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Hi everyone,

My garage floor is in pretty good shape--a few minor oil and/or gas stains, but the surface is smooth. I'm thinking about painting/sealing it. Can anyone give me some advice or history on epoxy coatings, or would you recommend water based?

Thanks, about to start a '63 GMC long bed project!

John

I wouldn't recommend any. All the epoxy floors I have seen eventually chip and flake.

I agree with MNSmith but I do think its worth painting. I also recommend getting the good stuff.... a little pricey but use it.

We built my nephews shop about 5 years ago and while it does "chip" in places he does some pretty heavy stuf. Even with the "spots" it is well worth the painting.

I built my shop in 2005 and painted it. Yes, I have a couple places that it has "peeled" but they are small.

The reason I like it.... I like a nice clean shop and I like it easy to get up spills and stuff. My previous shop was "smooth" but it was heii to clean the floor. The dust,dirt,oil seemed to cling to it. Even using an air hose to blow it out was tough.

Unlike my nephew, I used the "cheaper" expoxy rather than the two part stuff but its still much better than nothing......and all this is about how particular you are about your shop!!

One word of caution. The paint bucket will say how long to wait until you drive a "hot tire" on it but if your smart you'll add a day or two to that to make sure it really is cured.

Let us know what you decide.

I did the Rustoleum 2 part epoxy about 3 years ago. It hasn't peeled, flaked or come off in any area. It has faded some color outside the garage door where it is exposed to daylight.
The price was more reasonable than some others.
It cleans very easily and doesn't stain.
The downside is it's quite slippery when wet.

I would use this product again.

Well here's my experience with painted or unpainted floors.
The first house I painted with plane old enamel floor paint. Flaked off in a few spots over
the years mostly from the steel wheels on the floor jack and welding machine. Second
home I put up a new pole barn and put two coats of two part epoxy down. 25 years later it
still looks good. Slippery like a skating rink when wet and only chipped where I‘ve
dropped a hammer or rolled a heavy iron wheel over it also burned where I was welding
or burning. In the garage I left it bare. Taint slippery but is full of oil stains and the
concrete continues to shed dust when I sweep 27 years after it was poured no chips from
steel wheels.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

preparation, preparation, preparation!! and a decent paint.

NONE of mine, or my nephews have peeled on its own. I/we drop, kick, let stuff fall and so forth. NO chipping but some fading as Wayne mentioned. From toyota's to road tractors Lesters floor see's it all. Not to mention all the gas/disel/antifreeze and a few others that would singe the hair on a camels back.
The floors are just a lot easier to maintain with SOMETHING on them and I never know when I may have to move a bed out to the shop to go along with my fridge and stove. Well, I could always lay on the creeper...or my nice clean floor

I'd bet that any type of paint you use where there's "a few minor oil and/or gas stains" won't stick long

Bill

You'll find a LOT of information here: the Garage Journal forum

I think the best surface I've ever worked on is a smooth concrete surface with a few coats of a good seal.

Now come on Alvin, you know that sweet thing that takes care of you taint gonna put you out
with the dogs. Now my "big old wife" on the other hand threatens to do that on a daily basis.

That's the thing that pops into my mind Bill when I allow myself to think about painting the
floor. Been thinkin' about the garage here for 27 years and by now the grease and oil has
probably soaked in so deep that the floor would act like a non stick Teflon frying pan.
The concrete barn floor at the new place has also been subject to the implement drip for three
decades not to mention what’s soaked in from the stalls in the last 15 feet of the west end. So
I’m pretty sure it would be a waste of material to try and get paint to stick to it.

But………painting a concrete floor right now is at the bottom of my list. Nine days of 80°+
temperatures, A little rain and nitrogen from the thunder showers and the grass is taking off
like gang busters. Gonna need to take the blade to it twice a week for the next couple of
weeks just to keep up with it. And the topper is I’ll be manicuring 6.5 acres of it besides my
half acres here till I sell the old home stead.
Gonna be one ell of a summer at the Graham homestead guys!!!!!!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I've done a fair amount of Epoxy floors over the years in Industrial applications ( Hangars, Factories, HD Equipment Shops ). Like all paint applications it comes down to slab prep. and quality of Epoxy. A really smooth concrete floor requires a little " roughing up " ( ie Shot-blasting ) to provide a grip for the Epoxy. The Epoxy needs to be a couple of coats thick. I think the solvent based ones are better than the water based.
I think for a home garage, Epoxy is a little exotic. Even good ones will chip from impact. The finish is slippery, particularily with water or oil on top. You can get various additives for the top coat to give you some grip, but then that takes away from the smooth finish appeal. I think I would go with a quality floor paint, with good prep.

I put a quality commercial floor sealer on my floor when it was new ten years ago and I'm verry happy. Oil and grease wipe up easy and there's no dust. The down side is it's solvent based and if I spill lacquer thinner it will soften the sealer. I've left rags lay on the floor only to find them glued in place a day or two later after the sealer rehardened...lol.

Mike B

Typically those concrete sealers are linseed oil and don't stand up to petroleum based products.

DG

....in all my meandering I should mention that my nephews and mine were both NEW floors. I made sure nuthin went into the shop until the floors were done..... and I used several gallons of muriatic acid to make sure it etched good. As I said above, preparation,preperation!

....now on my old shop floor I doubt that chewing gum would dry and stick to it. Years of abuse and all kinds of chemicals of which some/most are now banned.

Some of the industrial grade sealers are polyurethane these days. Our floors in the machine shop held up well to cutting oils and coolant. Anyone who has worked in a industrial machine shop knows how much oil and such gets down, not to mention chips.

What is the good stuff? Do you have a name of the product?

Thank you

I did exactly the same thing when I put my hanger up 25 years ago Alvin. Gave it about a
month with nothing on it and with the bi-fold door open to get the green concrete good
and dry, then acid etched it, pressure washed it, let it dry for another week then put my 2
coats of epoxy down. It really hasn't peeled up anywhere and as I said, the only place
where it's chipped is where it's had some sort of physical damage done to it and the
concrete came with it.
Here are a couple of pix but it’s kinda hard to see the floor for all the crap that is
everywhere. And……that’s why I’m movin’, I need more room for my stuff.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/142262037/large
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/142262036/large
I used a catalyzed epoxy from Sherwin Williams when I did mine Gus. But to day there
are probably a hundred brands that will do the same job.

DG

Denny, do tires leave permanent marks when parked for a while? I've noticed that with a lot of epoxies.

Not on mine, it's been down for 25 years. Can't imagine why they would leave marks if the proper curing agents and ratios were used.
DG

I've been happy with the cheap stuff at Home Depot. A two part epoxy product BUT I followed the instructions to the letter and spent a lot of time on the preparation which as you all know is the key to any good paint job. And be sure it's really dry before you slap anything on it.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the input and advice; I appreciate you sharing your wisdom.

I certainly got the message on floor prep. I'm in the middle of finishing the sheetrock and electrical; when that's done I'll get to the prep. I'm probably going to go with a 2-part epoxy.

In addition to making the garage a better place to spend the night, if/when the need arises, I think a painted floor will make it easier to pick up and eat the pizza, chips, popcorn, etc, that I drop during breaks.... Ya think?

What are you guys using to prep a garage floor with existing oil stains.
Is there something that will clean up the oil good enough for the epoxy to stick

dads50, the shop floor I painted was new but I believe I'd start with something like Purple Power and a good pressure washer. Lastly I'd etch it with muriatic acid. If its not etched it will not stick.

I think the stuff I bought was Rustoleum brand but whatever it came with the dry etching material that you mix w/ water and scrub the dickens out of. Twice in my case. Then I used a pressure washer and got it all up and squeegied ? it out and let it dry very very thoroughly. When it's wet is when you find out just how flat the surface really is. My shops have steel linings so I didn't use muratic acid because of the splashing and eating the finish off the steel. From experience I can tell you it lasts longer than any sealer I've ever used.

you coat-it is a good floor covering

The old standby is a strong solution of Trisodium Phosphate floor cleaner, soaked, scrubbed, and followed up by a good pressure washing. The trick is being able to find it- - - - -the tree-huggers have just about succeeded in banning the stuff altogether. I use it as a hot degreaser prior to gun bluing, and finding the powder in sufficient quantities to keep some on hand for my degreasing tanks is becoming a problem.
Jerry

I used Ucoat-it on my shop floor 3 years ago and I'm extremely happy with it.

Biggest problem with U Coat it is the extremely high price. H-D still sells a product for $75 per kit. Coverage is about 250 sf.

I used the same in mine, exept what I used was the Sears Weatherbeater brand (same product, different label). It's held up just fine.

anyone building a new workshop floor can put an additve on top of wet concrete which makes it stronger and impervious to oil etc we call it masterplate in australia it is in powder form you sprinkle on wet and trowel in

Mannjohn/Dads50 - any updates to this post?

Cletis - how much was the u-coat it compared to the HD option of $75 for 250 sft. I used the HD stuff on my daily driver house garage about 10 yrs ago, and sticks fine except for hot tire areas. Don't expect to have any hot tires in my shop, but I bet to go back and touch up hot tire areas in the house garage would look like worse than leaving it as is. Basically would have to redo the whole thing. Like most of you guys, I have too many projects to be redoing them.

Found a reference book that mention 3 options - epoxy, polyurethane and polyurea in order of price lowest first. And the book mentions to stay away from finishes that do not use a clear coat. Anybody have experience with polyurea?

Okay, I'm about 2 years into my Rustoleum-coated garage floor and so far, very good. I have two motorcycles and a project '63 GMC truck. I can see a few places where there were oil/gas stains before I coated it, it's hard to see but if you look you can see them, even though I had used degreaser extensively and pressure washed it until the top, smooth layer was gone. But there are no signs (yet) of any peeling, etc. I used the commercial strength; next time (if there is a next time) I'll try the industrial strength.

Thanks to all for advice. It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

I went with seal krete from LOWES

...pic...
...pic...

I do not recommend it. It is not holding up where my wife parks her Chevy Traverse.

I spent 10 years in the Air Force where the concrete was always painted (gray). I always wanted a nice white (with flecks) floor. But over the years, I have seen so many others try it and a few years later, its stained, or chipped, or just worn away in the high traffic areas.

So enter DEVE! DOT 5 silicon fluid among the other regular synthetic greases, oils, etc. Then, I do my own everything so lacquer thinner for the painting process, grinding small metal shavings in the floor with your feet or carts, etc when doing lots of grinding, welding, so hot weld hitting the floor to no end. Urethane paints and primers, etc, etc. So, I just recoat my concrete floors every few years with a clear concrete coating I get from Concrete Accessories. I am too scared to try colors. When it falls apart, it looks really really bad. Painting the trucks is daunting enough.

I used the stuff from Lowes. It is not very good in my opinion and the clear coat yellows with UV exposure. There are a lot better coatings out there. I used to do quite a bit of it on factory floors And the industrial stuff was twice the quality.

Joe

Deve, can you give us a link to the clear stuff you've had good luck with.

Cure and Seal 25 by Spec-Chem is what I used the last time. It keeps the concrete dust from being a problem. Very simple to use. Comes in 5 gal cans. Use a paint roller with a long stick. Smells up the place for days!

I saw one guy that just used a regular latex paint. It looked great and went on thinner that the epoxy paints so he had no trouble with chipping or flaking.