Epoxy Coating Garage Floor

I'm going to be putting an epoxy coating on my garage floor. I was going to go with a grey color with no chips in it, but I'm worried about how dirty it will get from tires and being slippery.

Any suggestions on color?

The chips help alot with not slipping also they help hide dirt. Makes your garage look great when you are done.

prep prep prep. thats all i can say. you have to way over kill your prep in order for it to stick well. if you could id go with a dark grey. the lighter the worse looking it is for tire marks.

we did ours a few years ago and did dark gray with silver and black chips. The chips really help hide mud and dirt and provide some traction when it gets wet. It can get really slippery without them.

I have two neighbors that did the garage floor before they moved in.

Both did a dark brick red type color with flakes... regardless of color I think it makes the garage look much better.

I like the look of the gray much better and am planning on doing my floor this summer. Wish I had time to do my floor before I filled my garage with stuff... it would have been much easier when the garage was empty! I have thought about some KTM orange color also... or at least chips that color... but might not be the best for resale.

Definitely do the color chips vs. solid color... it helps hide the dirt and tire marks. They also have some grip additive that you can add to the mix to provide a bit better traction when the floor is wet. The color chips dont help much with grip. My one neighbor did the grip stuff when he lived in Denver but did not do it this time. Good thing without the grip stuff is that you hose off the floor and then squeegee it dry. Bad thing is your can bust your *** falling when your shoes are wet from the rain. (ask his wife).

I did this in my parents garage a year or two ago, and it still looks great. Like others have said, I would definitely add the chips to give it a little grip and to help hide dirt and grime.

Also, has anyone had any problems with it peeling up in the areas under the car? We have one or two spots that have started peeling up just a little. I'm guessing the heat from the tires after a long drive might cause it to stick to the tires and then peel up when backing out, but I'm not sure. We followed the directions perfectly and spent a lot of time on the prep, so i don't think it was a problem with the application

"prep prep prep. thats all i can say"

Agreed. I put this stuff in my basement and had to do it twice becasue I cut corners on the prep the first time. Read the directions, clean everything, then do it over again. A good job the first time is always less work than doing it twice.

AS far as color, dark gray with black specs gets my vote.

^^^^Like the others have said prep prep prep. I had a buddy do it that does it for a living and we ground down the cement before applying any epoxy, or else it will come up. He even grinds brand new cement. This guy guarantees his work from chipping.

I chose color chips and we used a lot of them, like 75lbs worth. He wont do it any other way. The cheaper products just give you a little bit of flake. the more you use the more texture the floor gets.

Like other have said your floor will look cleaner if you use the chips. My parents have a solid color with sand instead of color flakes and it looks dirtier. I don't know if different colors hide dirt better, but mine is brown and you can still tell its dirty but it doesn't look bad. I don't get any black marks from tires on mine. My brother has black and gray chips and I don't know if his looks any dirtier that mine, but he might see this thread and chime in.

here is some pics of mine.

how do you ground down the cement? Is that the acid treatment or some other way?

We used a grinder with some kind of grinding blade.

looks something like this.

The one thing that I did was pull cars and the boat in a little too early. Left a few tire marks right where they were parked. The one's the boat left worked aout perfect since it gives me a target.

I have some of mine pealing up due to poor prep. The one spot was a low point in the garage so it stayed wet and I didn't let it dry out enough.

I am curious if anyone went over it a second time where they had problems. Do you think you would have to get most of the first coat off the floor?

I like the flakes also.

Do shop floors as a part of my profession. Your garage/shop most likely has an aggregate sealant on the surface. You'll need to remove that sealant in order for the epoxy you chose (Devoe is tough as nails) to have something to adhere to. The grinder shown above is difficult to use and very labor intensive. We rent a walk behind shot blaster to do 80% of the floor and a portable grinder for the edges.

If you have any grease, oil, or existing paint on the surface you will need to make sure it's 100% removed. If you have even a drop of oil on the floor the epoxy will run from it and leave your floor with a crater or a large bubble. If that happens you're screwed. You may be able to cut out the bad area but every batch is a little different in color and layup so it'll never be the same.

Because the shops we use get extremely heavy traffic and industrial use I make sure we lay a heavy duty primer sealer down and let it dry a day prior to rolling the epoxy out. You may not do this step but I highly recommend it. Lastly, If you want the floor to hold up and set right stay off of it for at least 24hrs, preferably two days.

These pics are of a recent job we did. The last pic is of the floor a day after we did it prior to pulling the edge tape off the wall








(Message edited by seattle on January 20, 2010)

Keep in mind, the darker your inside colors the more light loss you'll have. Something to keep in mind that some dont think about.

garagejournal.com is a good forum for this type of stuff.

Why bother?

^^^why bother with what, the forum or epoxy floor?

She's all done! Here are some before and after picts.

Looks GREAT! Good job!

Nice work! Did you grind or prep the concrete? I would like to do the same thing when I find the time.

I like the flooring.... I would like to do it in my garage one day. How much does it cost per square foot?

For those of you in the snow belt, how do these floor finishes hold up against the unavoidable road salt that gets tracked in?

And what about studded tires?

The photos above look great. I did mine about 5 years ago in light grey with some sand instead of chips. In the future, I would go with a darker color and lots of chips...mine shows dirt and tire marks too easily. I did my mom's garage in tan and it doesn't show dirt as much even though it is pretty light.

I haven't had any sticking or places where the epoxy pulled up.

When I clean mine, it still looks good but I'd like to re-coat with chips. Can I re-coat on top of my existing coating or do I need to strip it off? I believe I used the Rust-O-leum two-part epoxy. It was an easy application--80% of the work was in the prep.

Acid washed it with Muriatic acid and water.

Paul and Dave-

We get both the road salt and studded tired in our garage that has this finish and it has held up really well. We occassionally hose it out, maybe twice a winter...but after four years no adverse effects from the salt, snow, or studs.

I'm looking to add a bit of concrete to our back patio. Would this stuff work fine for that application? I'd like to give it some color and personality, rather than leave it blank concrete. I don't really want to go with stamped, because of the cost.

Shawn, I got a buddy that did the same floor as mine outside around his pool and I believe it is holding up fine. I think they used a different clear coat on top. Something with UV protection. The garage stuff will definetely fade outside.

TBP - any grinding or sanding? Or did the acid wash remove all the grease, etc?

no grinding or sanding. I had little to no grease and the acid got rid of any residue that was there.

TBP sorry to say odds are you will have adhesion problems in the future. the grinding and sanding in not to clean the surface, it's to scuff it up to provide a strong bonding surface for the epoxy. My parents garage was completely prep, but a half inch area along the edge that the grinder did not reach, it has since peel up in a straight line that clearly shows the un-prep'd vs the prep'd areas.

Not bashing just showing the importance of the grind/sanding part of the floor prep.

My friend who helped me does it as his profession. He did my friends 3 years ago the same exact way and the floor is still perfect and it's a 5 car garage so plenty of traffic on it. He also top coats with a clear coat so maybe that helps??

Hope mine holds...

TBD, what size chips? 1/4"