have you painted your garage floor? (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

I'm in the process of painting my concrete garage floor, and wondering if it's worth all the effort. Hopefully it'll be durable but I have my doubts.
I'm using the behr stuff from homecheapo, ran about 80 bucks and it's a 4 step process

1. sweep and wash the floor
2. use the degreaser, scrub and wash the floor
3. use the acid etcher/rust remover, scrub and wash the floor
4. apply primer (actually a thin clear liquid, I thought it would be a paint, I'm waiting for this to dry for 24 hours)
5. paint with latex paint, they call it a one part epoxy but I'm sure it's just a paint.

Has anyone used the same product? has it held up to oil drips? tires? dropping stuff on it? I've seen painted garage floors that look great, and some that seem to chip and kind of fade away. Hopefully this will last after the time and expense I have in it.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

No, it isn't just a paint, it really is an epoxy. I used it on both the garage floor and the patio when I had my house built in 1999. (Since it was new construction and the house was vacant I only had to wait for the concrete to cure for a couple of weeks - no scrubbing or acid etching required.)

I was going to do the driveway as well, but never got around to that.

The stuff works wonderfully and using it was one of the smartest things I ever did. Hot tire marks hosed off as a rule or at worst had to be scrubed with a nylon pad. Never did have a problem with oil, since my car didn't leak it, but nothing else that got on the floor caused a problem. When I had to put the place on the market at the end of last year the clean look of both the garage and the patio helped put the place a cut above comparable properties, I think, and made it easier to do the final clean up when I sold and moved out in January. I'd definitely do it in my next house. My brother-in-law and I did my dad's garage a couple of years ago, and bro-in-law himself did the garage floors in the home he bought in May.

One word of caution. On a smooth concrete sufrace like a garage floor (as opposed to the rougher surface on my patio) the material becomes extremely slippery if water or other liquids spill on it after it has dried. So you want to be careful when hosing it off to clean it. Make sure it dries thoroughly before you walk back out into the garage to get something.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Philip_G]

thanks for the reply!

I had read that about the slippery conditon, it's even right on the can.

I'm glad it worked for you, I was afraid I was wasting 80 bucks and 2 days of my time. My house is pretty new, I've been in it about 3 months now, but I still did 2 coats of degreaser and 2 coats of etcher, just one of the sealer, but maybe 2 of paint, we'll see.
I just noticed I can't park a car on the painted surface for SEVEN days

I spend a fair amount of time in my garage, a clean floor makes working on cars and things a lot nicer, I hate rolling around on a dirty, dusty concrete floor. If this stuff doesn't work I'll have to get some kind of concrete tile to put down next.

edit: wow, one big runon. sorry.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I'm buying a new home (it's being constructed now) and I plan on doing this in my garage. I'll prolly do it one half at a time since I've got a bunch of boxes and crap that I need to put in the garage.

 

[wally]

Is there anything you can mix in to rough up the surface prior to application on smooth concrete?

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Are you guys talking about the same stuff you sprinkle with texture while it's drying?

I've seen it on TV, it looks pretty nice... the Mrs and I were considering trying it out.

Another question... we were also considering putting it in our son's playroom in the basement. However, I was wondering how noxious it is to use.

 

[Philip_G]

Dave,
No, the stuff I'm using is a little different. The rustoleum kit looks like it has some kind of sprinkle in it, maybe thats the stuff you're thinking of.

 

[Brian Perry]

I just finished doing my garage floor with the Epoxy Shield Industrial paint, and the fumes are very strong for the first couple of days. (That could be because the Industrial version I bought is solvent-based rather than latex-based. I didn't think a latex-based formula would last as well in severe winters.) Once dry, though, it's not bad. You definitely want some good ventilation when applying it. In a basement, I would recommend a respirator.

 

[RonaldK]

Brian,

did you need to do any repairs to your floor before painting? I have several hairline cracks in my garage floor and I don't know if I can paint over them without patching first.

 

[Greg_R]

A friend of mine just did his garage. He used the primer/epoxy product along with the granules (you sprinkle on the wey epoxy). This created a very grippy surface and gave the floor a nice finish.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

My house was the model house in the development, and for this reason the garage was "finished" to use as a sales office. By 1959 standards, they sheetrocked the walls and ceiling and laid asphalt tiles. This really makes working on a car easy. Oil spills etc. just mop up, and you can easily slide under the car to work on it. When I move I will consider getting a cheap grade of linoleum put into the garage of the new house.

 

[Philip_G]

I thought about concrete tile, a black and white checker pattern but the seams in the concrete would mess me up I think. If this stuff doesn't hold up I'll do just that though.

Put a second coat on tonight, looks awesome!

BTW, wouldn't go with linoleum in a MILLION years, it's going to look like crap in no time man. It is WAY too soft. Drop a wrench on it, step on a screw, it's going to cut or tear, then catch dirt and grime or worse.

 

[Brian Perry]

did you need to do any repairs to your floor before painting?

I didn't, but the directions call for a much more stringent cleaning than I was willing to do. You're supposed to scrape up all prior paint, etch the surface with muriatic acid, rinse with water three times, and basically have the floor pass a "white glove" test before applying the epoxy paint. I cleaned the floor fairly well--hopefully the results (which look great now) last a long time.

 

[Ted Lee]

hey all, i'm thinking about painting my garage as well. for those who did it, do you have any regrets or things you would change?

specifically, has it held up to daily wear and tear?

the stuff i'm looking at is from home depot. i think it's about 90 bucks and says it will do 2.5 garages? since i have a three car garage, i assume that means i'll need to buy two buckets ... sneaky bastards!

 

[Brian Perry]

specifically, has it held up to daily wear and tear?

For the most part, yes. I am seeing some flaking on spots I probably didn't clean/prep well enough, but overall it still looks great.

 

[Philip_G]

Don't get the behr stuff at HD. It sucks.

I'm moving in a month and will try the rustoleum

 

[Ted Lee]

what's your complaint against the behr stuff philip? just curious...since (i think) you have already tried it?

 

[Philip_G]

I have, you'll note this thread is 1.5 years old.

It just doesn't hold up. Hot tire pickup all over, it's fragile, gasoline eats it away, oil doesn't clean up easily and stains the paint....

I use my garage a lot, I'm always working on something out there, and I'm hard on the surface... dragging a transmission across the floor probably doesn't help. If I had the extra cash I'd go with this.

http://www.concrete-floor-coatings.com

it'd cost 150-200 to do my 2 car garage.

 

[DaveF]

Philip - you tried the Rustoleum yet? I was looking at this at Home Depot today, and it looks fairly expensive, around $120 for the two kits to clean and coat a 2-car garage. The Behr, which you didn't like, is about half the cost. And some other brand, was maybe 25% less than that.

This is low on my priority list, but it seems worthwhile if less than about $100.

 

[Philip_G]

I have dave, did it a week ago, give me another week before I really know how it'll do...

look for the 2.5 garage kits, they're 99 bucks and will do your garage easily.


so far I'm impressed, seems durable and looks great.

the behr initially seems cheaper, but when I used it I needed the degreaser, the acid etch, the prime, then the coating. Halfway through I needed a second gallon of the coating which put me well over $100.
the 2 gallons of rustoleum were MORE than enough, I used about 1.5 of them, and the rustoleum is less work since there's no primer or etcher. later today I'll pick up the crap in the garage and find my digital camera and take a pic or two.