paradisenb

Oily Floors? THIS company produces floor coatings that can be applied over oily concrete.

Gary R.

Anything that doesn't bond directly to the concrete has the potential to delaminate.

sublimate

STOP!
Before you even think about painting the floor you need to check and make sure the concrete is sealed from below. Most older construction is not. Most newer construction should be, but you never know.

It the concrete isn't sealed then there's no way the paint - no matter how good or expensive - is going to stick for very long. The water will always push through.

Best way to check is to tape a large piece of clear plastic (like 5' x 5') over a section of the floor. Use duct tape and seal the edges all the way around. Then let it sit for a week and see if any moisture collects underneath.

If it does, forget about painting and start looking at the tiles.

Gary R.

What you describe is a good thing to do, but it is a test for moisture in fresh concrete, not to see if water is coming up from under the concrete. Contrary to popular belief concrete is quite dense and water doesn't pass through it unless there is a pathway (crack). Moisture is present in concrete for at least the 1st 28 days under normal conditions and longer depending on how it was poured, admixtures used, relative humidity and temperature during curing to name a few points.

paradisenb

Apparently more than a few of us have experience with floor coatings. So, this statement should ring true, 'They are unpredictable and they all have the potential to bite you in the a$$." So many variables that effect adhesion.
My floor is only two years old and it is ready to be recoated. Some delamination, some chips from dropping tools and a spot where I spilled plumbing primer and it ate the coating. Gas, oil, etc. no effect. I have no complaints. I love it and will recoat it this year. There are trowel on coatings that leave about a ¼" Dry Film Thickness. These can withstand the impact of 55 gal drums but, this is way over the top for a home garage.
Tiles are not a bad option but have less chemical resistance.

spazegun2213

I've not tried the water test yet, maybe i should have done that before i cleaned and etched the floor. Oh well, I'll try that this week.

As for tiles, the reason i don't want them is I've not seen a system that liquid would not pass though. On my current floor whenever i get something on it I run for the oil dry and try to keep the damage to a minimum. I dont want to rip up tiles (when/if i move) only to find a really REALLY bad floor.

AlpharettaRK

Here's one more product to consider. I put on the "Armorpoxy II" and a top coat of their clear 2 part polyurethane (with the anti-skid additive) and am really pleased. It's expensive, but seems to be worth it. It took the entire contents of my brake fluid resevoir being emptied on it with no issues whatsoever. Whatever product you use watch out for small stones that come off of your track tires. They can get caught under the wheel of a floor jack and scratch just about anything.

http://www.armorpoxy.com/commercial16.html

Cheers
Randy

MUSSBERGER

If you can afford it a floor blasting contractor is the way to go or you can use a floor grinder with a set of coarse stones to take off surface contaminants.
Also there pool paints that have very high solids contents that are an alternative to the coatings the big box retailers are selling.
but what ever you use its the prep work that makes or breaks the coating.

Galun

I have the u-coat-it coating on my garage floor and it was great. 3 years and counting. I'd definitely sprinkle some sand before the coating dries for the grip.

spazegun2213

alright, so after a lot of prep work, two coats of Rustolem professional grade garage floor epoxy my floor looks something like this. This will also qualify as my first home improvement project. I think in came out really well, but now that I've done it twice, i think i could do it better if i had to do it again.




Thanks you all for your input and i hope it stands up to my abuse!

PogueMoHone

Acid washing is not enough. You need to sand blast it (or ball bearing treatment). The sprinkles are only for effect (neither here nor there, but they give a nice look), because the epoxy goes over them and they have no impact on quality.

The advice regarding smoothness of finish is spot on. You don't want so smooth a surface that, when it gets wet (car dripping), that it becomes lethal. Your wife (or kids) will not appreciate it.

Also make sure that there is enough slope on the floor to drain puddles away.

DrJupeman

+1 on U-Coat-It. I had trouble with my first batch sticking which I was told was a material defect. New material was sent for free and my floor has now held up for about 7 years.

Floor prep is key to success, imo. Clean, acid, clean, acid, etc.

Racerrob

Spaze, how much product did you have to buy and how long did it take? I'm moving into my new place in a few weeks and am considering this stuff.

spazegun2213

I did make a few mistakes (which is why there is a second coat on the floor), but overall it didn't take as long as i thought it would. The total for the project set me back $250 and about 8 hours of my time (over 3 days). The preparation with degreaser and muriatic acid was the cheap part ($20 for everything i needed), but it takes forever. My friend and I worked for nearly 5 hours cleaning the floor, and man did it look amazing after we were done. After that the Epoxy (two gallons) is $100 and random rollers and stuff were the other $30. I spread the first coat WAY to thin using only 1 of the two gallons, so i decided to put on another coat (another $100 ). The second time I used about 1.5 gallons, so i have no idea how someone is supposed to use two gallons with a roller, but then again this was the first time I've done a project like this. Rolling it on took about a 1-1.5 hours even with applying the sprinkles. The worst part is the 4 days you need to wait to really use the garage. It takes 24 hours before you can set foot on it, and 36-48 hours before you should put smaller things on the floor. So right now I have a grill and random other stuff just sitting in my driveway (I'm sure my neighbors love me).

Over all I'd say its not hard at all, or really expensive, and the only thing that is time consuming is the preparation.

38D

I actually like the fleck stuff. With the solid color stuff, you have to clean it constantly to keep from looking dirty. With the fleck stuff, it looks good pretty much all the time (I only wash my floor once per year...after the winter).