Painting the garage floor

[yadreamin]

Hi All
Been awhile but good to see a few of the old names contributing well.
I am in need of some good advice. SS is a one stop shop for that.
I have a new garage cement floor which has a door that leads directly into the house. I want to seal/paint the floor to eliminate the concrete dust. I am quite keen on the Berger jet dry heavy duty.
anyone got advice for this product?
how hoard is the job? did you acid etch?
Any other products out there one could consider?
I have actually laid vinyl on the floor but each time l drive the car in the garage the vinyl buckles or moves. Very annoying
Hope someone can help out
cheers
yadreamin

 

[marg4000]

Years ago when we moved into our PPOR we used the garage as a children's play room. We simply used paving paint to paint the floor to seal it and avoid dust. Lasted for years, but did chip rather easily. Regardless, it made it look so much better. Easy to apply, we simply rolled it onto a clean floor.

All paint companies have help lines, so phone your preferred brand and get their advice.
Marg

 

[wylie]

If you take a look at this recent thread you will see what we did a week ago with what was once a concrete garage floor. It is now the entry and had a hard, glossy, industrial type finish. I'm not sure what it was, but I'm guessing some sort of epoxy.

It was peeling and one option suggested by a painter friend was to use paving paint and maybe some sort of sealer. We wanted a bit more "wow" than paving paint in the front entry, but for a garage, that would be fine.

Marg has said it chipped easily, so perhaps you could consider the product we used. It was an epoxy paint, cost $300 for enough to do two coats on a single garage floor.

There are also concrete coatings that are made specially for this, sealing and making floors attractive, with flecks in them. You could get a quote to have it done or give paving paint or the epoxy paint a go.

I'd like to tell you the epoxy wears better than paving paint, but I have no idea.

I got a quote to put this finish on for $1500 but I did it myself for $300 and some elbow grease and one hour per coat.

The company I bought it from could tell you how it wears and if you can get a similar product in your area.

The company is Concrete Coatings Australia (ph 07 3271 3252) and their website is epoxy supplies.com.au

Here is the link to the thread, and if you scroll down you can see how the epoxy paint came up. That is two coats, and it could have done with a third coat to make it even more glossy, but this is the finish I wanted.

http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95118

 

[Doovalacky]

I used the same sealer as used on aggregate driveway, can't remember name. Very strong penetration melted the soles of my boots when accidentally stepped in it.
Certainly stops any dust and helps stop oil stains.

Just make sure its been cleaned and allowed to fully dry 1st. Any sand etc on floor will either end up stuck to your roller or stuck permanently to floor.

Used boncrete several times in past and not been impressed with it. Despite following instructions its peeled after 6-12months.

 

[marg4000]

Marg has said it chipped easily, so perhaps you could consider the product we used. It was an epoxy paint, cost $300 for enough to do two coats on a single garage floor.
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It did chip easily, but please bear in mind that this was 30+ years ago (surely paints have improved in that time) and two young children were riding tricycles on it.....

And it was quick, cheap and easy to whack another coat on.
Marg

 

[wylie]

It did chip easily, but please bear in mind that this was 30+ years ago (surely paints have improved in that time) and two young children were riding tricycles on it.....

And it was quick, cheap and easy to whack another coat on.
Marg

Actually, our painter's first suggestion was paving paint when I started peeling off the floor in those photos. I do agree that paving paint would do the job of keeping down the cement dust and if it still did chip these days, a repaint sorts it out.

We used paving paint several years ago as a quick fix in the downstairs garage/under the house area of an IP. It looked better than it did before the paint went on but last year when tenants left, it looked terrible. That was not the fault of the paving paint, but because the surface was an uneven, badly home-made slab and nothing short of a topping layer was going to help it. After a few years it had peeled where the slabs joined, on the high spots and where furniture was dragged over it.

The epoxy was something that looked a bit more "wow" but for a garage I'd be going for cheap and easy.

Hubby has suggested several times that we do the "rubberised" type of flecky flooring but the cost of doing that would be wasted in our garage which is a real man's shed, full of rubbish, tools, things being spray painted on the floor, stuff dragged over it. My brother-in-law calls it "baby bunnings".

If there is ever a chance that back patio will be tiled, I'd leave it as it is.

 

[justgjt]

A mate of mine has a car yard with an inside show room. So you can imagine the use it gets.

He hired a concrete rotary grinder to polish out the oil stains as one half used to be an engine shop and he then applied two pac epoxy pewter coloured paint with rollers.

It looks really good and easy to clean. Oil wipes of it with out staining. In a domestic use situation it should last at least 15 yrs.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Go with the epoxy. I have just had a 500m2+ warehouse redone with a Dulux epoxy.

The painter applied it but needed to be acid washed.

 

[yadreamin]

Thanks for the feed back.
I did do a lot of research into the epoxy coating which l think looks great. Dulux are no longer producing this product so l would not be able to re coat in 10 years if needed. Also they found that if you got sunlight on the floor the epoxy would start to powder. Even a couple of mins a day of sun light affected it. It really is designed for inside use only ie warehouse / factory
I am happy with the heavy duty paint for concrete l have researched but l need to know if it is really necessary to acid etch first. apparently the heat from your car tyres is the main problem.
cheers
yadreamin

 

[yadreamin]

Thanks Wylie for the link. I think the epoxy looks good where you have put it.
Once it starts to powder it gets very slippery so l wouldn't put it on the patio if l were you
cheers
yadreamin

 

[pinkboy]

If you want to only do half a job, then expect half the life.

Coatings are 90% preparation and 10% of the job is the coating itself.

Why skimp on a relatively simple step that will yield a much greater result? Hydrochloric Acid is cheap, and water is even cheaper again. Mix the acid with water, push around with a stiff brush and hose off. Simple.

You dont even have to use the fancy gossy epoxy floor products either. Amerlock 400, International Interzone 954 or Jotun Jotacote 605 will do what you are after. Ive coated warehouse floors by the 1000's m2 in these products.


pinkboy

 

[yadreamin]

Thanks Pinkboy.
Just the advice l needed. I guess l was just a bit scared of the acid washing part. I think if l set myself up well don't rush have the hose near by l should be just fine
I will look into those products you suggest and see if any are available here in the wild west.
cheers
yadreamin

 

[yadreamin]

Hi All
Thought l would pop back in and let you know the garage floor came up fabulous.
I took pinkboys advice .....90 % prepertion
I set myself up with all the tools l needed and plenty of time. I did the acid wash no worries, slow and steady. I actually think the girls in the store scared me out of doing this initially but its easy. I ended up using a berger concrete paint product and adding a non slip grit to it. It was easy to do the whole job and it sure gives a wow factor.
Thanks for every ones help
cheers
yadreamin

 

[redwing]

Hi All
Thought l would pop back in and let you know the garage floor came up fabulous.
I took pinkboys advice .....90 % prepertion
I set myself up with all the tools l needed and plenty of time. I did the acid wash no worries, slow and steady. I actually think the girls in the store scared me out of doing this initially but its easy. I ended up using a berger concrete paint product and adding a non slip grit to it. It was easy to do the whole job and it sure gives a wow factor.
Thanks for every ones help
cheers
yadreamin

Any photos?

 

[pinkboy]

Hi All
Thought l would pop back in and let you know the garage floor came up fabulous.
I took pinkboys advice .....90 % prepertion
I set myself up with all the tools l needed and plenty of time. I did the acid wash no worries, slow and steady. I actually think the girls in the store scared me out of doing this initially but its easy. I ended up using a berger concrete paint product and adding a non slip grit to it. It was easy to do the whole job and it sure gives a wow factor.
Thanks for every ones help
cheers
yadreamin

Any photos?

Good to hear!

+1 on the photos!

pinkboy