protecting new garage floor

[T77911S]

i am building a new garage and have 2 Q's. first is, what about useing that leveling compund to level the floor? when i had the floor done in my old house, they poured this liquid stuff on the floor and they let it level itself. would that stuff be hard enough for jack stands and floor jacks and things like that? there is a very low spot right in the middle of the garage on one end.

second, what about sealers and/or paint. it seems i am prone to dumping at least a qrt of on the ground with this car every time oil is involved. i never had this problem when i had the 914-6. i was changing the oil in the 911 the other day and was draining some of the oil out of the pan (i have a big pan with a spout on it) and into an old 5qt oil jug so i would have space in the oil pan for more oil, it filled up too fast and i put about a cup of oil on the floor. anyway. i want something to make the clean ups easier.

[stomachmonkey]

When we built the new house first thing I did was paint the garage floors.

Used the Rust Oleum Epoxy.

They sell a kit that comes with cleaner, 2 part water based paint and the decorative chips. $65 and will do 250 sq feet or basically 1 garage.

Rust-Oleum Two Part Gray Semi-Gloss Epoxy Garage Floor Coating Kit - 203005 at The Home Depot

But don't buy that. I went this route

Buy it in bulk. They sell the same stuff in gallon containers that's self priming. $30 bucks a gallon that will do 300-400 sq ft.

Rust-Oleum Rust-Oleum 1 Gallon Battleship Gray 1-Part Epoxy Concrete Floor Paint - 181461 at The Home Depot

New floor should not really need a real cleaning, maybe scrub with some simple green just to make sure it's degreased well. You can buy an etcher if you really want for another $10-12 but was not necessary on my new floors.

If you like the chips they sell them separate as well. I opted to not use them since the make it harder to find that stupid little screw, washer, widget that you dropped.

Basically if you buy everything that comes in the kit separately it'll still be less than the kit and cover nearly twice as much.

I used 2.5 gallons to cover a 3 car garage with two coats.

Stuff dries quick as snot to so 2 coats is doable in one day.

[T77911S]

the 2 part is not better?

how long does it last or how durable is it.

i have 800 sqf new and 500 sqf old to do.

[JavaBrewer]

What ever you use be sure to put a couple coats of clear sealer over the finish.

IMO the better approach would be to use a acid based concrete stain - no lifting (ever) that you then top with a clear coat. My neighbor did the HD epoxy kit (2 stage) on brand new garage floor with the colored chips (big mess) and now 6 years later the paint is lifting in places.

[MattKellett]

This a thread I posted on in 2005.

Garage Floor Paint?

I've had my painted floor for about 10 years now and there is no peeling or lifting paint and apart from where I might have dropped a tool there are no scratches.

The most important part of painting is the prep. I probably spent a ratio of 8:1 prep to painting.