We are having a large (40 by 60) garage and workshop built on our property. I'd like to seal the concrete floor, and could use recommendations from anyone who has applied a coating to this type of floor. A neighbor has installed a two-part epoxy coating to his with some kind of plastic flakes for a no-skid surface. This looks pretty promising, but I could use any input. The heaviest thing that will routinely be in there is a 30 horse Kubota tractor with ag tires.

 

Try posting this in the Garage forum a few forums up, itll get a much better response.

 

Floor coatings are damned expensive and I am a tightwad

My 30X40 got several coats of old out of date deck gray and a couple of handfulls of play sand. I think I found the 1 gallon $13 paint cans marked down to $7 at a McDonalds that was going out of business due to new Lowes in the area.. I used 5 gallons ($35). Sweeps and washes easy and yes there are some stains but still looks good 8 years later.

 

I just know the people on the V-10 forum have good judgement.

 

Thanks for your kind comment but it still doesn't belong down here.

Thread moved.

 

we have the grit in our shop, i dont like it. it leaves dirt when squeegeing? and dirt gets trapped. it looks dirtier than it should. if oil is spilt, we have to scrub by hand to get it to come clean. and the paint on top of the grit wears off quickly making it look dirty. maybe a fine grain would work, but the stuff we have is junk

 

Do a forum search on this subject in this forum. This was covered quite extensively a few weeks back. I decided to use a concrete sealer based on what was said. YMMV based on your needs. If your neighbor did the floor himself it was probably UCoatIt.

 

For the life of me, I can not see why people want to take a concrete floor, especially a new one, and coat it with something that is going to get stained, scratched , chipped, delaminate, and will have to be redone over and over during its lifetime. Everytime it is redone, if the original coats of paint or epoxy is not completely stripped, then the flakeouts and chips of the original coat will show even worse when the next new coat is applied over it....

Everyone needs to remember too, that ALL the stuff in that garage has to come out and be stored somewhere, while it is being repainted, retiled, re-epoxied, etc. Not an easy task for a heavily tooled/equipment stocked garage. I say put on a good quality concrete sealer after the new concrete is cured, and its done for a LONG time . It will not show dirt and grease near as bad as a reflective coat of paint or epoxy will, and its soaks in and will not chip or flake later..

P.S. 30 years of maintaining commercial and industrial buildings that had huge concrete floors , gave me a little experience to support my opinion here . I have had to go back year after year and repaint some of these floors that someone had painted, just to get them to look better. Those original floors left alone, with sealer only on them, we just mopped and let dry , and they are new looking again. all jmo

 

Actually, the two-part epoxy coatings are extremely durable, you will chip the concrete before you chip the finish (mawl experience). Of course this only applies to prime applications, don't even think of using it if adhesion is questionable. Impervious to most chemicals.
Greg has a point though, this is only for the anally compulsive, or those wealthy enough to pay a professional to do the work.

 

Agreed, the industrial grades are top notch, but still show stains and scratches, especailly on the lighter colors. A top grade epoxy ( not the diy hardware store stuff) sold by the vendors in my catalogs I have at work sells industrial rated epoxy floor coverings . They are sold to places like huge warehouses and storage facilities for floors that have been damaged badly from wear and tear . Figuring using this vendors industrial epoxy, the cost of doing a 24' x 24' garage floor would be right at 700 bucks, not including clean and prep materials.

 

I have decided to seal mine also but I have not decided on what to seal it with.

 

My buddy just did his garage with black and white asphalt tiles that he got on clearance somewhere. It looks great and is supposed to hold up well. Only time will tell on that though.

-Rich

 

Agreed,

If I found myself just HAVING to do something to my garage floor, this would be it. VCT ( vinyl composite tile) is pretty durable, that is why hospital floors have it on them. Even when a tile is deeply scratched by a metal object, one justs needs to heat the damaged tile up with a heat gun to melt the bonding glue , and then just put a new piece in. That is why when one buys VCT, they should always by a box of 40 pcs extra, because getting the same lot number to color match will be difficult , if not impossible...

Newly installed VCT needs to have a seal coat on it, then 4 - 5 coats of VCT high solids wax put on it, with 30 minutes to dry between coats. Later on, after it gets dirt ground in to it, just get stripper from the local mega homeowner store, strip the old wax off and then put on 4 -5 coats of high build solids wax on it. Viola, its all new and shiny again. No flakeouts, heavy paint coat buildups, or chips in coatings showing , like paints and epoxy coatings will eventually get. jmo

 

Yes, I did mention wealthy in my posts. Don't forget labor, a quality job will include etching the concrete with muriatic acid. One coat usually does the trick, though, the stuff is as thick as molasses. I still think that, (working with new concrete), the cost and bother is worthwhile.

 

I have seen were in an industrial setting that a floor can be waxed and that is it and look great in the process. The concrete did take on a green luster and wore very well. This place was one of those that had more time than work though, just the nature of the beast. The employees would do the wax jobs just as busy work, and it did look great.

Da’Moose