[Skip Fix]

Pondering painting the concrete floor on the new shop to seal it. Pros/Cons? Brands?

[Stuart]

I would spend some time looking through the flooring discussions over on the Garage Journal board: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/f...splay.php?f=20 Regular paint is probably going to be a losing proposition, I'd look at epoxy or a concrete stain/sealer.

[Red Goat]

I agree with Stuart, there's a lot of great information on this topic at the Garage Journal forum. I've never seen any sort of floor paint hold up well. Take a look at all the different options. It'd be a real pain in the a$$ to have to redo it once you've moved in.

In my shop, I did an acid stain followed by clear epoxy about 2 1/2 years ago and it's holding up really nicely. My favorite part is the cleanup... just run one of those large floor dusters around the shop every now and then. Grease and oil wipe right off.

What ever you choose to do... spend time on the prep, follow the directions to the letter and never look back!

Floor when 1st Finished:


Floor after two years of use:

[carsmymistress]

X3 on garage journal forum and epoxy. My first garage I used the Rust Oleum epoxy kit and it held up great but very thin. Second garage I used U coat it. Thicker but expensive. My current garage I used Epoxy-Coat and it has been bulletproof. Went on like thick butter, very thick and flows out very well.

Good luck. Great project to do.

[67Twistytee]

Nice looking shop floor Red Goat! Jealous of all that room.

I used the Valspar epoxy kit from Lowes and it came out well. I power washed the slab first and then etched it with muriatic acid. After laying down the epoxy paint, I let it cure for 72 hours before driving on it. Only thing I would have done differently is add a texture/anti skid additive to the paint. It gets a bit slick from water pooling off the cars (a/c, rain, etc.).

[indymanjoe]

Originally Posted by 67Twistytee

Nice looking shop floor Red Goat! Jealous of all that room.

It gets worse,look at his Avatar..

[carcrazy]

When I had a manufacturing company we did 40,000 sq ft in a Sherwin Williams commercial grade epoxy. Held up very well to all sorts of machinery---but was expensive. The key to whatever you use will be prep. Clean, clean and then clean some more.

[Skip Fix]

3500 sq ft looking at the epoxies does start getting expensive.

[Alvin]

How's the slab thermo barrier? Considering today was another 100% humidity day in metro Houston this am might want to keep that in mind what ever day you choose for application.

X2 on the consideration of surface finish to keep from being too slick (mirror finish) where you want traction w cars, walking around shop, etc.

[Scarebird]

I worked in a gas station decades ago that years of spill and such left a damn near waterproof patina; I would scrub and hose it off at night. Cheap and effective for a working garage.

[GRX]

Only thing I have seen on a working environment floor that was worth a damn was when I worked for Caterpillar. EpoArmor epoxy I believe. Prepare for sticker shock. Of course, nothing will stand up to welding and sparks.

[Skip Fix]

Most stuff recopmmends a etch especially on new concrete. No water well yet so guess we'll have to go "au naturele".

[mcshooter]

I put a concrete paint I got from lowes and it is coming off, is there a coat I can put over what's left that will stay on??

[67Twistytee]

Was it latex floor paint or expoxy? I think the rustoleum claims "long useful life" for their product if applied right. But I've also heard of it needing reapplication after 5 years or after heavy use. They mention in their FAQs using a stripper or concrete sander over old paint if you plan to reapply or go from standard concrete paint to epoxy.

Latex paint will bond to old paint if you lightly sand and clean the existing finish, but if it's already pulling up on you I'd probably rent a concrete sander and strip it down to a better base.

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

Most stuff recopmmends a etch especially on new concrete. No water well yet so guess we'll have to go "au naturele".

As an alternative, you can shot peen or diamond grind the floor. That's what most professionals do as opposed to etching with muriatic acid. Most larger industrial tool rental places have the machines. You need to make sure that your slab is thoroughly cured.

[Formulabruce]

The garage paint floor kits with 2 part paint have some acid for cleaning, and they have traction control particles you sprinkle on when paint is wet. You can use a roller. About 80 bucks to do a 2 car garage. Clean and reclean and dry is most important.
The BEST paint, bar NONE is DP40 ( Battleship gray) Epoxy WITH Lead.
The problem with it is that you have to be a Nuclear power plant or Military installation to use it. If you know someone at a paint shop on an airbase, all the Fighters and bomber wheels are painted in epoxy.
DP40LF ( lead free) is ok, but not nearly as durable as the darn Kits from home Depot.
As ALVIN stated, consider the humidity, and temp. 70-75 is great and still allows time to sprinkle on some traction material. Good luck !

[GTOLiam]

When buying a two part epoxy, go to a concrete contractor supply store. Skip the cheap crap the box stores sell. Euclid, BASF, Sika, are some of the quality name brands but find someone who knows the products they sell and let them recommend some. If you want a really chemical resistant surface (gas, brake fluid), after epoxy you can apply a clear polyurethane on top.

Or you can be cheap and lazy like me and just put a sodium silicate on top of clean concrete to chemically react and provide an increase in surface density, durability and abrasion resistance.

[chrisp]

Use a concrete stain , as it penetrates into it rather then sit on top & is not slippery .

[Jim Doran]

A slightly different point of view that was given to me and I am glad I went in this direction.

My garage floor is in very good shape and I wanted to put some epoxy down. I do have a lift and often use the garage for cars, lawn tractor stuff, dragging snowblowers, and do park 2 cars indoors most of the year and the winter makes a real mess.

The advice was to use the inexpensive home depot garage floor paint and touch it up 1x a year for cheap. This has worked out well as the winter tears up the floor and I don't sweat scraping it when dragging a snowblower or angle iron,etc etc

I originally was going with an expensive epoxy, but knew sooner or later I would damange it, then what. Now around May, I recoat the garage and it looks great for most of the summer. I just use a roller on a stick and it take 2 hours. Don't need to cut it in at walls each recoat.

Just my .02 on keeping things simple.

[GTOLiam]

Originally Posted by Jim Doran

A slightly different point of view that was given to me and I am glad I went in this direction.

My garage floor is in very good shape and I wanted to put some epoxy down. I do have a lift and often use the garage for cars, lawn tractor stuff, dragging snowblowers, and do park 2 cars indoors most of the year and the winter makes a real mess.

The advice was to use the inexpensive home depot garage floor paint and touch it up 1x a year for cheap. This has worked out well as the winter tears up the floor and I don't sweat scraping it when dragging a snowblower or angle iron,etc etc

I originally was going with an expensive epoxy, but knew sooner or later I would damange it, then what. Now around May, I recoat the garage and it looks great for most of the summer. I just use a roller on a stick and it take 2 hours. Don't need to cut it in at walls each recoat.

Just my .02 on keeping things simple.

Floor hardener would be suggestion going the cheap route. It penetrates the surface and chemically reacts and hardens calcium hydroxide in the concrete to give you a hard surface. I notice it in my garage when I drag stuff in or drop something on it. Oil won't penetrate like normal concrete either as the surface absorption is lower. You can even buff it if you want. You've probably seen it in large commercial floors in some of those big box stores.. same stuff they use. For $100 you can do the whole garage and it only takes an hour or so with zero skill needed.