Painting garage floor...who's done it?

[c24sc]

Hey guys,
Well wife and I are buying a place, just getting down to putting an offer in. Anyhow, I really want to paint the garage floor. I looked into u-coat it but that stuff is $$$ (specially since I'm sure I would have to ship it to Canada from US). Any other alternatives? I'm a heavy duty mechanic, and all my spare time goes to wrenching, so I really want to set up the new garage nicely. Moving to a double garage from a single in a townhouse, so have space to set things up nicely.

Input on any products would be great.

Nate

 

[enferno]

whatever you use, MAKE sure you properly prep/clean the garage first.

at our shop we did it kinda quick and didn't etch it very well and the paint (i can't remember what we used) is coming up everywhere

 

[valley82]

I agree it's no different than a car paint job, 90% prep and 10% epxoxy paint job!!!

I know that here in so. cal. Home Depot / Lowes sells an Epoxy coating with the colored chips that you throw down after the colorcoat but before the clear coat.

Works good but prep is the KEY.

 

[c24sc]

I agree it's no different than a car paint job, 90% prep and 10% epxoxy paint job!!!

I know that here in so. cal. Home Depot / Lowes sells an Epoxy coating with the colored chips that you throw down after the colorcoat but before the clear coat.

Works good but prep is the KEY.

homedepot has something similiar...mm. Have to go there.

Ya, I know prep is the big part. Thats why I won't to do it with its new and before we move in, b/c once I get in there, its going to be stained badly lol.

Anybody on here actually us u-coat it?

Nate

 

[electricgreen]

We used the epoxy stuff from Lowes in one bay, and some tintable stuff from Home Depot in the one where the greeen one is. The lowes stuff held up great, the tintable (we tinted it to match the car) stuff comes up with the tires (although it looks cool to have a garage floor to match your car).

 

[68keyblr]

I used the Rustoleum kit and it worked great! I spent many hours prepping the floor first with the etching solution and scrubbing with a stiff brush.

Mine hasn't come up *at all* after 2 years, and it has survived a beating. Still cleans up beautifully. I highly recommend it.

 

[BLK91LX1uponu]

whatever you use, MAKE sure you properly prep/clean the garage first.

at our shop we did it kinda quick and didn't etch it very well and the paint (i can't remember what we used) is coming up everywhere

I etched the floor when you were not there.... The problem is the shop used to be a college auto shop. All the oil soaked deep into the floor.... The previous owners and us as well are having the same issue. We used the Lowes stuff but it took forever to dry. The professional stuff works unless you drop a heavy tool on the floor and it chips it. I think every 5yrs you have to have the floor redone with that stuff too.

 

[Fostang]

I used the stuff from lowes almost a year later still looks good as new. Etch etch clean clean.

 

[BLK91LX1uponu]

We etched the shop twice and still didn't help...

 

[jikelly]

Summer's on its way back finally so I'll get to doing our floor soon. We got our paint kit from lowes but I'll have to look at the box before I can tell you what brand it is. In preparation we built a bunch of shelving along the walls of the garage. That allowed me to get all the boxes up off the floor so it's mostly empty.

 

[Wildthing1]

I used the two part epoxy from Home Depot (Machine Grey, Rustoleum) on my garage at a previous house. Pretty good but I got tired of the dark grey. Oh yeah, DON'T use it outside anywhere UV breaks it down quickly.

For my shop (2400 sq ft, new slab) had to wait 3 months for the concrete to cure. Didn't want to be stuck with the two colors Home Depot here has and talked Lowes into ordering a tintable Valspar epoxy. My buddies all voted for white, I ended up going a really light beige (matches the dirt around here, caliche).

Both worked well (inside, both were new concrete). The floors are slippery as snot if you get them wet (Not a problem that often). I would highly recommend tinting to a color you can live with. Cleanup is a breeze, most oils/antifreezes just puddle and cleanup like a Bounty commercial. The amount of dust is WAAAY down, you can actually crawl on the floor and get up still clean AND the best part...when you sweep it you just get a dust pile the first time. I will never have a unpainted/unsealed garage floor again.

For the Acid etch just get a bunch of Muriatic acid from a pool supply, mix it (by the tint instructions) in a 5 gal bucket and we used $3 brooms to brush it into the concrete then threw them away. I never had an issue of oil being in the slab but I can see where that would require extra care.

Mix the epoxy good and roll it on thick (don't be stingy here). Plan on multiple layers. I actually have a thin spot in my shop because I got tired of moving the pile of stuff. I initially put down 3 layers but ended up going and getting more and putting down 5 total.

One of my buddies put down the u-coat it stuff. First let me say this guy is @n@l (he orders his shirts in his closet the order of the color spectrum...no kidding). When he was done it looked fantastic. He slightly overused the anti-slip stuff but now has incredible traction. He also ran out of the chips you throw down and had to get more so swears he can see a line where he picked back up (I cannot). However, it cost him as much to do a 2 car garage as for me to do 2400 sq ft.

Ignore the car on the lift...it's a foam mock up I ordered off EBay.

<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii246/Woliphint/?action=view&current=ZoeCamaroLiftInstall0005.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii246/Woliphint/ZoeCamaroLiftInstall0005.jpg" border="0" alt="lift"></a>

 

[coolblue65]

I recently had a gentlemen looking at renting my place who runs a company that sells supplies for professional floor coatings- then one thing he gauranteed me was that if I was to paint a floor it will chip or come up in a few years.

 

[87gn2]

I did mine almost a year ago, about 8 hours of prep work followed by 2-3 hours of painting, it still looks great.

Before and After:

 

[c24sc]

did you use U-coat it or something else? Love the fleck..breaks it up from being one solid color!

I did mine almost a year ago, about 8 hours of prep work followed by 2-3 hours of painting, it still looks great.

Before and After:

 

[jcode68]

I used U-Coat about 2 years now and the stuff is great. I agree, it's pricey but I wanted something that would really hold up so I wouldn't need to do it every 3 years. Sorry I don't have a pic available. As everyone else pointed out, prep is everything with these paints. I can't knock the Home Depot or Lowes brands because I haven't used them, but I do reccomend U-Coat. Kit was complete, instructions were easy to follow.

 

[Z06killinSBF]

I did the tintable stuff and it came up with the quickness. You can almost peel it with your fingers. My floors were sealed though so I guess my cleaning and etching didn't do good. I'm redoing it this weekend but will clear it afterwards.