I did mine in VCT tile. Looks great and cleans up well.

 

I like those cabinets, where did you get them? Thanks Chuck

 

The carpet runner was purchased at WalMart and were 36" wide in a ribbed rubber material. I split it in half. It has seen 3 winters and all 4 tires are studded.

 

I stained my outdoor BBQ concrete island and it looks good but don't know how it would hold up with tires running on it everyday. I suppose the darker the color you use the less you would see tire marks if any.

 

While at Home Depot for something else I found some peel and stick tile in the checkered flag pattern.......$156.39 later I had the perfect floor. Took 3 days because you have to CLEAN the concrete and then seal it with two coats of sealer to make sure the moisture can't come through and makes the tile stick very well. Going on 18 months now and no problems. I am going to search on how to post pics and then I will show u guys.

 

Lowe's has 'em. Just put them in my soon to be 'ultimate garage'.

 

Thanks for reply..

 

I painted/stained my garage floor with the standard Home Depot concrete paint/stain. I prepped the surface to clean off previous contaminants (oil leaks, paint stains etc.) with an industrial sander/grinder. The floor was now extremely clean and new looking, but bare concrete. Then cleaned the floor with the recommended "acid wash" treatment. Just a mild degreaser I'm sure. Then rolled on the slate grey paint/stain primer, and then a top coat. It looks great.

But, while the manufacturer (Baer I think) claims the product is "resistant to hot tire pickup" it is not immune. After about 4-6 months there is evidence of "hot tire pickup". After about a year the floor looks like it could do with a repaint due to the 8 patches where the tires come to rest, plus other scratches and general wear and tear. After two years it definitely needs a repaint if you want it to look new and fresh.

The advantages are....
1) The product is only $20 a gallon, and I can paint my 550 sq ft garage with one gallon.
2) It is a very simple job to repaint the floor. Just scrub the floor with the degreaser, hose it off, let it dry, and roll on a new coat of paint. Total job takes less than 2 hours (especially here in Northern California when summer temps are 95-105 degrees!)
3) Clearing the garage once a year in order to paint the floor is a good thing.....it forces us to throw out any junk that is accumilating and generally cleans out the garage!!!

The biggest pain is you can't drive on the fresh coating for a few days.

I'm not saying this is the best method, but it looks good when done, it is cheap and very easy to do. The drawback is you have to repaint it once every year or two to keep it looking "new" which cost about $25 and a couple of hours of your time.

 

Once you have had a professional floor installed in your garage you would laugh at this post... The "concrete paint" shows tire marks, peels and, will mark like crazy. Forget oi it will stain the floor unless you catch it very fastl, brake fluid will eat the paint right off the floor, any solvent based chemical will screw it up at that. The first time you drag something across the floor there is a huge scratch because it doesnt take much. Worst of all it is one more thing you have to remove from the concrete when you want to do the floor right.

On the other hand a professionally installed industrial epoxy or polyurea or MMA floor will last you 10-15 years easily if its taken care of and can be customized. Chemical resistant and easier to keep clean. One of the best parts of a fleck covered floor is that it hides dirt even when the floor is dirty.

Personally all the labor and hassle of repainting so often and dealing with it looking bad year after year wouldnt be worth shortcutting it. You get what you pay for. Sorry about the rant i just hate that cheapo paint. I have had to deal with its after effects for years and all my customers are glad to be rid of it.

-Matt

 

Matt,

No problem, yours is not a rant, just telling it like it is. I'm sure that a professionally installed floor is the way to go. The "cheap" method definitely has the scratch problems you mention, although I haven't had any problems with oil or brake fluid spills etc. it seems to stand up to that. But I'd be the first to admit that it is far from the ideal solution. (Although it is 1,000% better than my original, oil and paint-stained bare concrete floor)

 

Used rustolem three times now and each time it cracks and peels a few month later. Will not buy that again.

 

 

You guys are useing a water based epoxy wich is junk.. I epoxy coated my floor with a real epoxy and it looks great the only true epoxy to my understanding that is on the market is epoxy-coat. It stands up to hot tirs marks I havde never had a problem with it I used the water based epoxy at my old house and had to rdedue it every 2 years and even then it never looked right. My buddy told me about this non water based epoxy and I used it and would recomend it to everyone I ordered from the web at epoxy-coat.com.. hope this helps

 

Epoxy-coat does make a decent product as far as epoxy coatings go (solvent based and 100 percent solids) but there are some inherent weaknesses as well... epoxy only has a fraction of the adhesion strength as say a polyurea or polyaspartic coating... This makes prep that much more important when doing an epoxy floor! If you do not have the right profile on the concrete you WILL have adhesion problems. Personally the machine i use to prep concrete costs in the neighborhood of 20,000 dollars. Also the epoxy from epoxy coat shows scratches very easily... something an industrial coating really should not do! It always pays to have the right tools to do the job as well as the best products! Any problems down the road will be expensive to fix along with being a mess and a hassle.

-Matt

 

three words Googel Racetrack.com

 

My flooring guy recommended a commercial grade vinyl composition flooring. It’s installed like a standard vinyl using glue. The tiles are 12X12 & 1/8 thick. He was going to install in a black and white checkered pattern for around $3.00 per square foot. I was it a bit skeptical at first then he gave me the names of several people he had done it for over the past few years and they were all thrilled with the results. Maintenance is waxing the floor once per year. Has anyone else tried this?
Jay

 

I had these guys out at our house for an estimate, and while the work they do looks FANTASTIC, I could not swallow the $3K pricetag for them to do my floor for me. I'll grind, acid etch, and whatever else and save some money.

 

I've posted before that I've used Ucoatit. It is now over 2 1/2 years and it still looks new (when I wash it). It has resisted staining and peeling from tires and various chemicals, brake fluid, antifreeze, etc. I use floor jacks and jackstands directly on the paint all the time with no scratching or any damage. It has held up exactly like I expected it to. It cost me about $500 but it comes with everything you need. Not as cheap as Rustoleum and other crappy paints but not as expensive as someone doing it for you either. You can do it yourself easily. It just takes a certain amount of time to do it properly. Definetely recommended.

 

$3k sounds way too much... how big is your garage floor? What does that come to per sq ft?

Grinding polishing acid staining or coatings are all in the same neighborhood price wise USSUALLY but it sounds like you got a bad quote... ask someone else or pm me and i will tell you what it should be per sq ft

 

Good luck on 'painting'.

Over the years I've had it done professionally, and done as a DIY.

I've also tiled (14"x14"), carpeted (outdoor and commercial), and even once installed wood flooring ()

From a cost/benefit/longevity basis I finally bit the bullet and went to a commercial brand (RaceDeck) "plastic" floor - never been more pleased - and if I move the investment of the floor is not "lost" - the floor moves with me

Here it is: