NorthVan

I just bought a new house (will be finished June 28) and the Garage is "raw", I am thinking about painting the floor and I am unsure what product to use. What have you guys found is good and what products would you avoid?

blake

Griot's garage makes a very good paint. Personally, I would go the expoxy route. I paid to have a "professional" epoxy my garage, and it came out great. Oil cleans up quite well, and i have dropped very heavy objects on it without chipping. You should look into it...

My 1-car garage cost about $1000 to epoxy over a two day period.

-B

OCBen

If you do a search using "garage" as your thread title keyword you'll get a wealth of information with lots of before and after pics.

cdodkin

CostCo do a nice 'pro' checkerboard floor for the garage



box of 48 1' x 1' tiles is $120

COSTCO FLOORING

SrfCity

Depending on your house I like the sort of washed color look that has a clear coating. You can do it in a wide assortment of colors. I see it in restaurants a lot and it gives the floor a more raw look.

mdrums

Just go to your favorite hardware store and they have the products you need. It is very easy to do and well worth it. Painted or cleared garage floors cut way down on the dust and clean up very easy.

gota911

I believe that is an "acid wash" they use to get that look, followed by a color tint in the clear coat.

QKENUFF

I recently finished mine with Rustoleum Epoxy Shield (Beige with paint flecks). ..Also avail in grey)
* (2) Gallons of muratic acid mixed with 8 gallons of water to etch floor. Rinse and let dry for several days. ($10) Don't use the citric acid stuff that comes with the kit...It's too weak to etch the surface.
* 1,100 SF = (5) 1- Gallon Kits ( ~ $280)
* 18" roller and bucket ($30)
* About 3 hours to Apply the Epoxy & Chips (3' bands so you can reach with improvised tupperware shaker box w/ 1/4" holes drilled in it for even distribution of the chips)
* Final Clear coat (4) Gal (Behr) with texture packets for avoid slippage. aplied 2 days after epoxy. (~ $80 for materials)
* Walk-on in 24 hours or less....Drive on in 6 days.
This is the third garage I've done this way and the stuff lasts for years. No pick-up even with hot tires. Clear coat cleans up very easy and is non slip with the texture packets.
Total investment < $400 for all materials and supplies or ~ 35 cents a Sq Ft, and a few hours. Local pros wanted over $3,600 for the same thing. or $3.50 /Sq Ft.

All supplies and materials were purchased at Lowes or Home Depot.
NOTE: Needs to be 65 deg F to allow the Epoxy to Cure, so it might be a spring job in your area.

Best of luck... bought a K 40 with the savings

JimRe

Like 94Speedster I used the Griot's Garage product and am very pleased with the results as it is now about 2 1/2 years since it was put down.

The "secret" with all of the garage floor epoxy products seems to be in preparing the floor. The concrete must have all old paint or sealer removed, have all oil spots, etc. removed and then be acid etched for proper adhersion of the epoxy. Also, the second coat needs to be applied in a specifc time window after the first coat.

Be prepared for quite a lot of physical work along with the wearing of proper protective boots, gloves and good ventilation as Muratic Acid needs to be used with care.

blake

JimRe makes a key point... I chose to "outsource" the epoxy installment to professionals. As QKENUFF points out, a four car garage can be covered for $400 in materials. I checked my invoice and I paid $900 installed for a one car garage. If you have the time and patience, I imagine that you could do it yourself.... Let me add that the epoxy floor looks fantastic, and my floor is the same color as QKENUFF's above. Other color choices include salt n' pepper and any color combination that you can imagine for the epoxy "flecks" that will be mixed and blown onto the floor. Best of luck with your decision!

NOTE: My wife loves the look of the garage, and teases me that we should add a couch and TV to fully enjoy the liveable space....

-B

Bob in NY

I had Premier Garage complete a garage makeover including the removal of several bad jobs. It looks great and has a 5 yr warranty against lifting. You can check their web site for more detail

http://www.premiergarage.com/httpdocs/index.html

Edgy01

I went with Griot's Garage floor paint. I went through an extremely extensive preparation job, since my concrete floor was quite old (1967 construction). I went with pure white, with no speckles or anything so that if I drop something I can find it relatively quickly. Obviously, it needs to be cleaned more often as a result. Despite the extensive prep I have still had a little lifting under one of the other car's tires. The stuff is easy to lay down yourself.

wetstuff

Blasto with a powerwasher and hit it with some pickup 2-part from Lowes about 7yrs ago. Unlike Qkenuff, I didn't go thru all the prep and my results are not nearly as glossy as his or Edgy's but it's dust-free, smooth...and intact. I clean it with a leaf blower and sometimes a powerwasher. Took less than a day.

ELUSIVE

I too went with Premier Garage and in my opinion it is top notch and is a better product than Epoxy's.
I was told it was a 10 year warranty and that the only things that could penetrate it are brake fluid and battery acid.

wilfred

QKENUFF,

I plan on doing the same thing in a month or so, couple questions since you have done it 3 times more than i have

1) Do I still need to buy the extra muratic acid if i am going to do this on a newly constructed house?

2) I thought the kit comes with final clear coat already, are you recommending an extra layer on top?

Thanks!