Epoxy on garage floor?

[Craig S]

Anyone have first hand knowledge on epoxy on the garage floor?

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a new garage, and I was going to make the deal to include an epoxy floor.

Q1: I ride scooters several times a week. Does the side/center stand of my 'Guzzis or the mighty CBX dig into the epoxy coating (trashing it).

Q2: What about the durability against dragging a toploader trans or using the floor jack? Will I just tear up something that is impossible to repair?

Thanks for the input.
Craig

[gcarter]

Don't know the answer, as I've wondered about it myself.
But, I imagine some small pieces of plywood would be helpful to aleviate such issues.
I use a piece of plywood under my jack when I'm working outside on asphalt.

[CHACHI]

Toploader, what are you building/working on?

We want photos.

Ken

[Cuda]

It depends on what epoxy you are talking about. The stuff you get from Home Depot, and broadcast the flakes in, isn't that tough. We install a 100% epoxy flooring. We have used it in restrooms at a park, and locker rooms near a pool. I've got some that I had leftover in my garage. That stuff is tough as nails. Even where the floor wasn't prepped, the epoxy is still there. The cost of it is exhorbitant. My cost is about $4.50 a square foot.

www.hitech.com

[Craig S]

[quote=gcarter;549943]
But, I imagine some small pieces of plywood would be helpful to aleviate such issues.
quote]

I have seen your posts, Mr. Carter. Not only are your boat restoration abilities far and away above mine, but you're apparently able to lug a pig of a motorcycle and a small piece of plywood and get them lined up on the floor after riding to Starbucks.

My hat is off to you. I'm afraid the ply would go thru the window, and the 6 cylinders of the CBX (along with the skin torching 6 into 1) would be resting on my leg 2 out of three times!!!!:frown:

And thanks Cuda, they're pricing $1600 for an 800 square foot floor, so it must be the cheap stuff. I've not talked directly with the guy that's gonna do the work.

I was afraid I was gonna hear bad news.

[Cuda]

[quote=gcarter;549943]
But, I imagine some small pieces of plywood would be helpful to aleviate such issues.
quote]

I have seen your posts, Mr. Carter. Not only are your boat restoration abilities far and away above mine, but you're apparently able to lug a pig of a motorcycle and a small piece of plywood and get them lined up on the floor after riding to Starbucks.

My hat is off to you. I'm afraid the ply would go thru the window, and the 6 cylinders of the CBX (along with the skin torching 6 into 1) would be resting on my leg 2 out of three times!!!!:frown:

And thanks Cuda, they're pricing $1600 for an 800 square foot floor, so it must be the cheap stuff. I've not talked directly with the guy that's gonna do the work.

I was afraid I was gonna hear bad news.

There is more than one type. Sherwin Williams sells an epoxy. The stuff I use is made to military spec. We've used it on Coast Guard ships. The USS Ronald Regan has in it the mess hall.

[gcarter]

Gosh Craig! I didn't think it would be so hard.
I try to park my SUV in approximately the same place every time I park it.
I just meant if a piece about 12" to 15" square was in the general area of where you normally park, it'd be easy to land the stand on it.
I guess it's harder than that.

[BlownCrewCab]

[quote=gcarter;549943]
But, I imagine some small pieces of plywood would be helpful to aleviate such issues.
quote]

I have seen your posts, Mr. Carter. Not only are your boat restoration abilities far and away above mine, but you're apparently able to lug a pig of a motorcycle and a small piece of plywood and get them lined up on the floor after riding to Starbucks.

My hat is off to you. I'm afraid the ply would go thru the window, and the 6 cylinders of the CBX (along with the skin torching 6 into 1) would be resting on my leg 2 out of three times!!!!:frown:

And thanks Cuda, they're pricing $1600 for an 800 square foot floor, so it must be the cheap stuff. I've not talked directly with the guy that's gonna do the work.

I was afraid I was gonna hear bad news.


if you can drink starbucks then you can afford to have cuda do your floor every other year, no worries.

[McGary911]

Friend of mine used to be the fix-all guy at a large commercial bakery in NJ. As they redid sections of it, he'd put down epoxy floors, and said the same thing. If you get the right stuff, it's the toughest thing out there. I've been through the bakery several times, and you couldn't imagine the beating not just the floor, but everything in that environment takes in the process of baking bread and stuff.

He said that it's important to get the good stuff if you want the best performance. I don't remember the name of the stuff, but it was about $124 \ gallon about 6 years back. Every time he got ready to lay some down, his mantra would be "don't mess up, don't mess up, don't mess up..."

[Ed Donnelly]

If you are building a new garage, have them put the color of stain you want in the concrete then seal the concrete..

I did mynew concrete driveway in 1994, and the sealant lasted nearly 10 yrs before needing to be redone..This concrete gets snowed on,salted,oil leaks(I have a Harley).......Just a thought..........

The stain is around $10 The cement truck will charge an extra $100 or so to wash out the drum after pouring, and the sealer is less than $300 for that size area..............Ed

[Bamboo Loui]

My wife and I made the mistake of coloring and POLYUREA coating our beautiful 3 car garage-- The job was doen by a Concrete contractor about two hours from us. We got a referrel through the Michigan Concrete
association. we went to his web site- - saw tons of pics of really cool jobs- many garages with custom floors for Harleys and race crews wit logos and everything-- we were sold-- spent
$7K. Turned out he did not do those jobs and they were part of a sales catalog for a commercial coating manufacturer.
Buy EPOXI --the urea made a beautiful finish but the first time we put our scooters kick stands down they scratched the surface all the way to the concrete. all I am saying is watch out-- I would trust Cuda but not people that I did not know unless you are willing to do complete due dilegence and look at instals-- I didn't -I just trusted a guy who turned out to be a scammer- get referrals or do it yourself AFTER you have researched the project. Good luck!!

[Cuda]

Here is where we did nine restrooms at a park in St Augustine.

[Craig S]

the urea made a beautiful finish but the first time we put our scooters kick stands down they scratched the surface all the way to the concrete.

All: That's exactly what I'm afraid of. And thanks Cuda for your input.

The place will be in Lake Conroe, and you-all gave me some questions to ask. Maybe sealing with or without stain (and a big vinyl blue oval centered on the floor!) is the way I should go.

And George....I'm pretty self deprecating on my motorcycle riding abilities. Thanks, I just hate to have to be that cautious.

Craig

[Bamboo Loui]

keep in mind I had a polyurea coating done -not a tried and true military grade epoxy and I forgot to mention it was a brand new product that this guy had never used before-- still - If I was You I would trust Cudas experience--- and play it safe when you put kick stands down!!

something else-- for us -- we went with a darker marble color-- shows dirt and dust-- go light colors

[Cuda]

The color we used on the restrooms at the park was Salt and Pepper.

[Cuda]

If the concrete isn't too messed up, I would go with a concrete stain. It has an acid that reacts with the concrete, making these colors. It's not expensive either. If you look at a new Walmart, that is what they are using in the sales areas. They have several types of sealer.



http://www.kemiko.com/do_it_yourself.htm

[Craig S]

Thanks Cuda. I just got back from having lunch with my home inspector buddy. He said what you said. He's seen nice new finishes. He's seen bubbling up finishes, too.

And he suggested just sealing or staining and sealing. That would save me some money, and I'll do it in both the lower floor of the house and the garage.

My question, the inevitable scrape from a center stand or something...I can just refinish(reseal) that area, right?

Thanks again,
Craig

[gold-n-rod]

The color we used on the restrooms at the park was Salt and Pepper.

Shoulda used brown and yellow flakes. Then, they'd never have to clean it!!

[Ghost]

[quote=Craig S;549950]


if you can drink starbucks then you can afford to have cuda do your floor every other year, no worries.

And if he uses the good stuff, sounds like you won't need it for 20+.

[Cuda]

We also install a rubberized flooring called Grizzly Grip. It's easy to install, just roll it out like paint. It's like Rhino liner and can be used in truck beds also. I don't know how well it would hold up, but I think it would do well.

[Cuda]

Did you look at that Kemiko website? They do some beautiful work with it inside too. We are seeing more and more of this in commercial settings. Do they have any Chiplote Grills where you live? The dining rooms are stained concrete.

[rtgogo]

Great post... just kept me from ruining my garage floors with that stuff from Home Depot... thanks for the info!

[motorcity]

Here's a link to a pretty good forum. The have a section on flooring. If I remember correctly a lot of guy on their swear by coatings made by Wolverine

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/index.php?

[blackboat]

New concrete, I would wait 30 days at least before putting an epoxy on it. I would pour a 3500 psi to 4000 psi mix , hard trowel it , spray a hardener,dustproofing sealer coating on it and forget it.

[Craig S]

dustproofing sealer coating on it and forget it.

by dustproofing sealer, you mean the traditional sealer that you roll on?

[gcarter]

When we moved into our current office, we had the hallway, lobby, and break room floors stained. The guy did it w/three or four colors. It's been very satisfactory. It also looks really good when it's been mopped and some sort of floor treatment put on it. That's not been done in awhile.
To have it done cost about $9.00/square foot.
And it truley is a one time finish.
We paid (or rather the owner did) the price because of the complexity of using multiple colors, but it is something that an individual can do pretty easily if it's kept simple.

[VetteLT193]

I have the stuff from Home Depot, made by rustoleum I think. It is great for every day use. I didn't apply it thick enough. If I did it again I would buy one whole extra kit and roll it out heavy. I have had no issues with it pealing up or anything though. the only spot(s) I have slight spotting is in the sun, where the package flat out says not to apply it. I rolled it to the end of the pad outside of the garage door. Even there it is only very minor issues.

It doesn't look anything like what Cuda's does. It looks better than paint but not as good as the high end epoxy.

another member here that has an excellent garage floor is Tidbart.

[Cuda]

I have the stuff from Home Depot, made by rustoleum I think. It is great for every day use. I didn't apply it thick enough. If I did it again I would buy one whole extra kit and roll it out heavy. I have had no issues with it pealing up or anything though. the only spot(s) I have slight spotting is in the sun, where the package flat out says not to apply it. I rolled it to the end of the pad outside of the garage door. Even there it is only very minor issues.
It doesn't look anything like what Cuda's does. It looks better than paint but not as good as the high end epoxy.
another member here that has an excellent garage floor is Tidbart.
All epoxy will "amber" in sunlight.

[Cuda]

When we moved into our current office, we had the hallway, lobby, and break room floors stained. The guy did it w/three or four colors. It's been very satisfactory. It also looks really good when it's been mopped and some sort of floor treatment put on it. That's not been done in awhile.
To have it done cost about $9.00/square foot.
And it truley is a one time finish.
We paid (or rather the owner did) the price because of the complexity of using multiple colors, but it is something that an individual can do pretty easily if it's kept simple.
If I could get $9 a sf to do concrete staining, I wouldn't do anything else. The stain cost $58 a gallon, and will do 300 sf. There are different types of sealers. I would go with the polyurethane sealer. It's really simple to do. I think it explains it all on the Kemiko site. They also do the side walks at free standing Panda Express on the sidewalks.

[Kirbyvv]

I used Thompson's Garage Floor Protector on a new garage floor a few years ago. Prep'd it, acid etched, cleaned, etc. the first year it started peeling up from hot tires. It was all downhill from there. it looks like crap now.

[gold-n-rod]

I want to quarry tile my garage floor. Cuda, how much a sq. ft. is installed QT?

[Tidbart]

I did an epoxy/ paint chip floor on my garage 2 years ago. I did full coverage on the chips and it looks awesome, almost a granite looking finish.
It is rock solid. I have had no problems with hot tire peeling or any detachment issues.

I used a commercial epoxy and fresh, high-grade chips. If I remember correctly it cost about $1500 in materials for about 800 sf. That was a contractor's price on the products. I did the entire job alone, including the floor prep. It took about 3 days. Then left it for a few more to cure before use.

I did hours of research on products and I ended up with the best product for the money I could find. I wouldn't go anywhere near a store bought product like the stuff at HD.

Bob

B

[Cuda]

I want to quarry tile my garage floor. Cuda, how much a sq. ft. is installed QT?
I've installed square miles of quarry. :) The tile runs from $1.50 a sf, to about $2.20 a square foot, and we'd get about $2.25 a foot to install it.
The smaller the tile, the less likely it would be to break. 6x6 would be the size to use. Check out www.daltile.com

[NJFASTECH]

http://www.rhinohomepro.com/index.php

Starts at 3.50 installed

[Barry Eller]

[quote=gcarter;549943]
But, I imagine some small pieces of plywood would be helpful to aleviate such issues.
quote]

My hat is off to you. I'm afraid the ply would go thru the window, and the 6 cylinders of the CBX (along with the skin torching 6 into 1) would be resting on my leg 2 out of three times!!!!:frown:



CBX? I had a 1982 CBX, Pearl White with Sport Faring and hardshell side bags. It would smoke the back tire! What a beast it was! I'm glad there is still one out there!

[Cuda]

http://www.rhinohomepro.com/index.php

Starts at 3.50 installed
Which coating is $3.50 a sf? There are several on that website. One of them it says it takes multiple layers to build up epoxy. The stuff I put down is troweled down, and it about 3/16 of an inch when we trowel it down.

[Craig S]

[quote=Craig S;549950]

CBX? I had a 1982 CBX, Pearl White with Sport Faring and hardshell side bags. It would smoke the back tire! What a beast it was! I'm glad there is still one out there!

I've got an '81 (smoke gray), that I've cafe'd out...6into1, rear sets, lower bars, bagless, fairingless, single round headlight, trimmed mud guard, mini t/s, and solo corbin....where is that pic?

What a motor! I was on youtube last night testing my new speakers for my laptop and listening to 'Guzzis on mountain roads, then got into some of the CBX videos. Geez, what an engine! The plan is to build (or help build) a 2 gallon coffin-style aluminum tank, gun fighter seat, and traditional bump - shortening the bike about a foot - and use the tomaselli clip ons, some type of Ducati-ish gas filler, a stainless front fender, no side covers and a relocated battery, and MAYBE a set of wire wheels. Maybe on the wheels. I also have an extra set of silver powder-coated wheels ready (with an 18 for the front to make it maybe less cumbersome).

Until then, I still love it. Owned since '92 - I was looking for either the mighty pig of steel (what I call the 'X), or an XLCR at the time. no regrets. I'll die with that bike.

The garage/house. Plan to sign on Monday. We're gonna find someone to score the garage and lower house (800+600sq feet), probably 3x3 pattern. I'll stain (probably solvent based acid stain) and seal myself. My niece's ex runs a Sherwin Williams, so I'll check with them between now and "the time". Thanks for all the input!

Craig

PS: An old pic...but the bike hasn't changed...

[NJFASTECH]

Which coating is $3.50 a sf? There are several on that website. One of them it says it takes multiple layers to build up epoxy. The stuff I put down is troweled down, and it about 3/16 of an inch when we trowel it down.

Any of the chip colors starts at app.3.50 per sq.ft. Quartz starts at app.4.50 per sq.ft. Spayed on just like a Rhino liner I would say 3/16" of an inch is about right.

[Cuda]

The stuff I use for epoxy floors is like oatmeal out of the mixer. It won't spray.

[NJFASTECH]

The stuff I use for epoxy floors is like oatmeal out of the mixer. It won't spray.
I know what your using and it is good stuff but Rhino has come up with an alternative to labor extensive processes. You should look into a franchise because the same mobile setup can also do roof decks,decks over living,floors both residential and commercial, and various different applications. Here they are doing commercial fishing boat decks,fish compartments,stairs anything steel on the boats,Put a layer of rubber between a deck hand and the steel deck it is priceless.

[Cuda]

It sounds like the stuff we call Grizzly Grip. It's used on truck beds, or can be rolled on or sprayed on with an undercoating spray gun. It's a LOT more cost effective. :)

[MOP]

I did my basement with Home Depots top brand one part Epoxy floor paint last year, as most know the highest traffic area is by the stairs it shows 0 wear. I also have an outside entrance where I cart heavy stuff in and out of the basement, It get used quite a bit hauling feed and other heavy items in and out with my hand truck it also shows of no wear. Maybe a paint for some of you to look into.

[Cuda]

I have never seen a paint that will stay on concrete for any length of time. Never.

[Tidbart]

I did some research on what I put in my garage. I used a product called Terralite from a company in Sarasota called Marbelite.
http://www.marbelite.com/terralite.htm
I cost me about $950 in 2007, for all the materials. Water-based epoxy, paint chips, epoxy primers, etc. Obviously would cost a lot more to have a professional put it down.

The first two photos are from the install, after the primer and paint chips, but before the top coat. The second two are the finished product.

Prep is the key to any flooring product. I went out and bought a used floor buffer and some screens to sand the floor rough, instead of acid etching it. I sold the buffer after the job was done. Net zero on that cost.

It was not a very hard install and I think it looks great. I get a lot of compliments on it. Price was right too.

[joseph m. hahnl]

we used a 2 part clear epoxy at the shop. people drop machined parts, slide saws, and what ever over it. Holds up very well.

[MOP]

Having had several shop floors that were painted one important thing is to have some sort of non slip or texture, the smallest bit of oil can send you flying. A few of my mechanics took falls, paint looks great but care must be taken.