Brad : Garage Floor Prep/Painting

[PassatPunk]

I know this was lightly touched upon before but I wanted to toss around the idea of turning the garage into a place that is a little more detailer friendly; Part of this would be to paint the floor.

Do you remember the steps that the professionals went through to prep the floor before the paint?

I could imagine a good cleaning, then fill in cracks, then just paint? Or am I missing something in there?

Thank you. PassatPunk.

[Brad B.]

The pro's will do anything you want. I have been through two scenarios.

Once I had a brand new floor painted. They simply acid etched the floor (muriatic acid) and then painted directly on the floor. This was painted in a two part epoxy which produces a very hard shiny surface.

The other side of my garage was very old and had many cracks, tar and oil stains. It was also a very rough surface. The floor pro's sanded the floors with big sanders similar to wood floor sanders but beefier. They needed to get to clean, pure concrete for best adhesion. The newer the concrete is, or the less oil stained it is will determine if you can have it acid etched only or need to sand it. They then filled most of the cracks and top coated with paint. There is a bit of a long story here as they had a problem with the two part epoxy and it did not cure with the finish I expected. They figured it was a bad batch of epoxy.(my luck) so they top coated with a special eurothene that gave it a very shiny surface. The eurothene they used was supposed to be even more resistant than the epoxy used before. I am very happy with the results. My only regret is that I didn't do the old side and new side together for a consistant color match. (The epoxy side is 5-6 years old, the eurothene side is brand new)

You can kind of see the differences in these shots. The eurothene color is a bit lighter and shinier.

[SteveL]

After talking to a number of painting contractors, I have found that the prep is the most important part of a good job. They have also all said that 2 part epoxy should be more durable. The guy that I'm probably going to use said that he will come in and acid etch, fill any cracks and apply one coat, let sit 3 days, then apply a second coat.

Don't expect your common variety floor and concrete paint from Lowes or Home Depot to hold up for long. Industrial products are formulated to handle the exposure to hot tires and the chemicals that autos bring in to your garage. Research, research, research...... Make sure that the painter you pick has done these before! Get some references and go look at the jobs if possible. An average 2 car garage can cost up too $700-900 if done right. The paints run around $60-80 a gallon.

[PassatPunk]

I was looking into doing this myself. Uhmm.. everyone seems to be all for letting the pros do it. Anyone out there do it for themself?

I aint got 900 bucks for a two car garage paint job.. but could afford some paint and some of my time.

PassatPunk.

Brad - Thanks for your insight and your pictures - they just make me want the get this garage cleaned up even more.

[fiveohhh]

I used to work at home depot, and they sent us to a few classes on this. It indeed will holdup, but like steve said surface prep is very important. it gets a bad rep since most home users don't take the time to prep correctly.

[michaelb]

Passat:

Griot's sells a two stage epoxy floor paint. I also found several large suppliers of epoxies doing a web search for epoxy floor paints. They fit in the more general category of industrial floor coatings.

Didn't make the plunge myself yet; but likely will!

[Cork]

Brad, I remember saying you tried the Griots paint and said it did not hold up. How long ago did you try it? Their catalog claims they are continually improving it etc. etc. Has anyone here tried it and liked it?

[Brad B.]

I used the Griots paint about 2 years ago. I acid etched and cleaned like crazy as prep. I am pretty anal about following directions and doing things right. But still it did not hold up. It was not impervious to gasoline or brake fluid specifically and came off within months under the tires. Eventually it wore off where the tires track in.

[YoSteve]

Epoxy paints are easy to find (over the counter) just follow the manufacured directions, I would go for at least two coats (then some SG and Blitz, j/k) Our pilot area at work has it, in grey and its held up for over a year now (looks nice) but light colors get dirty quickly as you can imagine.

[TortoiseAWD]

Here's a link to an article called "How to steer through the details when driven to clean your garage" on Glenn Haege's website: http://www.masterhandyman.com/column....hbs?myrec=292 The article talks about sealing or painting the garage floor toward the end . . . how to clean and prep, and an (800) number for a source for the two-component epoxy paint. If you're not familiar with Haege, he hosts a home-improvement radio call-in show.

Hope this is useful to someone,
Tort
'02 Subaru Impreza WRX (silver metallic)
'92 Subaru SVX (green metallic)
'92 Eagle Talon TSi (white)

Disclaimer: I've NOT done this myself; just passing along info I found online.

[tom p.]

Brad,is this the correct name/terminology for the two-part coating they used on your floor?

[Brad B.]

That's it. Although I'm told there is more than one variety of it.