Looks fairly straight forward, but wish I had a practice garage to learn some lessons before the real deal. Any lessons learned, advice?

I used the epoxy from legacy industrial. I'll will post info later and pics on my experience.

my husband did in in June 2002, was meticulous about being oil free and cleaned, etched, followed directions completely and it was a HUGE MESS AND FAILED within a year! First notice of issues was his chain saw saw undisturbed for a couple of months and when he lifted it up, the epoxy was bubbled and coming off the floor. That spot was wiped up and then washed with Dawn and water to remove greasy film. New spots of failure started all over the garage...low traffic, high traffic didn't matter the whole thing was a mess.

Cant remember the products but it was top of the line back then. FYI, there have been multiple threads about this so find someone with stars willing to pull up those old threads.
Some, including one poster who sells the stuff or works for Rustoleum said we had a moisture issues because of no barrier below the slab. Others said it was prep, ambient temp changes during process...it was a mess no matter the cause. There have been A FEW posters who did it and had good results and some had it applied to NEW homes before anyone entered the garage at all. It will be interesting to see how their results add up.

I read threads about garage coatings, and decided to do vinyl tile in a blue/white pattern instead. It was easy and came out great.

The three most important things are good product, prep, and cure. Let at least a week to 10 days go by without using the garage at all after applying it, and with the other two, you should be fine. I've looked into this quite a bit (won't do mine for other reasons) and talked to a lot of people. I just haven't heard of too many failures personally, but then again, you read one here.

Head over to garage journal - they have great forums where you'll get plenty of advice. I spent about 3 months reading the forums over there, then lost my nerve and put down race deck instead!

I used the legacy industrial kit:



I have a 3 car garage, so it took two kits, plus I used a basecoat/primer, the soft skid additive, and urethane clear coat.

Our house was a new build, and had cured about 2-3 months before we moved in. I etched the concrete with muriatic acid prior to base coating.

My advise:
- Two people!!

- The etching is a very quick process, you can see it react with the surface, and you have 20-30 seconds once you put it down for it to react and etch, so if you don't get it spread ASAP, you are going to be doing a lot of spot etching. Two people would work much better, one to pour it, one to spread it.

- Good ventilation, both in etching and coating.

For Spreading primer, epoxy and clear-coat:

- Double back in your coating, go one direction, then change 90 degrees and re-roll it. I have a few higher built up spots of epoxy from not doing this thoroughly. Nothing that anyone else would notice, but I see it. It doesn't affect performance or endurance of the coat as far as I can tell, but just an aesthetic issue.

- The primer and clear coat weren't bad, they had longer working times, but the epoxy had a short working time, and also required the spreading of the flakes before its 30 minutes work time was up. I did it by myself half the garage at a time, but I still have some areas where I was rushed and didn't get the flakes as even as I wanted, and a couple spots of epoxy build up. (maybe 1/8" thick, nothing that will trip or catch you). One person to roll and one to spread flakes would be best.

- Depending on your intended use, get the additive to give traction/grit. I do woodwork, and the sawdust on my floor makes it pretty slick. This is the only issue I have. Every 3-4 months I mop the floor to clean it down to the topcoat and give it back its traction.

Other than that, I couldn't be happier. No areas of the coating having bonding issues, or breakdown. I've gouged it pretty good in 1-2 spots, and even those are hard to notice.

I would advise applying a polyurethane coat on top of the epoxy. Most epoxy coats are good for looks and minor wear and tear but don't resist chemicals and scratch easily. You'll have to do research, but the sealer is the key. A poly coat will provide better scratch and chemical protection.

Go to a local concrete place that specializes in stain and dye concrete floors. They will be able to advise you on the correct types of sealers. Again....its all about the sealer(s). Oh and the sealer is by far the most expensive part of the process. If not, then you don't have the good stuff

Love your shop Agrams. That looks nice.

Nice sawstop!

AgDoc- are you happy with the race track? Been looking at them and some of the other brands. Does moisture get trapped easily?

I did it on my new garage before we moved in. I etched, wife washed the floors.

I used the Lowe's/HD kit that was about $75 a kit (1 car garage). Took 3 kits and I used 1 clear coat (same brand).

Only had 2 small lift spots so far, from wife's car. I cleaned the area and then used a clear coat (spray can) to cover it back up. Haven't seen anything else happen (knock on wood).


If I had to do it again, I might have looked for "thicker" flooring, since I want to put a mini version of the wood shop shown already in my 3rd bay.

~egon

Brianvd04,

So far so good with the Racedeck. Moisture isn't a big concern in Texas, but if you live some place with snow or lots of rain, they make Freeflow tiles which allow moisture to pass through. I researched the hell out of garage flooring before buying the race deck and the only complaint I found was the sound. The tiles hit the concrete when you walk so there is a hollow echo sound to them. Most people suggest putting down that gardening fabric underneath them to minimize the sound. Doesn't really bother me though.

If you do decide to go Racedeck, tell them you are a member at garagejournal forums for a significant discount.

I did the floor in an 4 or 5 year old garage with the stuff that Home Depot had in an aisle end-capper. Not real expensive, probably on the "el cheapo" side. It was gray, and came with blue, black and white "color flecks" you could sprinkle on the wet paint (or epoxy, whatever it was). Lived in the house for 4 years, and had no issues whatsoever. Maybe a few spots where I applied too thin and the floor was starting to show thru a bit, but that was my fault. I don't remember doing EXTENSIVE cleaning or prep, either; but it was 8 years or so ago (and I only got one thing shorter than my memory, and I can't remember what that is...)