Garage Floor Paint?

[rennch]

Just about to close on my new place, and the first project (of course) is to get the garage tuned up. I'm going to paint the floor, and I'm curious what you've all used for product. Rustoleum makes that "kit" that you can just paint and go...I'm not sure if you need to etch the concrete or not. But, I'll take any suggestions, and pics if you want to share.

Thanks!

mto

[Plavan]

Here is my old 3 car garage I did with the rustoleum product. turned out great.... Prep is key to having it look good. I used everything out of the box. Nothing more.
It sure made it more fun working on the car. The crap part was moving the junk to one side of the garage, then moving it again to paint the other side.

[rennch]

Chad...they BOTH look great. The car AND the garage. That's the color I'm going for with the car...is that Mexico blue?

mto

[Plavan]

Thanks- The color looks washed out from my camera. Its more blue than that. Paint code L305 or 305 "Royal Blue" AKA "Arrow Blue" Both are the same color just different names.
Fishcop and I have ownership rights to it If you paint your car that color we both need to collect $1000 USD as royalties
On my computer screen, this picture best represents the color of the car in person.
Do the garage BEFORE you put the junk in it. You cant drive on it for a week, but you can put stuff on it after a day (boxes, etc)

[stealthn]

I just spoke to some guys doing a Garage in my 'hood. They are from premiergarage.com based in Phoenix. I think they said they have a 5 year guarantee. If it can handle the heat in Phoenix...
They said there is no harm (from vapours) to the environment with their water based product and they can have you back in the garage in 48hrs. It sure looked nice!
They said about $ 3.50 per sq. ft. CDN

[MattKellett]

emptyo- Prep is everything, if you don't etch whatever product you use will peel. I used Griots floor paint, it's an epoxy 2 part paint and hard as hell. I've had it on the floor for nearly 4 years and it's still super shiney with no chips. I've split all sorts of things on it with no damage at all.

I etched the floor with a muriatic acid wash, then used a pressure washer to end up with 220 grit finish. I then rolled on the paint in a good thick coat, if you do need to walk on it while painting you can use golf shoes!! Make sure you order or buy way more paint than you think you'll need, as it doesn't go as far as you'd think. This was the best investment in my garage, much easier to clean and it reflects the light so the garage is much brighter.

Here's a few shots I could find

Here's a shot of Tom Amon finishing my engine rebuild, he commented on how great the floor looked

I hope yours turns out great whatever product you use, post some photos when your done, I love looking inside other people's garages!

Cheers
Matt

1987 911 Carrera Coupe

[TerryH]

Rustoleum epoxy from Home Depot. Holding up fine so far at 15 months.

[rennch]

Jeez Matt...are those Hot Wheels???

Terry...thanks for the close up shot of the Rustoleum product. I'm wondering how "glossy" that floor is, and how it cleans up?

mto

[mmastro]

Boy, all of your garages look great!

I'd love to do that to mine, but I have a few cracks in my slab. Does It matter if you have cracks?

[MattKellett]

mmastro - cracks no problem. You can get a concrete crack filler before you start from Griots and I'm sure also from Home Depot etc. I had some small cracks in my floor and by the time I'd finished the paint covered them up, three years later they're still sealed.

Matt

[mmastro]

Thanks Matt, I'll check it out!

Mike

[Jack Olsen]

Make sure the concrete has a moisture barrier underneath it. Older slabs often don't, and moisture comes up through the concrete. Your only choice at that point is a subfloor or another type of flooring, like the roll-out kind.

[TerryH]

Originally posted by emptyo

Terry...thanks for the close up shot of the Rustoleum product. I'm wondering how "glossy" that floor is, and how it cleans up?

mto

It is somewhat glossy with the flakes tossed onto it. I'm sure it would shine more if it were left plain. I ran the roller and my wife followed me tossing the flakes. Flakes/chips/spreckles aren't mandatory.

It cleans up very nicely. I've used laquer thinner on it for tough stuff without any fading or wear. The only problem might be that it looks so nice when it is clean, that if you're an anal fanatic, you might be mopping/polishing your garage floor once a week. Myself, I can stand the sight of dust and a few spots here and there.

On the moisture thing. There is a VHS tape that came with the kit from Homo Despot. They say you should lay a sheet of plastic on the garage floor and completely seal around the edges with duct tape. Let it stay there for 48 hours. If any moisture becomes trapped under the plastic, then your floor isn't yet a candidate for an epoxy seal.

[DW SD]

My garage has linoleum. It is actually pretty good. Not quite as sweet as the epoxy paints, but I can change it when I get tired of it. It is very easy to clean and sweep up.

Just a thought.

[Mark McClure]

Do the floor paints work if the floor already has oil spots? I just build my garage and did not paint! In too much of a hurry to get everything in and start the rebuild. I am now thinking that I Made a big mistake.

I use carpet on the standing areas......comfortable and warm on the feet!

[Jack Olsen]

Since I have an 80-year-old slab, I'm looking at roll-on flooring. Does anyone have any experience with the stuff?

[Zeke]

You can clean up the oil deep enough to get a good bond on your new coating. The key is to neutralize the lime in the concrete with the acid and provide a little "tooth" for the coating to adhere to. Most on grade slabs will have some moisure at the perimeter outside walls. Really good drainage at the outside walls and a sealer down below grade on the exterior side of the footing as a water proof barrier can help emensely.

Jack, LOL. Mine is "only" 75 years old. the ones you show are expensive and methinks the dots and grooves are architecturally pleasing, yet not that easy to clean. I remember the original Pirelli flooring with the dots and I though it was a PITA to mop. This was in a producers office up in Hollywood that I did some work on years ago. It was tile red, which was very nice. But not to clean after some remodeling work.

George (below): You might have to have your floor sandblasted. There is a gizmo now that looks like a rotary lawnmower where all the blasting is done under the "hood" and vacuumed as you go. Contact a flooring company that specializes in floor coatings. I've never seen one for rent.

[aigel]

I wonder about oil stains too. I inherited a soaked floor from the PO's 30 years of leaking cars! Can I paint over that mess?

George

[73911guy]

There are 3 keys to getting good results:

1. Good prep work

2. Good prep work

3. Good prep work

For awhile, I was a facilities manager at a manufacturing plant built in the '40's. Even when we used the $3.00 A SQUARE FOOT epoxy coating in hallways, if there was residual oil in a crack or left over muratic acid it wouldn't last a year before there would be a bubble show up someplace, indicating that the epoxy wasn't adhering to the floor. The contractors we used were professional painting firms, and they'd scrub the floor with muratic acid and a floor buffer with a wire brush pad and then clean up that mess and scrub the floor several more times to neutralize the acid.

Guys with new concrete floors still need to do the best job prepping the floor as they have as many issues as the ones with old floors, just different ones.

Jim

[aigel]

Does the acid clean up the oil? Naturally, I'd steam clean the oil spots as well as possible, but only chemistry will get to the oil in the long run. At this point, unless you convince me otherwise, I may prefer oil stained concrete at zero cost over bubbling epoxy paint at $3 a square foot!

George