OT: DIY garage epoxy flooring

[Gsinill]

Got a few quotes for putting epoxy flooring in my 2 car garage.
Seems there are a lot of options but even the cheapest one came out at $1,500.

Given that the current floor is in good shape and that I could get the DIY material for less than $300, I am considering doing it myself.
Ratings for the the sets (e.g. Rustoleum) on Amazon are pretty good.

Anybody done it, experience?
Does the quality of having it done professionally justify the price for residential use?
Brand preference?

I know that prep work is crucial, I am curious how much time I have to factor in for the overall process.

I am a car guy but I am not doing any heavy duty work on cars anymore, just looking for decent durability and leak proofing.

Thanks in advance!
GS

[stackie]

My father in law who is OCD engineer did DIY Rustoleum epoxy on his new garage floor in Chicago. Peeling up from car tires everywhere.

I had new garage floor done pro 6 years ago in California. Mine is still perfect. Car parked on it all the time. Hot tires. Wet. Dirt. Still perfect. Worth the $2200.

Granted he probably got salt on floor too. But even his summer car MG is pulling up the epoxy.

Prep is key I've heard. But my guess is that you can't get the same ones the pros use. It was pretty toxic for a month or so in there.

Just my 2 cents

Jon

[ssonixx]

I did the DIY from Home Depot. Looks good for a short while and then the oil stains and tire marks start to wear in. Maybe after 6 months and then the wear is very visible. Still better than nothing but not what you'd like it to be.

When we moved into our current house, I didn't bother with the DIY stuff. Went straight to the professionals for the epoxy. Paid an arm and a leg -- maybe $2700 (3 car garage). Smelled terrible going on, but the end result is truly amazing. It has been four years now and all I do is a quick spray with water, a broom to scrub the dirty spots, and a rinse. Maybe I do that once every couple months. Garage looks brand new each time. Oil repels and won't stick. Tires don't wear through at all and we park a XL SUV and a Super Crew pick up everyday. I do have the occasional scratch marks from heavy pallets being dragged across the floor but the marks are hard to see unless you are really looking for them. Mind you, the pallets were carrying about 800 pounds. I don't feel like I need to refresh to the top seal coat yet but maybe in a couple of years I might do it to calm my OCD.

In my opinion, the professional stuff is worth every penny.

[PQJ]

Sounds like a classic case of "you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."

[tv_vt]

How do you suppose studded winter snows would do on an epoxy job? Just wondering, as my concrete floor is starting to show some age, but realities of northern winters may be a problem.

[54ny77]

the home depot rustoleum stuff is fine if you have a pristine slab and just want it to look nice (and you don't use & abuse the floor). for awhile, anyway. it's water-based, it will eventually degrade and peel. might take a few years, maybe more. i've been there, done that, on an older home.

go here and learn all you can to get educated on garage flooring products: http://garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20

here's a simple test to determine if your slab is a viable candidate to hold the epoxy: take a strip of saran wrap, duct tape the edges to the floor, then look at it 24 hours later. if clear (no moisture), you're fine. if you have condensation in there, you will (or at least might) have some adhesion issues, rendering an epoxy job a gamble.

on our current home, i paid a firm to prep the 2-car slab (which was in pretty rough shape), then i applied the pro stuff (real epoxy) in separate stages. primer, epoxy, then clear. it was volatile, nasty stuff (a quality respirator is def. needed), and time consuming. took me 4 days to do it properly, allowing for proper cure times.

all-in, slab prep and epoxy supplies ran me about $1k. to hire a pro firm (same firm who prepped the slab) to do things a-to-z would've been about triple that.

the floor looks really nice but looks can be deceiving: i live in the northeast and when the seasonal temps swing big, i get a lot of surface moisture (dew, basically, when cold surface temps meet warm air). in that environment, epoxy is like walking on ice, regardless of the anti-slip granules that are in there. so then you need carpet runners or mats, which defeats the purpose of having a nice floor to admire.

as for the floor itself, durability is incredible and ease of clean-up a piece of cake. i trimmed the perimeter with pvc baseboard and used gloss latex paint on trim and walls, which means i can hose the floor off without much worry about moisture.

was it worth it? eh, in hindsight, i'd have paid a little more for a super high quality slab prep job and gone with polished concrete and maybe a little stain. i use my garage a lot, it's not a showroom. i need traction more than i need it to look pretty.

[Mikej]

Check out the forum over at Garage Journal-

[Fatty]

here's a simple test to determine if your slab is a viable candidate to hold the epoxy: take a strip of saran wrap, duct tape the edges to the floor, then look at it 24 hours later. if clear (no moisture), you're fine. if you have condensation in there, you will (or at least might) have some adhesion issues, rendering an epoxy job a gamble.




This should be step # 1.

Any moisture migrating up through the concrete and paint or epoxy finishes will lift off in time.

[charliedid]

Very interested in this thread.

A friend recommended an epoxy paint (2part) to go directly over a commercial linoleum tile floor. This seems both smart and potentially disastrous all at the same time.

If it works it would be great, if it fails or we fail at doing it right...bad things.

This is in a bike shop.

Any thoughts? Good bad or otherwise.

Thanks and feel free to PM me as not to coop the OP's thread if best.

[Gsinill]

Thank you all for your input, very much appreciated.
Glad I reached out, experiences seem to be quit different from what the product feedback for the DIY stuff suggest.
Might have to bite the bullet and spend the money to have it done right.

Will also go over to garagejournal.com for more info.

[54ny77]

If you think Paceline members are obsessive.....wait till you see the GJ subforums!

Hugely helpful though, many/most members will gladly answer questions on a new thread you create that have already been answered a thousand times.

I did a ton of research on products and application there for months before taking on my most recent epoxy job. Yes it does look great, but it was a bear in the application. I once took the respirator off to adjust it briefly while putting down some of the product and almost hurled it was so strong. This, despite both garage doors fully open. Don't mess around with the 2-part stuff without a good respirator and a ton of ventilation. Since you're in midwest, make sure you do it when the ground temps are correct as well to allow for a proper cure.

And like I said, be cognizant about seasonal surface moisture. You can slip & fall in a blink, as both my wife and I did. Once. The day I saw her slip & fly backwards, I immediately ordered custom runners to run the length of garage threshold to the interior door, which was ridiculous but 100% necessary.

On our last house I had horrible moisture issues on a detached garage, epoxy (or any surface coating for that matter) was not in the cards. Used Racedeck instead (snap-together plastic tiles, basically).



Will also go over to garagejournal.com for more info.

[Gsinill]

the floor looks really nice but looks can be deceiving: i live in the northeast and when the seasonal temps swing big, i get a lot of surface moisture (dew, basically, when cold surface temps meet warm air). in that environment, epoxy is like walking on ice, regardless of the anti-slip granules that are in there.

Interesting.
In a previous home I had it done professionally.
This was about 15 years ago, and the stuff they added to make it anti-slip was like sand.
Even totally wet, e.g. from melting snow of a parked car, I never had any issues.
Not questioning your statement, but maybe the granules they are using today are not as effective?

Thanks for all your info!

[Dead Man]

Didn't Angry Scientist do this recently? Shoot him a PM

This has always struck me as a great DIY project, as far as money-saved to effort-exerted ratios of DIY projects go.

When I finally have a garage floor worthy of such treatment, I'll definitely be doing it. Just the chemicals I use for my bike chew up the slab in our current house... I really should probably have been using some kind of mat.

TTIWWOP, BTW.

[booglebug]

Look into concrete stain, I've had much better luck with the stain than with the epoxy. Most of these coating gets wear from tires, the stain is cheaper and easy to re-apply when the time comes.

[54ny77]

You probably have good airflow in your garage and therefore moisture dissipation.

I doubled up on the sand, and that, plus the colored flake adds some grip, but nonetheless I get wicked moisture typically in early spring and late fall.

Our house is partially set on a hill and the garage block walls & slab floor are subterranean. That, plus limited airflow, is the primary cause for the garage having its own ecosystem. :crap:

The most cost-effective solution is running a big fan 24x7 during the slippery season and a dehumidifier.

Interesting.
In a previous home I had it done professionally.
This was about 15 years ago, and the stuff they added to make it anti-slip was like sand.
Even totally wet, e.g. from melting snow of a parked car, I never had any issues.
Not questioning your statement, but maybe the granules they are using today are not as effective?

Thanks for all your info!

[fignon's barber]

I did the job myself a couple years ago, using the 2 step Rustoleum system. I had bought a place, and the previous owners must have had a very leaky car: big oil stains on the floor. My goal was really to clean it up and make it OK to walk on, not make it a showroom floor.
The Rustoleum served the purpose. After 2 years, there is some paint liftoff from car tires, but was inexpensive (I think I paid about $130 for materials) and didn't take long (scrubbed the 2 car garage floor with etching solution in a couple hours, then let dry for 48 hours, then a couple hours to paint).

[Dirtdiggler]

Other options to consider is a product called Nature Stone, which is epoxy mixed with tiny stones and another is staining the cement. If you wanted to use the store bought Rustoleum brand and paint the cement, my suggestion to add Race Track tiles and place a portion for your car to park on.

[foo_fighter]

What about those rubber tiles or rubber mats? Would that be a viable alternative?
Something like:
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/a40754f2-10d4-43bf-bbf8-65350109269d_1.fb8be85100115bbc825c0a3a6be5feff.gi f?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF

[bking]

My company, among other things, does epoxy floors. Adding chips helps with slipping, that is an issue. Some have put sand in, problem is sand, even clean sand, is dirty and creates air pockets even when thoroughly blended that often, almost always begins to chip and pop up.
Also, acid wash before application, this really helps an old floor, but should be done even to fresh concrete. Oil is everywhere.
Last, stay off it with anything heavy until it's chemically dry, up to a week.

My current garage I did before paint chips were around--long time ago, then a few years ago I acid washed the surface of the old epoxy a couple times and we put down a new coat. No problems.
I find the darker colors better for dirt and tire marks, and mop the garage floor with a kitchen mop, stuff comes up just fine if you clean it regularly using a good cleaner.

[BobO]

As was stated previously, moisture test the floor, but go a step further and do so over a period of at least three seasons. In some points during the year there may be no moisture infiltration, sometimes it may be shockingly substantial. Is there a footing / french drain system around the house? Is the subsurface clay, rock, sandy loamy? There are a number of factors that play into whether or not even a pro epoxy job will work. With a DIY job you get no warranty, and trust me, epoxy floors are a pain to fix.

As someone who has built a number of "car guy" garages, I usually recommend against epoxy, especially against DIY epoxy and usually only approve of high dollar self-leveling epoxies that have inherent structural strength. Commercial food service epoxies work well, such as; http://usa.sika.com/en/solutions_products/Construction-Products-Services/resinous_coatings/concrete_floor_coating/decoflake.html

My preference is vinyl composite tile. It goes down easy, lets you make interesting design choices, it's pretty inexpensive, if one goes bad you can replace it easily. There are textured tiles available so you can also be non-slip. There's a whole lot of upside to VCT in a garage. There are only a couple real negatives, if you have wide control joints in the slab, VCT won't span it and you'll have to use transition strips. If you have heavy loads on casters, like engine hoists, portable vehicle lifts or big toolboxes the tiles can warp and buckle.

The adhesive for VCT is susceptible to bleeding through the joints when there is subsurface moisture, but it can be cleaned and repaired.

I have a friend who had a slab with horrible moisture issues. He laid down a vapor barrier and sealed all of the joints and put vents along the walls. Then he put down two layers of 3/4" plywood, glued and screwed them together (with 1-1/4" screws) then covered that all with Kilz. He finished it with VCT in a finishers white and black flag pattern with a bright red border. Turned out really sharp, and has been very reliable for years with just a hint of plywood and tile deterioration at the door transition.

[oliver1850]

I think the moisture barrier is the key. Unless you can track down the contractor that poured the floor and he tells you what you want to hear, you are just hoping for the best. I don't know what the building code says in your area but I'd guess most slabs out here are poured without a moisture barrier. Most folks don't paint garage floors, so that's the norm.

[onekgguy]

I had our garage floor professionally done 8 years ago. I've noticed a few areas where there's what appears to be a rock-pop underneath that causes a slight raised area in the epoxy. There's also one small 3 sq in. area where the epoxy failed and will need to be patched. Otherwise the floor still looks great.

Part 1 of 3 (https://youtu.be/LkLS3E6qhtA) of our project. Follow the links for parts 2 and 3.

Kevin g

[ebaker205]

As an international contractor, we use Sonoguard (http://www.cadeco.com/productfiles/Sonneborn-Sonoguard.pdf) almost exclusively. It has the same characteristics as the epoxy floor and is simple enough to be installed by locals. Material also helps hide any imperfections. Limited color selection though.

Be sure to use the primer.

[C40_guy]

Resurrecting this thread...after reading the challenges of water incursion and slippery issues, I think I'm going to go with RaceDeck (versus a professional epoxy job).

Has anyone here done a RaceDeck installation? How does it *feel*? Solid or like a floating parquet floor that moves under you?

Thanks!

[.RJ]

Resurrecting this thread...after reading the challenges of water incursion and slippery issues, I think I'm going to go with RaceDeck (versus a professional epoxy job).

Has anyone here done a RaceDeck installation? How does it *feel*? Solid or like a floating parquet floor that moves under you?

Thanks!

I have a 'racedeck style' garage floor - its a similar system, click together plastic tiles but its cheaper -> https://www.bigfloors.com/product-category/garage-flooring/ Its ~3 years old now, and I wont go back - it wasnt too expensive, holding up reasonably well, feels much nicer under my feet all the time but especially in winter.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Galleries/House/Cedar-Cove-Garage/i-2TQdR73/0/623bbed7/X3/IMG_2205-X3.jpg

[Gsinill]

As the OP, just a quick update...

I went with a professional service and put in epoxy flooring.
Couldn't be happier.
Zero issues, adding sand to the compound completely takes out the issue of the floor being slippery.
Durability is awesome, mechanically as well as chemically.
Resists everything, including brake fluid which destroys pretty much any coating if it sits long enough.
The only negative experience so far was some staining by black motor oil from one of my Diesels that accumulated unnoticed under the car for a few weeks.
Wiped off fine but left some (barely visible) stains.

It's not cheap but it'll be the first thing I'll do in the next house.

[.RJ]

It's not cheap but it'll be the first thing I'll do in the next house.

100% agree.

Dont forget good lighting and insulation, too.

[C40_guy]

100% agree.

Dont forget good lighting and insulation, too.

And storage.

Just turned $700 of plywood and poplar trim into shelving for my garage. So thankful for my nailing gun and new quiet Makita compressor. Had an old one that rocked the neighborhood every time it cycled...

Floor next. I'm pretty sure I'm going with RaceDeck. Going with either the Tuff Shield or Circle Track. And just a bit of Free Flow under the wheels. Landscaping fabric underneath. Should be a fun father/daughter project later this year...

(edit: need to level a couple of minor depressions that tend to collect water at the wrong end of the garage)

(second edit: Or not. Wife says the RaceDeck tiles look too much like the industrial flooring she had to inspect when she worked for a corporate cleaning company, brought back memories. And her mom is happy with her epoxy garage floor. So...now to figure out whether I actually want epoxy or polyurea...)

[Buzz Killington]

My company sells a lot of Loctite PC6287 for industrial floor coatings….

[.RJ]

And storage.

Yes. The floor is not a shelf.

And her mom is happy with her epoxy garage floor. So...now to figure out whether I actually want epoxy or polyurea...)

Is it your garage or your mother in laws?

[C40_guy]

Is it your garage or your mother in laws?


It's our garage...

My MIL had hers done a couple of years ago, and her input has been useful.

[.RJ]

It's our garage...


So do what you want then.

Your profile says new england, I will say that the tiles make a significant difference in comfort in the cold if you plan to spend time in there, its adding insulation under your feet. If you're just parking vehicles in there and have your bike workshop elsewhere like the basement, then the epoxy probably makes more sense.

[C40_guy]

So do what you want then.

Your profile says new england, I will say that the tiles make a significant difference in comfort in the cold if you plan to spend time in there, its adding insulation under your feet. If you're just parking vehicles in there and have your bike workshop elsewhere like the basement, then the epoxy probably makes more sense.

Great point.

In my case, the garage is mostly used for storing stuff -- cars, kayaks, etc. I do have a small workbench there, but don't do a lot of work in the garage. It is attached, and doesn't usually get below 50°, just enough to screw up the refrigerator, which wants to work overtime trying to freeze milk and beer.

I have a dedicated workshop in the basement. The concrete floor there is cold too. :)

I have a water outlet and hose for washing cars in the winter. I'll do that occasionally inside, and just recently detailed one. I don't find the concrete floor particularly cold, although warmer would be better. :)

[.RJ]

Sounds like you need the tiles in the basement then :)

If you plan to move ever, the Epoxy floor in the garage is likely a bigger selling point, since most people use their garages as storage units.