Looking for suggestions on brands, techniques etc. anyone have a good cost effective option? Also the floors where sealed white previously so i know that has to come off.

 

Here's what I used on my shop floor. It's pricey but the durability is great. You do 2 coats of the Devran then 1 coat of devthane.

http://www.devoesuperstore.com/index...facturers_id=1

http://www.devoesuperstore.com/index...f4u6a23cllf9a3

 

Previous home owner sealed the floor so I will have to remove all this **** if I want to expoxy... thoughts on laying down another coat of sealer and maybe some paint over striping this floor to bare bones for the epoxy?

 

My house now the previous owner had the floors epoxied.....and I hate it! its slippery as hell when it rains and it always looks dirty cause its tan with black and white flake in it. I thought about redoing it in gray but its a basement garage and its already lifting in several spots. Not sure who did the install but it was an older couple we purchased the house from so im guessing they paid someone.

My alternative was the plastic snap-together tile if you interested I can PM you the link. I love it ! good texture so its not slippery, easy to clean and its a floating floor so it can breath underneath and dry easily. The only downside to me is its kind of noisy when you roll stuff on it compared to plain concrete. Total price depends on the type of texture you get ( I went coin top) ignore the dirty in this pic it was back during winter and there inst a point in cleaning it until its over in my area.

 

I had my floor in my garage professionally done by a company here in Houston. Called around and got 3 quotes and talked to all three about what to expect/techniques and all that ****. In the end, I choose the company that was the highest price as they were much better salesmen. I was told that the procedure would entail a grind of the surface to start with clean concrete free of oil stains, etc. The second process was to apply an air/moisture barrier, then the coating and sprinkle flakes. As you read below the "air/moisture barrier" step was skipped.

It turned out to be nice, but there was a major problem that I still fight today.

First of all, I had bought the house brand new in 2007. The concrete that was used for the foundation was very "powdery", best word I can think to describe. I was always tracking in dust off my shoes and it was supper annoying. Just sweeping the floor every few weeks would create a small dust storm.

So the company came out and used a diamond grinder to etch the surface for something clean to start with. They where amazed at how much concrete was coming up. I clogged up their dust collector several times and after sweeping and blowing we had to rinse the rest out with the water hose and let it set for 24 hours to make sure it was dry.

Next step was rolling on the epoxy floor and then they sprinkled with flakes to add traction and give it some color. It looked amazing. I was told to stay off the floor for 2-3 days to give the product time to cure. On day two I noticed that the entire floor was covered in little air bubbles. Apparently the concrete was porous enough that air was breathing through and creating these tiny bubbles. I day three, I was walking around on it and it was like walking on that bubble packing material, popping all the dried up bubbles. Once they where popped, it left a small crater in the in coating and it really made it look like ****. When I asked about them skipping the "air/moisture barrier" they simply told me that the barrier and coating was one in the same process. Essentially that part of the sales pitch was bullshit.

I called they company and they came out and explained the breathing issue and said that it was very common on new homes with this cheap *** concrete that these new home builders use. Out of good faith, they applied another (much thicker) layer of coating over the existing one, hoping that the first coat would act as a barrier. in the end, it still bubbled and did not fix the problem I ended up going round and round with them and in the end they basically told me just to deal with it. Not much I could do, and not worth the time to fight them for the money.

My second and probably biggest complaint is the how bad the floor sweats now. Think of the garage floor as the inside of a Coke can and the coating as the aluminum Coke can itself. If the temperature is just right and there is enough humidity in the air (dew point), the floor sweats just like when you take a cold Coke can outside on a hot day.

I'm not talking about a little sweat either. It will literally pool and have trails of water that run down to the garage doors. If I have to do work on lying on the floor during this, I have to lay down cut open card board boxes and towels to lay down or it is literally like laying in a pool of water. The worst part of it is that anything I have on the floor gets soaking wet. Ruining cardboard boxes, rusting metal parts, etc. During the few months out of the year that I experience this, I have to be very careful about what I leave on the floor. The third worst part of this is that the floor becomes dangerously slippery when this happens. It is ******* annoying, but did stop the dust problem. Sorry for the rant. Just my 2 cents.

Just thought I add my experience to warn others and maybe to see if anyone can give me some pointers on how to make this stop.

 

^ I will say one of the things I hated about mine that I didnt mention (you made me think of it when you talked about the water) any time it rains and you pull in the garage all the road grime and salt during the winter if applicable will pull under your vehicle and it will have to be cleaned regularly if you want to keep it looking nice......I gave up on the side that still has the epoxy floor. My wife didnt like the flooring I put down on my side, and since its her side I caved. That said you still get the dirt on the flooring I used, but the water will get under the floor and live just a little bit of grime on the tile you can litterly clean with a swiffer wetjet.

I love the look of epoxy floor, but unless you have an industrial grade concrete floor to start with the end results are all over the place. I think the floor in mine was only down for a year before it started lifting and cracking.

 

I used a Rustoleum kit from Lowe's. It worked well and looked great when new, but I haven't been kind to the floor with three project cars needing rust repairs sitting on top of it.

When I bought the house, the floor was bare, but stained with oil and grease. We cleaned everything, powerwashed, etched with muriatic acid, and powerwashed again. May have etched a second time just to use up the rest of the acid. We then applied a sealant over the cracks, and then mixed according to the instructions and applied with a roller. Overall, the process probably took a week.

If you have a coating that needs to be removed, then I would pay someone to just grind it off.

 

My floor gets wet in the summer with high humidity,if the doors are shut it's not as bad,funny though last summer it wasn't as bad, maybe it's sealing itself up? I'll use try a/c that would help . My floor is 7 yrs old,and never been sealed

 

If your floor gets wet from humidity in the summer time then you should invest in an epoxy floor. Check out our companies flooring solutions in Florida. Our clients have similar problems from the excessive rainfall and an epoxy floor has proven to be very durable and reliable in situations similar to yours. Jacksonville Epoxy Flooring& Naples Epoxy Flooring.

 

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We offer durable, affordable, and reliable epoxy flooring solutions for your garage.