lucycan

Having had "cat problems" in the past I can say there really is NOTHING worse. I feel your pain.

Mike J

Maybe I don't get it...what's wrong with a good plain concrete floor? My shop does not have any expoxy coatings and has plenty of cars on the lift, major woodworking projects, welding, painting, etc. and the floor is just fine, no chips, no problems. no worries. I don't have to worry about flaking paint or scratching the surface...damn stuff is hard as cement, oops rock. If the floor gets a bit dirty, I grab the big powerwasher and blast away...again no worries about removing the surface.

Now, if you are going to expoxy, I would not do a white floor. Its too easy to get it dirty. I would say a dark grey or some darker color. Make sure the walls inside the garage are lighter so on the whole it does not feel that dark. The price also seems cheap but I don't live in your part of the world so I don't know.

If you want to save some money you can always defer the work...if the smell if from the walls get those sealed and just powerwash the floor.

How many cats did the previous owner's have? That's sounds like plenty of pee'n going on! I am suprised your house inspector did not catch this before you closed on the house.

Cheers,

Mike

scat

I would never understand why people let animals in the house or in the car...

Steve 96C4S

Good stuff guys. We just got back from a VERY long day at our lawyers, the settlement, the house, and now back home. We saw them ripping up the carpets and smelled the most vial smell you could imagine. How they could live there in that house with 2 kids is beyond me. They really masked it well for our walk thrus. There was 8 lbs of baking soda that came up from just one room after the fact of the home inspection. We were too late to get anything out of them but they agreed on $2500 today to "make us happy". Oh well, it's better than nothing. Onward and upward.

I appreciate all the info you posted here. I talked with the paint guy today and he said he puts it on pretty thickly, has done epoxy floors many times before and is familiar with them, and the epoxy floor won't "come up" for a long long time. Uh, that's what they all say, right?

So, for $880 he's painting the walls and epoxying the floor. Not sure how he could do it for so cheap, but we can't afford a killer, expensive job now anyway (the ones you're mentioning in the $2k-4k range). At that point, my wife would simply say "we're painting the walls and that's IT!"

So, I'll ask him more questions about what type of epoxy it is and get back to you folks.

As to the KILZ stuff to kill the cat smell, yes, he's very familiar with this stuff and in the inside of the house will do a oil based KILZ treatment. He said that's the best. We even spotted cat urine tonight close to the ceiling of the kitchen, if you can believe that! Imagine a spot ABOVE this 42" high cabinet by the sink, close to the ceiling... it turns out some of the 5 cats they had hopped up on the fridge, walked on top of the cabinets and sprayed above them at the sink area!


The home inspector DID say it smelled like cat, but none of us caught the fact that it was this bad. And no, we can't sue the home inspector.

Cheers,
Steve R

Mike J

And why not? He obviously missed a major problem that has cost you lots of $$$...that is why the inspector should be insured. I am curious to the reasons (being a contractor myself).

Cheers,

Mike

Steve 96C4S

I talked to my lawyer about this last week after 1st meeting with him and he said the home inspector has an "out" in his agreement that negates his liability in this specific situation. It sucks... but it is what it is.

Moving on though...

I'm going to have to eventually change my avatar... it's our current home's driveway. I'll eventually take some pics of the car at the new place and redo this.

Steve R

Cactus

Ask your painter if he will do my garage for a similar price. Zipcode 17554. I'll just hangout and drink some beers for that price!!!

Raptor

Steve: You sure don't look crazy at this end. Very nice house!!! I had a great epoxy finish - smooth, perfect grey color. BUT, the concrete was not preped properly and the tire heat pulled it off. Had it redone and it is crappy. You may want to consider some sort of tire str[s to keep it from lifting. Just a thought.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks for the advice. What is a tire str[s? I really don't want it to lift up, though at this price point, if it lasts 2 years I should be happy!

Steve R

Franklin229

Also forgot to mention-you will need to prep the floor by either hiring a prof sand blaster or use muratic acid or similar to etch the surface. If you do not do something similar to this you will be wasting your money-the coating will lift if there is not a good surface to adhere to.

tjangi

Steve

Congrats on the house. IF you are not too busy you could DIY. Home Depot sells the epoxy kits. As long as your floor is dry and oil free the HD kits should hold up pretty good.

Hal

+1 on whats Franklin says. It is like any paint job. The result is in the prep. From what I have read, there simply isn't the right prep planned. Now for the more expensive jobs, they may be worth it. I have a friend who is a professional home appraiser. He said that up-fitted garages are like fences and pools: You will get a percentage back in the appraisal value of your home. Plus it looks killer and will add to the walk-up appeal of the house.

Steve 96C4S

I will cut and paste all the suggestions you have then and give them to my painter. He insisted the way he does it, the floor will not come up.

Steve

Chuck W.

Marc... GREAT link, thanks

Amfab

I have a book that has a bunch of photos from the Wolfsburg VW plant in the 1950s and the factory floor was brick. I love the look so I just laid brick -loose- over my garage floor. It snags my roll around seat now and then, but I dont care 'cuz I like the look