Garage Flooring options/decisions

[Prometheus]

Hi guys,



This summer my dad and I are going to redo his garage, and I am looking at different flooring options. The garage is about 30 years old with just bare concrete. The garage is 22x22.5 feet (comes out to almost 500 sqft), and I initially though about going to go with a product called epoxycoat, but after reading many responses on Garage Journal that it should really be done with two coats, $500 for the floor seemed steep. At Home Depot today (while we were looking for cabinets) I decided to cruise through the paint section and found a 2.5 car garage Rustoleum kit for $99. The professional is supposedly better and lasts longer because it is solvent based, but we don`t really do anything insane in his garage, just park the cars, do some wood working, maybe *a little* grinding, but we usually do that outside anyway.



The concrete isn`t in excellent condition, there are some decent size cracks (maybe 3/16 wide) and some large divots (3 inches around adn 3/4 inch deep). I was planning on using concrete joint sealer on these the make the floor level-ish before applying the epoxy, but is this the best option? Are there better alternatives? Also, should this be done after or before all the degreasing and acid etching? I would think after, but I honestly don`t know.



So, I just was looking for input on this option. He (and I) live in Northern Michigan, so winters are pretty nuts with snow and a ton of ice and sand on the roads, so that might be kind of harsh, but I`m not sure. If we went the Rustoleum route, I would almost surely tell him to buy two kits and we would do two coats. Regardless of what the directions in the kit say, we will probably do overkill on the prep. I understand that the Behr degresser is pretty good, so we would probably use that as well as etch the concrete just because it is so old.



I mostly just want the garage to look decent, have the floor look clean, and have it last for a while (hopefully for 10-15 years) before having to do this all over again. As far as I can tell, I think the kit available at Home Depot would fit the bill, but I would really appreciate your input. Thanks in advance.

[gpm4]

check out a forum called the garage journal... xxx.garagejournal.com

has some real good reviews and info on diff flooring for ur garage....

[Prometheus]

I did check there first, but there is only 1 review of the "residential" rustoleum product and it is from 2003 I think. I also posted something similar to this there, but haven`t gotten any responses yet. Thought I would see if any Autopians had opinions.

[GearHead_1]

I post both on GarageJournal and here. I put down UCoatIt`s product last year and would highly recommend it. It isn`t the cheapest of the products but they have all the right products to repair your cracks and holes. I`ve also put down Rustoleums product (not the kind with the top clear coat). There is no comparision between the two. I would highly recommend the UCoatIt product and wouldn`t buy Rustoleums product a second time. There are a few pictures of my finished floor over there also if you search under UCoatIt. I have the same screen name.

[Prometheus]

GearHead, did you do just one coat of the UCoatIt? That was another option I was interested in, but I keep reading that people are doing multiple coats and I`m wondering if it`s really necessary.

[GearHead_1]

Mine actually has 4 coats. It has a sealer coat, color coat (that`s also where the flakes come in) and 2 clear top coats. The top coats have a UV inhibitor also. It took quite a while to do the whole thing including the acid etch but I`m very happy with the way it turned out and the way it is holding up. It took almost 40 hours to do about 1700 sq. ft. It gets dirty and I put a little car soap in a bucket of water and mop it up. It looks just like new. I`ve also used Rustoleum`s Industrial product in my basement storage and mechanical rooms but it isn`t near as nice of a product. Then again it was only about 1/3 the price.

[Prometheus]

Lots of work, but I think I might just be screwed. After going around today to SherwinWilliams and talking to some installers, I basically found out that since they salt the roads so much here in winter that nobody has seen ANY epoxy floor last more than 4 winters. Since Ucoatit is located near Detroit, I was going to call them and see if they had any recommendations/alternatices, but I can`t get through right now. I might just have to look for alternatives. Thanks for your help GearHead.

[GearHead_1]

Hey, no problem. We have tons of salt on our roads too. I know that UCoatIt puts a 10 year warranty on their product.

[Prometheus]

I think I`ll give Ucoatit a call and see what they say, maybe I will decide to go that route. Thanks again.



Edit: Just got off the phone with a guy from Ucoatit and said that he has never heard of the salt affecting the finish of Ucoatit. I`m really torn now if I want to do it with Ucoatit or not.

[LightngSVT]

Gearhead, if you dont mind, what did your floor cost? I have 1135` in my garage and was thinking of something similar to yours, but maybe only 1 coat of clear. Im less than 1 hour from UcoatIT, do you know if they have any professional installers?

[BobD]

Gearhead, if you dont mind, what did your floor cost? I have 1135` in my garage and was thinking of something similar to yours, but maybe only 1 coat of clear. Im less than 1 hour from UcoatIT, do you know if they have any professional installers?

I think U-Coat It has pros they recommend in your area. They are right on Woodward in Royal Oak.

[GearHead_1]

Gearhead, if you dont mind, what did your floor cost? I have 1135` in my garage and was thinking of something similar to yours, but maybe only 1 coat of clear. Im less than 1 hour from UcoatIT, do you know if they have any professional installers?



My garage was 1680 sq. ft. and cost about $1350 as I remember. If you buy UCoatIt a little arm twisting and they will eat the shipping. At least they did with me and a couple others that I`m aware of. I don`t honestly know if they recommend installers or not. I would almost think that because of the actual cost of the UCoatIt product that installers would probably look for a cheaper option so they could make a little on the job. I`m sure some installers don`t look at it that way and use this product though.



There is one other product that we haven`t mentioned that gets pretty good reviews over on GJ. I think it`s simply called EpoxyCoat. I also think it`s a little cheaper than the UCoatIt product. Don`t get me wrong I`m happy with the way mine has turned out and I would buy it again. Just want to let you know there are at least a half dozen options out there. UCoatIt was the only one that would tell me that they had some type of UV protection in there product and I can tell you that UCoatIt won`t lift under hot rubber. That`s a big complaint of many Epoxy users, hot tires peel their paint.

[GearHead_1]

Edit: Just got off the phone with a guy from Ucoatit and said that he has never heard of the salt affecting the finish of Ucoatit. I`m really torn now if I want to do it with Ucoatit or not.



They sent me papers along with the product that told how long a bunch of different chemicals could sit on the floor before it became a problem. They listed transmission fluid, brake fluid, anti-freeze, oils etc. Salts weren`t even a consideration so I`m thinking not a huge problem.



I firmly believe that regardless whose epoxy you end up using there is more damage that comes from under the paint than what happens on top of it once it`s down (assuming someone uses a little prudence in cleaning the floor). Preparation of the cement is everything. If you leave oil on the concrete and then put the paint down it`s going to come up. If the floor has water leaching through it the epoxy is going to come up. Preperation is everything!



Hmmm.... where have we heard that before?



UCoatIt will send you a DVD that shows all of their crack and cement repair products as well as how to install their product. I think it cost $10 or something like that but they apply it towards any purcahase price should you decide to buy. They make some pretty ugly (cracked, chunked, not level) floors look really nice in their video.

[Prometheus]

Yeah, I`ve already started the prep. I bought some rust-stain remover today and was hitting the spots with rust stains with that. Planning on acid etching it twice, then powerwashing it again. It is kind of looking like I will go the UCoatit route. Thanks for all your help GearHead.

[jimmybuffit]

Thought y`all would fine this article interesting



http://corporateportal.ppg.com/NR/rdonlyres/2842B0BE-CB92-4119-84A0-EEEAE9A451AD/0/megasealcpro.pdf



http://corporateportal.ppg.com/NR/rdonlyres/2842B0BE-CB92-4119-84A0-EEEAE9A451AD/0/megasealcpro.pdf



This stuff is as expensive as automotive finishes - >$100/gal !



You be the judge...



Jim