer I must have cleaned them out. Costco sells it a lot cheaper than most places and they actually marked it down to $50.00 a box...great deal. I have a 2 1/2 car garage and it took me 8 boxes to cover my floor, your garage is a lot larger. Just keep one thing in mind your must

purchase the edging separate to finish the ends. The good thing is the edging comes

in different colors...like red. I'm such a gearhead. Now all my car buddies want the

same floor.

 

Good luck

Bangastang

aka Hendrix

[Beto]

I replaced a window in my garage today and started thinking that I needed to spruce the place up. I have a 1 car attached garage with a small loft that I built for storage. The entire garage is pretty much a storage facility....freezer, kids stuff, my Adam's products (when it's warm), etc. I hit the Home Depot today and picked up insulation for the walls. I plan on covering that with peg board and painting it. I also figure I'll grab a nice storage cabinet or two and take it from there.

 

The floor is poured concrete that has a lot of stains from years of abuse. I would like to paint the floor and know that there are several epoxy based products out there on the market. Does anyone have any experience with anything like that? Any recommendations (positive or negative)?

 

Thanks, in advance, for the input.

 

I Applied The "Garage" Version Of Rust-Oleum Epoxy In Our Drum Room/Man Cave About 3 Years Ago. We Also Have A Dart Board In The Room Which Sees A Lot Of Use. Honestly, I Have Only Seen A Very Slight De-Glossing Of The Finish (Just In Front Of The Board). In This Case It Has Served Us Very Well.

On The Other Hand, My Friend David (He Uses The Stuff From The Catalog Guy-Although I Am Trying To Convert/Enlighten Him) Had Applied The Same Product On His Garage Floor About 5 Years Ago, And After Lots Of Car Traffic And 2-21/2 Years, We Had To Refinish The Floor. This Time We Used The "Professional" Version And The Clear Top Coat And It Looks Just As Fine As The First Day. Rust-Oleum Says It Is More Moisture Resistant And Is A Little Harder Finish. The Clear Coat Makes the Floor Look Slippery, But Infact It Is Not. Very Easy To Maintain.

I Manage An Ace Hardware And We Stock Both Versions, But I Usally Only See The Garage Version In The Box Stores-So Ask, I'm sure They Can Special Order.

With Either Product And Probably The Others, Prep Usally Dictates Both, How Well And How Long The Finish Lasts.

 

I Had To Edit My Resonse-I Was Just IM'in David, He Reminded Me The Second Aplication Was Infact The Professional Version Not The Basement. Sorry For The Mix Up.

Edited November 30, 2008 by Beto

[Marylander]

I put down the epoxy kit from Lowes just recently. Its held up great until I put a jack on it and jack up any of the cars. I have a 3 car garage with about 850sq ft. It took me a better part of 3 weeks for prep and 2 coats of epoxy and a clear coat.

 

I swept and rinsed the concrete to get a clean base to start. From there I etched with the acid etching liquid. I noticed some areas that just didn't etch right (keep in mind.. brand new home I had built end of 2007) so i went to Home Depot and bought a grinder. Let me tell you.. I got my *** kicked with that grinder on the concrete floor but once I figured out how to man handle the thing and kept it from throwing me into the steel poles in the garage... the floor turned out pretty darn good. Had a nice base to clean again and then put down the first coat of expoxy. Let it dry for 4-5 days with no traffic and then put down my first coat. Let it dry for 4-5 days and then put the clear coat on. There are still some areas that its held up great but where I jack up the Vette quite often (I have rail savers installed) it's started to peel up.

 

While it looks great and wipes up any oil/antifreeze/water but once it cracks and peels... its all over with! I'm so unhappy with it right now and I'm dreading what to do next.

 

I know I should have just went with the race deck or something similar to that but at 850 sqft garage... no way in hell am I going to drop 5k on the fllooring.

 

I suggest going a primer route, base route, 2-3 coats after your base route and then 2 coats of clear. But thats still a good bit of money and time involved. There are these new mats on sale at Home Depot I'm considering trying at around 170 dollars per 1 car garage... so I figured I'd need enough around 4 car garage after doing beyond the typical 10x10 foot print of a conventional garage.

 

 

Hmmm... thanks for the write-up. I may have to look at that HD mat thing. My house is 40 years old and the garage floor is thus 40 years from perfect... I don't think any amount of prep would get it half as good as what you started with, so I'm thinking that I'd be lucky not to get some epoxy peeling eventually.

 

Rich

[RDKelly]

I love my U-Coat-It floor. I used plenty of the non slip on it. I used almost double what they recommended for my floor size, but I did double coats of the clear, and plenty of the flakes. The muriatic acid is easy. One gallon of acid to four gallons of water. It is no problem at all. If you have used muriatic acid in your swimming pool, you know that handling it is easy. Get it at Lowes. That is the easy part. Once I figure out how to post a photo, I will put it on here. The hardest part was waiting a week to put any cars back onto it, and leaving my vette outside.

Edited November 30, 2008 by RDKelly