Painting a garage floor

[ken]

Looking for tips on painting my garage floor. Wally world had garage floor paint for $15 a gallon, lowes $25 a gallon and Menards has the epoxy kits for $64. Anyone thought on the pros and cons of each

[hipshot]

ken, it all depends on what kind of finish/life expectancy, you are looking for.

for the "toughest" paint , go with the "epoxy kit", for the "cheapest " way, go with the $15.00 paint.

know this , though.

with the cheap paint, you will have to repaint a LOT more often, than with the epoxy.

just jt

[Guest KitCarson]

Looking for tips on painting my garage floor. Wally world had garage floor paint for $15 a gallon, lowes $25 a gallon and Menards has the epoxy kits for $64. Anyone thought on the pros and cons of each

Hi Ken.....hey if you are going to stay in your house.......use the epoxy paint and buy a small package of white grit(they have that at the store too) mix it in lightly with the paint.....will make the floor not slick if wet or something gets on it.....and still if you do not use too much, be easy to clean. Kit

[Guest Ken8143]

epoxy - it will smell very strong - will need MUCH ventilation, and it is very flamible But will stick like the dickens on the floor, on your hands, feet and anything it comes in contact with. The grit idea sounds good.

[Marcarl]

All good answers so far, now let's see, how can I mix this up and get it wrong.

Best off to get some latex paint, goes on easy, tools wash up good and can be used again, and if you don't like the color it's easy to repaint,or just wait till next year when you do it again and become an expert at painting garage floors.

[Guest maddabber]

Well, the Maddabber says use the good stuff, last longer. Just make sure you follow the directions and keep the garage door open the fumes can be harmful:no-no-no: My self I would let someone else do it.

[FJR Rider]

Go with the epoxy...my wife and I did our oversized garage a little over 3 years ago, and other than a little discoloring from the winter time gunk, the floor looks as good today as when we painted it. I'd done a previous floor with floor paint and after about a year it was coming up in various spots. Definitely go with the epoxy, it's worth the few extra dollars up front.

 

Curt

[ken]

Well, the Maddabber says use the good stuff, last longer. Just make sure you follow the directions and keep the garage door open the fumes can be harmful:no-no-no: My self I would let someone else do it.

yeh, but I'm elcheapo

[bill p]

The epoxy kits work fine as long as you follow the directions on preparing the floor. Almost 10 years on mine.. One problem the kit I used has these small chips to sprinkle to make the floor nonslip and to add color. They do just that ,,,,, BUT when you drop something small it is the devil to find it. I build model airplanes and I cant tell you how much time I have spent on my hands and knees.

 

Bill P

[dray]

yeh, but I'm elcheapo

 

then go with the cheap paint and mix in some sand for grit it will work

[Eck]

You might want to read about "etching the concrete floor first".......

then applying what ever type covering you wish..

Etching is a necessary step in most concrete finishing applications, such as painting or sealing. The purpose is to open the pores of the concrete, creating a surface that a coating will adhere to.

Take a minute and read this: I etched my old house garage floor before applying Lowes floor paint and it looked good for 9 years while I was there.

 

http://www.safe-react.com/etchtips.htm

[bongobobny]

First wash the floor with a good degreaser and then power wash it. Adding grit to the paint is IMO mandatory (don't ask why I know...)! What I did was got some plastic floor runner and placed pieces on the floor where the car tires set to protect the floor in the winter.

[KeithR]

Hi Ken

 

I just recently finished my garage that I started last Aug. I too looked for advice on what to cover the concrete with. All the paint people recommended using either oil or latex.....they seemed to indicate one was as good as the other. One thing they all mentioned was if a vehicle was going to be parked on it the heat from the tires would release the paint ? The epoxy sounded like a better way to go but is quite expensive. I talked to the concrete people who poured my floor and they strongly suggested that I stay away from paint because its natural that the concrete will have moisture and the paint would lift in spots after time. They sold me a product called Flortec 14 its a clear product and so far has worked well and is easily touched up. It is affected by oil and gas.

 

http://www.sika.ca/con-tds-flortec-ca.pdf

 

Hope this helps.....

 

Keith

[scooter45]

Has anyone tried stain on the garage floor.

[Sailor]

Check with the Harley riders. I believe they do it all the time.

Don't forget to mark out the parking area for the cruiser, and one for the sport bike and another one for the off roader.

[Squeeze]

Check with the Harley riders. I believe they do it all the time.

Don't forget to mark out the parking area for the cruiser, and one for the sport bike and another one for the off roader.

 

 

Hey, they don't leak ....

 

 

 

 

 

They just tag their stomping Grounds ....

 

:rotf::rotf:

[petekadish]

Just a thought . . ., I remember reading about a couple of incidents years ago where someone was either cleaning or refinishing a basement concrete floor with something combustible. Fumes filled the room, and then drifted to the pilot light of a waterheater which resulter in a massive explosion and fireball and resulted in some serious injuries. Pretty scary stuff! That's definately one of those lessons I would rather learn from someone else's experience.

 

Be Safe! Pete.

[VTirelli]

Start at the wall and work your way to the door...if you go the other way,you'll be sitting around for awhile............:rotf:

[zagger]

Painted my garage floor a month ago using menards epoxy package. I didn't use the color chips but I did sprinkle sand (the white silica sand sold in bags) on the wet paint and then rollered the paint a second time. My floor used to be very slippery when wet but is now very non-skid. Pretty hard to control the amount of sand so you do tend to sprinkle it somewhat heavier than would be ideal. This epoxy paint doesn't have much smell to it but it does take quite awhile to cure. You cannot drive on it for a week. I did half of the floor (so my bikes would have someplace to be), waited a week, did the other half, waited another week.

zag

[MasterGuns]

Why would anyone want to paint their garage floor in the first place? Don't you realize that no matter how top quality the paint is, you will be forever repainting it. Kinda like being in the Navy. I like mine just plain ole concrete.

[Guest Yamahawg]

Ken, I used the Walmart cheap stuff and I have several spots where the bike tires sit and the paint has came up. Other areas seem ok though. May just need to put a rubber mat under the bike tires if ya do use the cheap stuff.

[Guest Yamahawg]

Know what cha mean MasterGuns, I had to paint mine because someone had painted it previously and it look like $% where it was turning loose.

[clowe]

We used the epoxy paint with the decorator chips. Look really good and I can tell you that that is TUFF STUFF. I have dropped hammers, bricks and any number of heavy objects on it and not once has there even been a chip on the surface. Anything wipes right off and anything that does not, grab your favorite solvent and go for it. Won't touch the coating.

 

The one thing I will warn you about is amount of concrete etcher they give you is usually not enough. Buy a second bottle. Prepping the concrete is EVERYTHING. Spend most of your time and care on that and you will be very satisfied with the results.

[Rick Butler]

Guys,

 

Rustoleum makes a water based epoxy garage floor paint that is the best I have ever seen and you will only have to paint it once. Any other concrete paint will be torn up by the skirm of your car tires. And Home Depot sells it. Just make sure you get enough for your entire garage as the standard package only does a single car garage. I have had mine down for 3 years now and it still looks like new. The nice part about it is that it's a pleasure to clean up.

 

Here's a link to the product:

 

http://rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=16

 

The bottom line is that you get what you pay for and I would only want to do a garage floor ONCE.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rick

[CrazyHorse]

I've used both products and they both will peel up eventually epoxy or regular spill something on it chemically and not see it it will peel and I etched the heck out of it darn near passed out from the fumes. The best stuff I've seen has been used in firehouses in my area. Its a three part three day process its non slip and resists everything and it appears to be about 1/16 to 1/8" thick extremely tough but expensive more then most would do to thier home. I just cant remember the name. I look it up.