Garage floor epoxy job

Cougar Community The Garage
1

For any interested, re-did the “wifes” garage floor on Friday…

http://classiccougargarage.net/showthread.php?tid=149&pid=639#pid639

The attached garage served as the main work area on the Cougar, until we built the shop, so the floor had seen better days.

Product: Epoxy Coat
Available online in many colors, and at some Lowes(less money!), but only available in Taupe(what is seen in my pics) and Grey.

Flakes: Original Color Chips “Hockeytown” blend.

Took about 1.5 hours to put down, but the grinding of the old took about 5 hours.

2

Great job, looks really nice.

Question: Grinding???

3

Yeah, had a Rustoleum/Quikrete epoxy down to begin with, had to remove it for the new stuff…Diamond grinder…worked really well.

Rented one of these:
http://www.edcoinc.com/floor-grinders-sec.html

Puts a great profile on the concrete for the epoxy to bind to. The kits come with an acid etch to do the same thing, but with an existing finish, or any kind of sealer, grinding is the way to go.

4

Looks really good. Is the grinding of the floor a must for best results?

Ron

5

Your floor turned out really nice. I have used the same Taupe epoxy coat. We built an emergency dispatch back up for our EOC at work. The floor was plain concrete, when complete it looked good but not as good as yours. Well done. :thumbup:
Steven

6

Depends on the condition of the floor. Prior to this time, I’d done 5 other floors(including my shop), and only used the acid etch solution provided. If your floor is fairly clean, then etching is generally sufficient, but I had existing epoxy on this one. Mfg. said I could simply “rough up” my existing epoxy, and “should” be ok to lay over the top of it, but that “should” swayed me to just grind it all up. Grinding bare concrete I would imagine going much faster than trying to remove a finish.

7

LOL, looks like we were replying at the same time, Steven!

Thanks! We’re pretty pleased with it. Started patching drywall tonight, to get ready for better-matching paint…“tan” and “taupe” do NOT coexist well…

8

One of our technicians left a brake bleeder bolt just loose enough to drip onto a customer’s epoxy floor. It went right through the coating as a big brown stain. Not wanting have the company to have to pay big $$ to fix it, I spent the day - sanded and reapplied that section. So just a caution - brake fluid will damage epoxy. It is just nasty stuff.

9

Hmm, I’ve a line leaking that hasn’t harmed my epoxy…plays havoc on the color chips, though!..perhaps a different brand…who knows, I’m no chemist.

BTW, welcome to CCCF!

10

And the attached is done! Check one more spring project off my list…maybe now I can get back to the car!

http://classiccougargarage.net/showthread.php?tid=149&pid=648#pid648

11

Need some details Todd. What brand kit did you use? and did you put a clear over the top? I am wanting to do mine as some point, but don’t want to get something that is going to flake and peel. How is the stuff in your shop holding up to jacks and equipment rolling around on it? It seems like all my big tools have wheels, and that is my fear. I can always put a piece of wood down under a jack when I put it under the car, but will simply dragging the jack out beat the coating up? Then there is always the big heavy engine lift. That I can think of, I have 10 things on wheels that move around a good bit, so I could potentially put a floor through hell.

12

As Chico would say, “Lookin’ Gooooood!” (Boy, Did I just date myself)

13

Mike-

Brand is Epoxy Coat, a cycloalaphatic epoxy…it’s 100% solids epoxy, very easy to use(well, after doing however many floors now, two of mine included, with it). http://www.epoxy-coat.com

I’ve used the Taupe, Grey, and Tan…MIGHT be available in your local Lowes for much less…194 clams per “full” 500 sq ft kit($284 on their site). I used their “bargain” brand, Performance Epoxy, on my shop floor. It is an aliphatic epoxy. I did NOT use clear on any of the floors, mine, or ones put in for friends. Mainly due to cost. I would LOVE to be able to, since it is essentially a sacrificial layer, but, money talks…thought I had the wife convinced to clear her floor, but…seeing as she’s the budget buster, no dice!

For durability, it has done really well, IMO. I have managed to stain it in a few spots(plumbing primer…ugh!), and I have gouged it to bare concrete with the jack stand from the U-haul car hauler. If you’ve used one of these, they have no baseplate, it’s just a weird angled leg that screws down. In hindsight, I should have put something down to insure protection. “Standard” use of the floor jack, jack stands, cherry picker, and welder has yielded no damage, save for the “bigger” slag splatters from the flux-core welding wire.

All in all, it’s a great floor for a “shop”. At a little under .50 per sq for the shop, I’m really not concerned with it getting mildly beat up, after all, it IS a shop. The attached, however, is just a “parking area/showroom”, so I figure it won’t see the abuse it did before I had the shop, and will look great indefinitely.

Any other questions I can answer, just holler!

-Three