Garage Floor Epoxy Coating

[holdem]

I went to Ben Moore paint school in Dallas when I worked for the Corps of Engineers and they said there's never any reason to coat a cement floor.

[Big Prev]

I did the Quikrete coating when we moved into our "new" house a couple of years ago. Went by all of their instructions and it turned out great. Floor is very easy to take care of now. only issue was that my FIL wanted me to empty out his garage and do it to his as well.......

Very easy and looks good.

[Tcooper93]

Jeff,
I will wait until you do yours and then get you to come help me with mine...

[artrios]

Also went to Sherwin Williams to get a better product. The coatings at Lowes and Home depot wont last. Been there done that and the heartache with the redo

[clintb]

I do these floors all the time. I use Sherwin Williams Shield Crete epoxy kits. 85.00 each. Each kit will do 200-300 sq ft.

[kdenhead]

My FIL did a kit and it was near 100 bucks for like 300 sq ft. It's grey with the confetti looking stuff. Looks fine - thought about doing my own- but he only did like a 1/5 of his shop and he said the area he did now sweats really bad and is always wet. None of other area is wet. Makes me change my mind

He may not have a vapor barrier under his shop slab. Thats recommended for epoxy coatings.

I used epoxy coat in my shop. Very durable and not too difficult to install.

[Cooter]

The 3 most important factors are moisture, surface profile, and prep. Check moisture in the concrete by taping 12" X 12" pieces of plastic in multiple areas of the floor and leave for 24 hrs. If there is moisture present when you pull the plastic, chances are the moisture content of the slab is too high. Surface profile is how "rough" the floor is. Coatings don't adhere well to slick surfaces. The concrete should feel like 60-80 grit sand paper before applying a coating. This can be acheived by mechanical abrasion or acid etching. Most use muriatic acid, but phosphoric acid is better. Sherwin-Williams carries one made by H&C. Last is how clean is the floor. Contrary to popular belief, acid etching DOES NOT clean the floor. There are cleaners/ degreasers that will do this. The Sheild-Crete from Sherwin-Williams is a great product.

[Shallowater]

I was going to use Epoxymaster but the first video left me a little weirded out.

http://www.epoxymaster.com/index.php/videos

[hollywood40]

I did mine 2 years ago with the lowe's brand. Took 3 days but is fairly easy. I also bought extra flakes and it turned our wonderful. The only dislike it is does get REAL slick when wet. This usually just happens at door entrance when it rains. I wish I would've thought of the sand trick.

[Mike]

I have some experience with these having sold them for a while. For the DIY guy, the Home Depot and Lowes products are fine for use in your shop, garage or patio. If anyone has had issues with them, I would venture that it's due to improper prep or improper application.

You will get what you pay for but I would say that very few, if any, homeowners need a commercial grade epoxy coating. I have done 6-7 garages for myself, buddies and a few neighbors and have yet to see any issues. All these were placed from April - August 2008 and 4 were flooded during Ike with no issues, none have peeled up at all but there are some gouges that have removed the finish.

The prep is the key and if you follow the directions, use the acid or citric wash and dry it properly before you apply the finish and wait the alloted time before moving items back into the garage, you'll be golden.

Regarding the sweating, most all the issues we encountered were due to not having a vapor barrier under the concrete, allowing the ground moisture to percolate through the concrete. In some areas with a lot of salt impurities, the use of admixtures within the concrete will aleviate the effloresence by binding up the NaCl and keeping it from forming the white fluffy deposits on the concrete.

Test your spots and see if you are a candidate for a kit, they are very easy to use. I know that the Quikete product is actually produced by Valspar and they have a major commercial coatings division, it just has the Quickrete name on the box.