Garage flooring

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by Kerry_129

I've done 4 of my own now, and contracted/supervised many thousand sq-ft in industrial applications.

Prep work is KEY, especially if it's a slick-finish floor and/or there's existing oil contamination. Degreasing/etching as needed & pressure washing is pretty much mandatory for good adhesion - & then plenty of time/ventilation to make sure it's thorougly dry (torpedo heater will help dry much faster). And very important - don't waste time/money on the 'big box' store epoxy kits (much less any floor 'paints'). Good Sherwin Williams ArmorSeal epoxy can be bought in the retail stores (they have modified their products/names some, but epoxy flooring is still one of their primary products) for ~$160 per 2-gallon mix, and that will coat 3~400 sq-ft heavily. One other tip - stay fairly dark (think battleship-gray) if you want it to stay looking decent. Lighter helps reflect overhead light & make the area brighter, but it scuffs/marks much easier & doesn't look as good in the long run. Do it right & with quality epoxy, and it's an outstanding improvement to a work area - done wrong, with crap material & it can end up worse than plain concrete.

Feel free to shoot me a pm and/or get my # if you could use any more advice/discussion & I'll be glad to help.

The prepwork is the great unknown righ tnow, I need to be able to get in there with her car and all the other crap out and see what kind of shape the floor is in. Where her car is she has a rug or something under it so I am hoping that there isnt much as far as oil stains and that sort of thing.

I was planning to go with a dark gray epoxy, and will need better lighting in there anyway but thats a little further down the road.

tom