[cocojiy]

Hi All,

I'm on the cusp of buying a house and for the first time in my life, I'll have a garage (exciting!). Since the garage is 2.5 cars, I'm going set up a workshop in there.

Right now, the floor is painted cement and the current owner has been using the garage to restore vintage MGs.

The cement is in OK shape but will need repainting at the very least. I like the look/idea of epoxy

but have heard mixed review regarding slickness when wet.

Interested in anyone with experience with epoxy floors or alternative flooring solutions.

 

[cocojiy]

Hi All,

I'm on the cusp of buying a house and for the first time in my life, I'll have a garage (exciting!). Since the garage is 2.5 cars, I'm going set up a workshop in there.

Right now, the floor is painted cement and the current owner has been using the garage to restore vintage MGs.

The cement is in OK shape but will need repainting at the very least. I like the look/idea of epoxy

but have heard mixed review regarding slickness when wet.

Interested in anyone with experience with epoxy flooring tampa or alternative flooring solutions.

thanks for any help

 

[FreddyG]

Hi All,

I'm on the cusp of buying a house and for the first time in my life, I'll have a garage (exciting!). Since the garage is 2.5 cars, I'm going set up a workshop in there.

Right now, the floor is painted cement and the current owner has been using the garage to restore vintage MGs.

The cement is in OK shape but will need repainting at the very least. I like the look/idea of epoxy

but have heard mixed review regarding slickness when wet.

Interested in anyone with experience with epoxy floors or alternative flooring solutions.

I'd get epoxy over paint. Paint will hot track when the hot tires sit in it and epoxy won't.

If you decide on epoxy, I'd recommend that you look into polyaspartic type epoxy because it's stronger than regular epoxy, dries quicker (cars sit out less time) but the downside is that it costs a bit more. Prep work is critical for any flooring install though and make sure that they grind the floor first to "Open the pores" to give the concrete a better "Bite" when installing the epoxy. It's like sanding wood to open it up for stain.

They can also add some sand to the top coat of the clear coat that helps with the slickness (it works even better if applied along with the flakes that most people use too).

By the way, you could also look into Race Deck (or that type of interlocking type garage floor tile).

Good Luck!

 

[motorheadmike]

We bought a house last year with epoxy floors in both the house garage and the detached shop. I hate it. If you do any cutting, grinding, plasma cutting, or MIG welding it does not take well to the sparks, heat or slag. Also any deep scratches hold dirt and grime and become very apparent if they are lighter colours. We had to put down heavy mats to protect the floors from all my fabrication. It also gets very slippery when wet or greasy/oily... and you will find yourself washing the floors often to keeping them looking nice (especially if you do a bunch of dirty work)

I'd rather have had the old bare/sealed concrete in my old shop. If you need it for vanity reasons go for epoxy, but if you do practical things keep it simple.

 

[B5Blue6M]

Epoxy is a horrible product and will peel and look terrible, just a matter of time. Polyurea is the only way to go.

 

[Unholy707]

I saw this commercial for shark flooring, I think xylander has it. Is it better than epoxy? Looks it

 

[B5Blue6M]

I saw this commercial for shark flooring, I think xylander has it. Is it better than epoxy? Looks it

It looks better, and is better, because they use polyurea. Shark is just the company, like Polytek, not the product name. Annnnnnnnnywho.

 

[Xylander]

Yep, I have polyurea. It feels like stone. The brand name they used was Penntek. Once they put the top coat on, it's skid resistant. It needs professional application and isn't cheap. My garage below is 32'x26' (or there abouts) and I paid about $6,000, which included concrete repair, etching, installation of the floor, and the top coat.

The process is a little different vs. standard epoxy. With epoxy, you roll out the epoxy and throw some color discs or whatever to give it a look or feel. The polyurea goes on similarly, but the flakes they put in fill the floor about 4" deep. They used a scraper to push it down into the polyurea and let it dry for 3-4 hours. Next, they come back with an industrial vacuum and suck out all the excess color chips, roll it out again and top coat it to seal it in. The floor comes in several different textures. I intentionally got one of the most abrasive due to it being a car garage. The rough floor is very slip and scratch resistant. The older epoxy floor that was originally in place was an ice skating rink when it got wet. This garage is finished in exterior high pressure resistant paint and has a recessed central drain (I pressure wash the car inside after I cover up the guitars). For me, I needed the floor to be extra slip resistant because working on a car in 105F Florida heat sucks sometimes. This way, I can turn the AC on inside the garage and go nuts without sunburn or heat stroke

If you want more info, the company that did mine is local to my area, but this spot on their website gives some excellent info about how the coating is applied and what options you can get: Finishes

 

[WizzaVTX]

Had a couple quotes for sealing and coating but found my needs were met by a floor tile solution that I can either change if desired or remove it when/if I ever leave and reuse. Plus saved some money with holiday deals at www.garageflooringinc.com

 

[WVHEMIS]

My floor is in such bad shape the cost to get it ready for epoxy was just too much so I am going racedeck.

 

[FreddyG]

We bought a house last year with epoxy floors in both the house garage and the detached shop. I hate it. If you do any cutting, grinding, plasma cutting, or MIG welding it does not take well to the sparks, heat or slag. Also any deep scratches hold dirt and grime and become very apparent if they are lighter colours. We had to put down heavy mats to protect the floors from all my fabrication. It also gets very slippery when wet or greasy/oily... and you will find yourself washing the floors often to keeping them looking nice (especially if you do a bunch of dirty work)

I'd rather have had the old bare/sealed concrete in my old shop. If you need it for vanity reasons go for epoxy, but if you do practical things keep it simple.

Smart move putting a sealer on the floor (if not going with some type of polyaspartic/polyurea type of coating). It would at least keep oil/solvents/whatever from seeping into the pores of your concrete. It can get a little bit slippery too though.

Yep, I have polyurea. It feels like stone. The brand name they used was Penntek. Once they put the top coat on, it's skid resistant. It needs professional application and isn't cheap. My garage below is 32'x26' (or there abouts) and I paid about $6,000, which included concrete repair, etching, installation of the floor, and the top coat.

The process is a little different vs. standard epoxy. With epoxy, you roll out the epoxy and throw some color discs or whatever to give it a look or feel. The polyurea goes on similarly, but the flakes they put in fill the floor about 4" deep. They used a scraper to push it down into the polyurea and let it dry for 3-4 hours. Next, they come back with an industrial vacuum and suck out all the excess color chips, roll it out again and top coat it to seal it in. The floor comes in several different textures. I intentionally got one of the most abrasive due to it being a car garage. The rough floor is very slip and scratch resistant. The older epoxy floor that was originally in place was an ice skating rink when it got wet. This garage is finished in exterior high pressure resistant paint and has a recessed central drain (I pressure wash the car inside after I cover up the guitars). For me, I needed the floor to be extra slip resistant because working on a car in 105F Florida heat sucks sometimes. This way, I can turn the AC on inside the garage and go nuts without sunburn or heat stroke

If you want more info, the company that did mine is local to my area, but this spot on their website gives some excellent info about how the coating is applied and what options you can get: Finishes

View attachment 609555

You've got a Great looking garage but that Scarecrow kind of creeps me out!

 

[Xylander]

Smart move putting a sealer on the floor (if not going with some type of polyaspartic/polyurea type of coating). It would at least keep oil/solvents/whatever from seeping into the pores of your concrete. It can get a little bit slippery too though.



You've got a Great looking garage but that Scarecrow kind of creeps me out!

It's an animatronic halloween decoration:

 

[FreddyG]

It's an animatronic halloween decoration:

I wasn't being demeaning towards it! A Scarecrows job is to be creepy and they're doing a Great job (not that I'm a crow or anything like that )!

 

[Xylander]

I wasn't being demeaning towards it! A Scarecrows job is to be creepy and they're doing a Great job (not that I'm a crow or anything like that )!

Oh I don't mind either way. It's a halloween decoration. Rather than shove it in a box the other 11 months out of the year, I put it in the garage. I've had "Charlene" the skeleton for over 20 years. She's a garage prop too

 

[Unholy707]

In for pics of scarecrow and Charlene in jailbreak