Dave S

Getting ready to do my garage floor this Spring. Any thoughts or recommendations on epoxy paint versus tile (like Race Deck)?

OLD-GUY

Iv'e got the tile and they are to keep clean. The snow and mud during the winter are a real pain . I would go with the Epoxy . I have a few friends that swear by Rust-Oleum

Humanoid 2.0

Unless you have virgin concrete I think anything you get from a big box stores that spots will eventually fail within a year. It is all in the prep, and even with proper prep I don’t think any do-it-yourself epoxy will hold up over time.

I was at the NJ home show last month and this stuff look the best so far: www.garagefloorcoating.com

Not cheap at $.5.25 / sqft installed with surface prep and maybe a $1.00 more if you have old epoxy paint to remove.

alandchris

you know what they say about opinions - here's mine - in central NJ - my neighbor has a professional epoxy floor done in his 3 car garage - he uses 2 of the 3 for cars - the one w/o a car looks good - the other 2 have black markings from the tires when he and his wife pull in. Looks like crap - but it's tire marks - the epoxy is not coming up.

In my concrete only garage - my wife's side also has the black tire marks - for my side where the vette goes - I don't have any marks - this is because I leave the vette outside to cool the tires off. Then I pull in.

When I get ready to do my garage over, I will probably use the epoxy coating and then put those large black garage mats over the epoxy

Moral of the story - don't put the cars away with hot tires.

nj02vette

Steve hit the nail on the head. It's all in the prep. Concrete has to acid washed and sealed, then epoxied over and just as he said, almost anything you find at Home Depot isn't going to hold up.

I'd prefer going tile when I do mine. That's mainly because I want a checkerboard pattern, and that's not happening in epoxy.

Dave S

Hmmm.....I was aware of the critical importance of prepping the concrete surface plus the generally negative comments about "big box store" products....that's why I was leaning towards Race Deck or some other tile. Didn't think about the comment Bob made re: snow & mud in the winter. Hopefully some others will chime in with personal experiences one way or the other. I did find an epoxy product branded "Armorclad" which seemed to be more commercial grade. Anyone have any experience with that?

Humanoid 2.0

I like this stuff as well, TrafficMaster Allure Commercial Vinyl Flooring, still not cheap but less prep needed. It is 1' x 3' sections.

http://www.homedepot.com/Flooring-Ga...atalogId=10053

bullmarket

Love my tile. Very easy to install and to clean, too.
Check out bigfloors.com for some good pricing.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...e-project.html

Bill W

Part of my decision would be made on how much work you plan to do to the car in the garage (i.e oil changes, mods, etc...). I have the race deck on my side for the Vette. It looks great and cleans up with a mop. However, I don't jack the car up using a floor jack on it unless I have a piece of plywood under it to spread the load. It also is difficult to get the car up on ramps as the ramps tend to slide on the race deck. When I want to work on the Vette I move it over to the wife's side. Plain old concrete.

JerzeyJoe

I used an Epoxy that I got at Home Depot. I followed the instructions and one year later the floor looks horrible.

Dave S

Never heard that one before (ramps sliding on the tiles).... I do my own maintenance (fluid changes, brakes, etc) & do use floor jacks & ramps. Will have to check further....

0Slowhawk

We di our shop with the U coat it epoxy. Prep is key and this building was brand new. Did 2 coats of base and a clear. It's been 2.5 years and the floor still looks very good.No peeling but some wear down around the lifts. Customers always comment on how good the floors look.

So,in a full time shop the floor is still good after 2 years, it will last forever in a home garage. Look at my site for some shop pics.

Dave S

Will do...thanks....& I liked the pics in your earlier post....

rickyrj1

I layed down 18" porcelain tile in a blk/gray race pattern. Did it 2 yrs ago and still looks great, easy to clean. Yes its a little slippery when wet but only a problem if your running not walkin Cost me about $2.50 a sq. did it myself

Rex Ruby

When I built my garage I did a lot of research and decided on UCOATIT.
What a big mistake. I prepped and followed their directions to the letter.
I have tire lifting and when I called them on their guarantee they told me it was my concrete not their product. They offered to sell me enough to do another coat for half price.
Their guarantee is for complete satisfaction. Their guarantee is worthless. They suck.

Since then I've done 2 garages with epoxy professionally. Both were not virgin concrete. Non virgin concrete needs to be prepped. The acid wash is just a good cleaner but you have to do more prep. The floor must be shot peened or scarified. I rented a scarifing machine (expensive $500 a day!). It basically grinds off a small amount of the surface. This gives the epoxy "tooth" to grab.

Next step is the product, no Home D stuff! I used industrial Rustoleum epoxy. It can be mixed to most any color. The inital results are impressive. 2 coats leaves a great shine. This was 3 years ago and the floor is holding up perfectly. I was at this house doing more work last month and inspected it. The bay that parks the DD was very dirty from the winter. I got out some cleaner and cleaned part of the dirty area and it came up looking brand new. When I did one of the garages I kept the scarifier an extra day and used it on my basement floor. My house is 90 years old and had over 10 coats of paint on it. The scarifier removed all of the old paint and I then used the industrial Rustoleum on the basement floor. I occasionally get water in the basement and the typical latex floor paint fails the first time it get water on it. I did my basement floor years ago and have gotten water a few times since and it is holding up great.

Here's the garage I was just at that stills looks like it was just done (when clean).

Prepped and ready for paint:


Here is the finished floor:


Did I remember to say that U Coat IT SUCKS?

Humanoid 2.0

When i talked with the guy at the home show they said they come in with a diamond grinder to clean off old floors.

When i did mine at my old house, i power washed, then i took a wire brush wheel attached to a drill but still could not get some paint off spots. I said forget the epoxy and put down concrete resurfacer http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=174
It is concrete you roll on like a coat of paint.

it came out ok, it will stain like regular concrete but unlike paint or epoxy it won't peal off. I did put a sealer over it so it could clean up better.

C5jarhead

Hi Guys,
I’ve been researching this a lot lately too as I have aspirations about my garage.

I found a ton of useful information at The Garage Journal Forum (flooring section)

There seems to be pro’s and con’s to everything.

I’ve narrowed it down to VCT Tile - biggest downside for me is slippery in winter when I use both sides for DD cars in Mass.

or Industrial Epoxy - biggest downside is prep work to do it right (Etch, primer, two coats paint, clear coat)
Good Luck

Rex Ruby

If you want a nice garage floor one way or the other it's going to cost you!

Bill W

That's true. Race deck isn't exactly cheap if you have a decent sized garage.

Bill W

The ramps I have are plastic and the floor is plastic. One went all the way to the wall once. I even put rubber stips on the bottoms of my 2 x 10 boards that I use to get the car high enough off the ground to get a floor jack under it.