Where to rent concrete grinder? Planning redoing the garage floor!

paul34 · 05-27-07, 02:54

So I think I've decided that for now, the most cost-effective way to redo the garage floor would be to put down some Rustoleoum epoxy (from Lowes).

However, my dad has used the "cheap" floor paint/concrete stain/etc, and so there are about two layers of past material (which, needless to say, has come up in many areas).

I was thinking that using a grinder would be the most efficient way (and one also avoids hazards of acid).

What do you all think? Good idea? Bad idea? Is there a better way?

But mostly, where could I even rent such a machine? I've never used one, either.

Thanks!

P.S. My garage is about 26x26 (feet). I was thinking of:
1) Blowing loose dirt/dust out with leafblower
2) Using concrete grinder
3) Dust out concrete dust (with a big pushbroom)
4) Wash out
5) After that dries... put down epoxy.
6) I'm guessing I'll have a bit left over (or won't I?), so try to put down a second coat after about an hour
7) Wait at least a week before putting cars on... and try to get some carboard to roll tires on for about the first month

what do you all think? Suggestions/criticisms would be high appreciated! Thanks

armoredsaint · 05-27-07, 04:01

you still need the muratic acid wash even if you use a grinder, the acid wash doesn't clean it...it preps the surface for it, lowers the pH levels. as for the grinder call lowes, home depot or nations rent.

xtremekustomz · 05-27-07, 04:20

I'd hit it with the pressure washer first and see what that does.

zoomzoom mazda5 · 05-27-07, 04:22

Good luck with this job, it's a lot of work to remove all that stain off the floor. When you are finished with cleaning everything off your floor wait at least 3 days for the floor to dry (the more the better) that way it will bond better to the floor. Also at Sherwin Williams they had a epoxy floor kits that are a little better than the rustoleoum kit. Also stay off the finish floors for a least a week and don't use cardboard for the tires it might stick to the floor from the weight of the car. Good luck and post pic's later when you are done.

QuentinJS · 05-28-07, 07:28

Okay, a grinder will take you AGES!!!! But doable....

You be better off either renting a shot blaster for the day, or contracting out and getting it sandblasted.
Option 1. Sand blasting, a bit messy so best done with an empty garage.
Option 2: Shot blasting (can be rented), this is very clean approach.

The nice thing is that both of these are great at prepping the floor, gives a great rough surface for the epoxy to adhere too. The muratic acid is the poorman's etching process....

WARNING WEAR A PROPER VENTILATED MASK especially with the acid, but also when applying the epoxy.

Black Diamond · 05-28-07, 07:38

Look at the Quickrete Epoxy product at Lowes as well.

Prometheus · 05-29-07, 03:06

I have used an EDCO concrete grinder I got from my local rental yard. That is the most common brand that I am aware of. It is kind of a pain, and does not take out nearly the imperfections that you would hope, but it does a good job of roughing up the concrete. My one suggestion is to lightly mist water over the whole floor before starting as it greatly reduces the amount of dust in the air, as well as wear a dust mask. When my dad and I did our garage last year, our process was like this:

Power wash
scrub with degreaser
power wash
let dry
concrete grinder
power wash (2-3 times to make sure all dust removed)
etch with muratic acid (2x)
let dry
put on coating

worked well for us so far

paul34 · 05-29-07, 08:00

thank you all so much for your help

I will be calling and visiting a few places on Thursday, hopefully! I'll keep you all updated.

I'll also try to get a quick picture of the garage floor as-is tomorrow just so that I can show you what I'm up against so that hopefully you can all get a better idea

paul34 · 06-01-07, 02:51

Sorry for the delay, but I got some pictures. First I'd like to apologize for my dirty car... it rained the SAME DAY I detailed her last week

Anyway, please click for full size

You can see one picture, where I lift up some cheap carpeting to reveal what was down there before. That's generic floor (not even garage floor... I think its for porches and such) paint on there right now... so yea. This is my dad's garage. I've told him to not do anything, even though he insists on buying some "acrylic floor paint" immediately

I've been thinking about shotblasting. I can't seem to find too much information though... is this similar to sandblasting? Is it something I can easily do myself? I haven't had experience with sandblasting or shotblasting.

SuperBee364 · 06-01-07, 03:53

I used a concrete grinder on 2800 square feet in a retail spot I once rented. It used diamond bits to do the grinding. It took a long time and left a very smooth surface. It also left about an inch of very fine dust throughout the store. Soaking the dust down with water and using a wet vac worked well for cleanup. The finish it left was so smooth that a muriatic acid wash would have still been necessary for an expoxy paint.

If I had it to do over again I would have hired someone to sand blast it.

Joshua312 · 06-01-07, 06:39

Just something you might want to think about...You may want to go with the basement epoxy application rather than the garage epoxy. We used an epoxy last year on our garage, prepped it really good and everything...but now a year later there are spots where it has lifted up and is showing wear. Amazing though a spot where I used just regular basement epoxy rather than the garage epoxy..it is holding up just fine.

http://autopia.org/forum/garage/7351...lots-pics.html

When I find the time I am going to strip off the epoxy I have on now and apply the basement epoxy to the entire garage. Good luck!

paul34 · 06-11-07, 09:51

All right guys, I have a quick question.

I went to see my local Sunbelt guy. Very knowledgable and cool guy, but it turns out the concrete grinder is a BEAST of a machine. After seeing it, I sort of doubted I could even handle such a machine. Even he said "yea, it's really really hard to get into a truck..."

So I'm not sure what to do. I have a feeling actually getting the floor ground or shotblasted will be quite a bit of money. I got a quick quote from the "Saber" website... $475 MINIMUM and $2.75/sq ft just to grind!

On the other hand, I do have a gallon of muriatic acid. However, I somehow doubt it will be able to strip the existing generic, low quality paints off the floor - or will it?

I also found some sort of rubbermaid "floor stripper." Is that similar? It warned of chemical burns... but muriatic acid is pretty strong as well, I'd imagine, so what do you all think? Could it be done with just the acid?