Will be coating the floor of a brand-new garage. Would be interested in opinions on different brands and any recommendations. Thanks.

My experience: they all peel. Get it done by a company that has a lifetime warranty and will stand by that. Easy to DIY, so lots of small groups that do these, then are MIA in a few years when you need touch ups.

Ive had 3 homes with this in either a garage or basement. Each one peeled over time.

I am remodelling my basement currently and will be staining the concrete in leui of epoxy coatings.

I know there will be some that have not had issues, just giving my .02.

Are they peeling from moisture coming up from underneath, or just the material on top breaking down over time?

I bought a house that already had it installed and it's peeling.
I'll have it stripped or sand blasted one day.
I think clean concrete looks fine. I've seen others install inexpensive vinyl or rubber floors in their garage and those seem to hold up better.

Honestly I have been most happy with my 1/2in horse stall rubber mats in my current garage. I would do this in the basement but it's being done for renting to hunters so needs to look more respectable.

Had my barn floor done by Sunflower coatings and cannot be happier. They used a polyaspartic coating in lieu of epoxy, it bonds better and is a little more flexible.

I did my garage 12 years ago with the DIY kit from Home Depot. It is still holding up, but it isnt nearly as well done or durable.

You have to get the moisture right or failure will happen. Getting it clean and etching the concrete correctly are critical.

Most important step is prepping the concrete. needs to be shot blasted even if new. Best bet is a clear sealer so it penetrates and is easy to repair. Also will not show scratches.
Have put down thousands of feet of concrete floor coatings in food processing facilities. The trowel down quartz epoxy is great but expensive. squegee down polyspartic coatings work well too, but they scratch. roll on coatings are not worth the money or effort.

If your concrete has fiberglass in it, be sure you take a torch to it after prepping the surface. all those fibers will stand up like needles when coated.

kohrfam said:

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Most important step is prepping the concrete. needs to be shot blasted even if new. Best bet is a clear sealer so it penetrates and is easy to repair. Also will not show scratches.
Have put down thousands of feet of concrete floor coatings in food processing facilities. The trowel down quartz epoxy is great but expensive. squegee down polyspartic coatings work well too, but they scratch. roll on coatings are not worth the money or effort.

If your concrete has fiberglass in it, be sure you take a torch to it after prepping the surface. all those fibers will stand up like needles when coated.

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So much this.

I had my garage done 10 years ago by a commercial epoxy company. Aggie owned. Wish I could remember the name. They came up from Houston and did it. Sand blasted the concrete. Industrial epoxy. It was $$$ but it is rock solid. Zero peeling and I'm thrilled w the functionality. One of the best things I did when we built. It looks amazing and cleans up great w a pressure washer and squeegee.

Polyurea coating are excellent. Based on first hand experience

Stampede Coatings in College Station applies them.

We used Stampede as well right before we moved into our new house.

Only had it 4 years, but no damage so far.
Oil cleans up off it completely.
Paints wipes off with a bit of windex.
300# welder on small metal wheel didn't leave any dents.

Had mine done in DFW 6 years ago, polyspartic, full broadcast and he ground the floor first, no issues in the 5 years we owned the house, and at the time was $1400 for a two car garage turnkey.

What are you planning to use the garage for?

I did our previous house with a Valspar 2 part kit. Garage used for storage and gunsmith / machine shop. When we moved out 5ish years later, only damage was from a place I spilled acid.

I did current shop with Rustoleum rock solid. Havent finished shop yet so dont know how it will wear.

Most folks I know who have issues ard parking in their garage and dont let vehicle cool before pulling into garage.

The real pros are no longer using epoxy but polyspartic materials. Unless you sand down the concrete to fresh concrete, AND fill in all the cracks, it won't work. It still may be problematic depending on the moisture level.

After looking into this for a LONG time, I decided to not attempt it. I haven't gotten estimates on it because I've had other projects to do but when I get to it, I'll have a pro do it with a guarantee. Preferably someone who's done coatings in my area.

Totally understand where you are coming from, but in no way would I ever put something on my garage floor where i had to park my vehicle outside, wait for it to cool down, and then go pull it into the garage, a complete non starter imo.

Hoyt Ag said:

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Honestly I have been most happy with my 1/2in horse stall rubber mats in my current garage. I would do this in the basement but it's being done for renting to hunters so needs to look more respectable.

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I put 3/4" tractor supply horse stall mats in mine. It's completely covered except for the last two feet strip along the garage door opening. I love it! Of course, I put it in when I set up my garage as a home gym, but it's still a functional garage and we park in there usually.

Only issue I have run into was the inability to use a floor Jack. I have a steep drive so I really wanted to work on my truck in the garage so I used thick concrete pavers under the floor jack with success recently.

My recommendation: get it done professionally.

You'll usually need 3-4 times the recommended amount on the DIY brands. It gets harder the larger garage you have, as you need to mix massive amounts quickly and spread it fast so that it will match. Do not assume that the exact same product from a different box, mixed a few minutes later, will match the coat you just applied.

And that's the "fun" part. As others have said, prep is the most important part.

I had a good experience with VCT at my first house. It was maybe around 65 cents/sq ft. and not difficult to install. My plans are to do it again where I live now and the only possible change would be using a dark color where tires would run. Since it's a forever house I feel like over time those areas might always look dirty due to grit and sand from the tires getting embedded in the tile.

The other reason I'm going back with this is the garage is nearly 1,000 sq ft and I like being able to do as much as I care to at a time. The entire thing and all the tool boxes and cabinets don't need to be completely emptied out.

We had someone come in and do it for us. It's been great. We added a little texture to ours to keep from slipping

Garage will mainly be used for a workshop on a new build. Wife wants to call it a bunk house and we plan to build the main house in two years with actual garage. Will park the Polaris in the shop when we are not there.

Was present when foundation was poured, and moisture barrier was properly installed and not damaged during the pour. Seen too many coatings peel and not wanting to spend >$1K. So will look into DIY polyaspartic polyurethane. Was going to rely on a few strategically placed fatigue mats and may just buy more.

Thanks for the feedback.

Nor would I. Fortunately, neither of the spaces I coated were used to park vehicles - that was the point to my response... Just because someone is coating a garage doesnt mean the intent or wear will be the same.

Here is my barn/shop after coatings were installed. Wasnt cheap, but so glad i had it done.

https://instagr.am/p/Cnn5Q31Ow-D

I can recommend Stampede Coatings as well. The did my back patio and came back twice to correct issues I had.

Someone did a concrete floor paint on my garage floor and it's doing pretty good.

I did my garage with an epoxy paint coating, etched twice with muriatic acid. 40 yr old concrete. It started coming up in places within two years. Coatings, no matter what kind, are only as good as the surface prep. Sanding or grinding is the way to go here.

I will say this, because some don't know, grinding/sanding of concrete makes dust that will get through everything you can imagine, to places you never thought it could. You or your contractor should put up plastic like it was an asbestos abatement project on everything but the concrete floor, and twice on doors/accessways, folding the plastic inward as it comes off, vacuuming as it comes down. If you don't you'll have a bigger mess to clean up inside the house. Yes, bigger, as it will still find its way in.

Looks great!

Building a new garage and wood shop this spring. Never had or did a coated floor.

How is the traction on some of the floors you guys have done? The wood shop will obviously get a layer of dust on it regularly and concerned about lack of traction with these various coatings. How is the texture added?

1988PA-Aggie said:

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Building a new garage and wood shop this spring. Never had or did a coated floor.

How is the traction on some of the floors you guys have done? The wood shop will obviously get a layer of dust on it regularly and concerned about lack of traction with these various coatings. How is the texture added?

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Traction is just fine. They add the texture as they are applying the coatings. I had my guy special order 1/8" flakes because I wanted more and smaller to provide better overall texture than the standard 1/4" flakes, plus I think it looks better.

He also applied a product that stabilized the moisture on my concrete before applying the coating. In addition to moisture stabilization, it helps with bonding capabilities to concrete as well.