Garage Floor

[Jaime G.]

Re: Garage Floor

I agree with Dick. Light broom or rotary trowel.
just enough to give it a bit of texture for the epoxy to adhere to.

[Gary C.]

Re: Garage Floor

Don,

Best to use a rotary trowel as Jaime said. A lot of concrete finishers think sidewalk finish when talking a broom finish.

Smooth, but not slick finish is what you want. If the finish is rough, the epoxy will magnify the roughness.

Also think twice before using any color chips or sand. Color chips and sand will leave a pebbly finish and those are hard to clean up.

Gary
....

[Tim L.]

Re: Garage Floor

Don, great to hear you are going forward with the garage! What's the size? Have you considered putting a drain in?

Tim

[Don L.]

Re: Garage Floor

Don,

Best to use a rotary trowel as Jaime said. A lot of concrete finishers think sidewalk finish when talking a broom finish.

Smooth, but not slick finish is what you want. If the finish is rough, the epoxy will magnify the roughness.

Also think twice before using any color chips or sand. Color chips and sand will leave a pebbly finish and those are hard to clean up.

Gary
....

Gary's right on the added difficulty when cleaning a textured floor vs a plain finish. A smooth floor however, has significant slip risk. Even the textured flooring gets slick when wet. I use the old fashioned "rope mop" and a floor squeegee, which gives me no trouble. The color flakes hide dirt. They do make finding dropped items more of a challenge, however, I haven't lost any so far...

[Chris S.]

Re: Garage Floor

Expoxy Coat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love it !!!!!!!!!!!
I put solid wheels on my jack - no scratching
I drop stuff on it all the time - doesnt do a thing to it
Brake cleaner - no problem
Brake fluid - no problem
my wife and I did mine - second time I had did it - first round was PPG Aqua Pon

Expoxy coat - easy to do - easy to clean

[Bruce B.]

Re: Garage Floor

I agree with Paul J., concerning epoxies.
I used a water based spray on coating and it has been fine for 8 years or so. It keeps the dust from appearing and can be recoated anytime.
No it is not solvent resistent but so what, if solvent (gas, brake fluid, etc) gets on it you wipe it up and respray if you want to.
My garage is a working garage and the floor coating allows for easy cleaning of dirt and stuff but again is not solvent proof.

[Chris S.]

Re: Garage Floor

Don,

Best to use a rotary trowel as Jaime said. A lot of concrete finishers think sidewalk finish when talking a broom finish.

Smooth, but not slick finish is what you want. If the finish is rough, the epoxy will magnify the roughness.

Also think twice before using any color chips or sand. Color chips and sand will leave a pebbly finish and those are hard to clean up.

Gary
....

Sorry - I strongly disagree - the epoxy will smooth out any inperfections
We just did my fathers 1000 sq ft garage and he's floor had cracks etc... in it - the epoxy coat - totally smoothed out floor
it is self leveling.....

as far as color chips - they are inbedded in the floor and dont stick up out of the floor
I swifter mine and wet swifter it and is very smooth
super easy clean up.

[Brady C.]

Re: Garage Floor

Sorry - I strongly disagree - the epoxy will smooth out any inperfections
We just did my fathers 1000 sq ft garage and he's floor had cracks etc... in it - the epoxy coat - totally smoothed out floor
it is self leveling.....

as far as color chips - they are inbedded in the floor and dont stick up out of the floor
I swifter mine and wet swifter it and is very smooth
super easy clean up.

I went with Sherwin Williams Amor Seal (6) six years ago over a floor that was an oilfield machine shop. Muratic acid washed and two coats. Still holding up well today and ask Gary indicated, less than $1.00 per square foot so rather inexpensive to obtain professionally finished floor. No tire marks, peeling, etc.

Regards,
Brady Como
#42793

[Gerald C.]

Re: Garage Floor

Has anyone heard of "Flexmar" coating for the garage? I saw it at a home show in Omaha last week.

Jerry

[Dick W.]

Re: Garage Floor

Has anyone heard of "Flexmar" coating for the garage? I saw it at a home show in Omaha last week.

Jerry

I doubt any product at a home show has the durability of products such as Armoseal. I have not seen a water born epoxy hold up as well as solvent based either.

The SW product is what Henricks Motor Sports uses in their shops. Very tough product, not cheap though

[Kenneth S.]

Re: Garage Floor

If there are oil spots on the original floor, how can theybe removed or neutralized before painting with Armoseal, or is that a lost cause and the paint will never stick where the oil is?

[Dick W.]

Re: Garage Floor

If there are oil spots on the original floor, how can theybe removed or neutralized before painting with Armoseal, or is that a lost cause and the paint will never stick where the oil is?

Wash with TSP, scrubbing the oily spots hard until water will not bead, then etch with muriatic acid, rinsing thoroughly then let dry before painting.

[Robert K.]

Re: Garage Floor

One item no one has mentioned is spalling or scalling. One cause of these is a plastic layer under the concrete. Interestingly enough, I have it on my driveway but no my garages. The garages have plastic under them and the driveway doesn't. Another cause is sealing the concrete prior to it's curin (drying). This was my mistake. It was recommended by my contractor, but was a mistake. At the bottom of each spall is a pea gravel rock, so I believe it maybe the pea gravel instead of bluestone. If you garage is heat all winter then disregard the above. Spalling only occurs during freezing/thawing cycles.

[Don L.]

Re: Garage Floor

One item no one has mentioned is spalling or scalling. One cause of these is a plastic layer under the concrete. Interestingly enough, I have it on my driveway but no my garages. The garages have plastic under them and the driveway doesn't. Another cause is sealing the concrete prior to it's curin (drying). This was my mistake. It was recommended by my contractor, but was a mistake. At the bottom of each spall is a pea gravel rock, so I believe it maybe the pea gravel instead of bluestone. If you garage is heat all winter then disregard the above. Spalling only occurs during freezing/thawing cycles.

I didn't mention the minor spalling I had on my floor when I posted earlier to this thread. I did have some. It seems that the spalling I had was where snow melts off the car when parked. Michigan roads are salted so I suppose the spalling was ceated by melt/freeze of salt and ice? Dunno.

When my contractor did the grind pass on my floor to begin the process, the spalling was eliminated. In my case, the depth of the spalling was shallow and about equal to the amount of material that the grinding took off the floor, so it all got smoothed out. Even if there had been slight difference in height, the epoxy that went on my floor would have leveled it away.

I don't know if shot blasting would smooth spalling or not. Perhaps this is one advantage of grinding????

[Dick W.]

Re: Garage Floor

Robert Keese One item no one has mentioned is spalling or scalling. One cause of these is a plastic layer under the concrete. Interestingly enough, I have it on my driveway but no my garages. The garages have plastic under them and the driveway doesn't. Another cause is sealing the concrete prior to it's curin (drying). This was my mistake. It was recommended by my contractor, but was a mistake. At the bottom of each spall is a pea gravel rock, so I believe it maybe the pea gravel instead of bluestone. If you garage is heat all winter then disregard the above. Spalling only occurs during freezing/thawing cycles.

From what you are describing, the finisher brought too much "fat" to the top. It is very easy to bring too much pure cement to the top of your slab when finishing, makes a very slick looking surface but not very durable.

Tom Marcucci, a frequent poster here could probably tell you exactly what happened to your slab. That is his field of expertise, among other things