Shop Floors Epoxy vs Staining

[burntnova]

I'm moving and would like to finish the garage floors before I move everything into it. I have searched the web on different options but I'd like to know what pro's and Con's you all have ran into. I am thinking about staining my concrete and then clearing it. Any advise?

I have used the garage floor kits you can but at Home Depot for a few different basement floors but I would like something better, that's more durable. The posts I found on here are about 5-9 yrs old I figure there may be some new stuff out since then...lol

[BMR Sales]

I used to be a Rep in the Coatings Industry and sold a similar product to what you can find in the Box Stores.

Under heavy use, these just don't hold up well. If my garage floor was bare, I would use an Acid Stain & a Clear Coating. There are metallic stains as well.

the KEY to any Garage Floor coating is the Prep!

[slimjim]

I wrote up a DIY epoxy thread over on pro-touring.com about 6 months ago. The thread is there but photo bucket decided they wanted the pictures more. it is still the best thing I did to my garage.
Avoid all the kits, buy industrial grade, Sherwin Williams have a god one. SW armourseal 1000 or they have a urethane single component called rexthane, which is what I will use next time for its ease of use.
And prep, prep, prep

[johnnymac46]

I just did the floor in my 28x32 detached before I moved in.

I spent 2 days grinding the previous owners Home Depot kit off.

I ordered a "job on a pallet" from Armorpoxy, it cost about $1300 if I remember correctly. The only thing I would suggest is to get some extra top coat(clear)

The kit included:

Acid etch
Primer
Epoxy
Fleck (decorative flake)
Top coat (clear)
Antislip (essentially sand goes in the topcoat)
18" Rollers
Roller handle
Mixing buckets
Boxing
Mixer (need your own drill)

The company was awesome to deal with, and super quick on delivery
https://armorpoxy.com

I have a thread in the ManCaves column with some pics of the job.

[Ketzer]

Something to consider...
Are you just parking cars on it or are you planning on hard core hot rod fab on it?

[clill]

Years ago I spent thousands of dollars having a company put a 3 part epoxy coating on my new 5000' shop floor. This is my shop where I just park finished cars and don't work on them. Was supposed to withstand all chemicals etc. It did for awhile but now it is full of stains from just about anything that leaks out of a car. Company is no longer in business. Floor looks like crap. My bigger shop is 8000' that I do stuff in and the floor is just smooth concrete. I have a floor scrubber that has fine pads on it and it just keeps getting shinier. I would do bare concrete or some type of tiles. I'll try to get pics later.

[Panteracer]

I have to agree with Charile... I have an epoxy floor in my shop
that has held up for about 8 years now but it is stained in several
areas where trans and jack fluid have leaked.... it is also a matrix floor
with flecks of paint in it that hides a lot of imperfections... problem is
when you drop a bolt or screw it sometimes takes forever to find it

Polished floors have been the thing in many of the office projects etc
They are ground smooth and then they put a sealer on them that
actually bonds with the concrete to make a very solid surface
If I were to do it again that is the route I would go

Stained floors most of the time are just a fake coating over the concrete
I as a contractor have had to fix a few which is very difficult to make
them look right.. sort of like an epoxy floor to fix

Bob

[clill]

Bare shop floor has no coating and is great. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/388b527de6bac6dd52e798c95dd9ad3a.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/4d559e01fdfaf4788b39318afd77cf40.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/eb3365b4dfefb6fde95af0bf962c287a.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/f9b1c70ddf9b3f3322f0bbf479046dfe.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/bb8254cf4e48bdd09e6434d9e365b21f.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/5aa90e48cbc20e3c132ff70cc008c2ab.heic


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[Flash68]

That shiny concrete looks good. So was that ever clear coated or anything or just polished?

[BMR Sales]

Stained floors most of the time are just a fake coating over the concrete
I as a contractor have had to fix a few which is very difficult to make
them look right.. sort of like an epoxy floor to fix

Bob

Acid Staining etches itself into the Concrete so it will last

https://s6.postimg.org/76784wru9/stained-concrete-floors-l-ffc3aa45e2d0d43f-800x400.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[clill]

That shiny concrete looks good. So was that ever clear coated or anything or just polished?

That is bare concrete that kinda gets polished each time I scrub it with the floor scrubber. When I had it poured we did a smooth finish but it has gotten alot smoother. That pic the floor is actually dirty. I'll take another pic after running the scrubber over it.

[clill]

After scrubbing. Took about 10 minutes. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/a0dd19f77a097b179f089595a12900b1.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/d50c474c7747da2941e7801fa8b1b380.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/5504e515ac2449ecbb6a35626b8767aa.heichttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171011/76ed45e6cf8d76fb60948abb3cb59635.heic


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[Flash68]

That looks great. I'm sold. Thanks Charley.

[glassman]

The shop "Zamboni" for the win

[Che70velle]

This has been discussed before, and I’ll say again that polished concrete is the way to go. If you’ve ever been in a Home Depot, you’ve seen why they polish their floors. Everything is brighter, and it looks cleaner also.

[burntnova]

That bare concrete thats polished looks great. How long would the shine last if i don't have a samboni for the shop...haha

[mitch_04]

Any issues with the floor being slippery? Dry or when there is a spill/light layer of water?

[clill]

Not enough to worry about.

If you do go with a coated or stained floor go with a really light color and it will lighten up the room. My first coating on the smaller shop was a dark blue urethane that failed right away due to the manufacturer mixing it wrong. That was lucky for me because the manufacturer paid the installing company to diamond grind it all off. The color was pretty but the room was really dark. Would have probably had to double the lights in there to get it back to normal.

[Ketzer]

I've got to score one of those Zambonis...

[clill]

There are a ton of them out there. There are also smaller ones you walk behind. Sprays soapy water on the floor, scrubs and then vacuums it up. Not dust like when you are sweeping.

[Panteracer]

Funny... a few years back I was visiting Reggie Jackson's
shop and he was mopping his floors ... 69 z28's
parked all over the place... he said the place was a mess
I guess he could have used one of Charlie's machines

Bob

[SSLance]

The more epoxy floor covering quotes I get, the better polished concrete floors look to me...

[GregWeld]

I think I can see where the Lotus was parked in Charlies shop.....


A couple things to think about Lance ---- With "coated" floors -- if you drag anything on them -- you know what happens - if you do any metal cutting or welding -- they get burn marks....

They still look better if you do AT LEAST two coats of clear..... That's what I did in my shop and in my home garages (5 car).

In a "working shop environment" -- go with Charlies polisher.... you'll be happier.

[camcojb]

I think I can see where the Lotus was parked in Charlies shop.....


A couple things to think about Lance ---- With "coated" floors -- if you drag anything on them -- you know what happens - if you do any metal cutting or welding -- they get burn marks....

They still look better if you do AT LEAST two coats of clear..... That's what I did in my shop and in my home garages (5 car).

In a "working shop environment" -- go with Charlies polisher.... you'll be happier.
Yep. :thumbsup:

[SSLance]

So Charlie, who did you have polish your floors for the first time?

At the home show last weekend I asked every epoxy floor guy there if they polish concrete also and only one said he did...then quoted me $3.00 a foot which was more than a couple of the epoxy quotes I got.

Upon further review, he was quoting polishing the floor, then putting a clear coat sealer on top of it. I asked him about leaving the sealer off and he mumbled and said he'd have to ask his boss or something... So I walked away.

[RaceMan]

I use Armor Garage and been happy with it , I do re coat some with just the top coat once a year or so . Some of it gets more than just a car parked on it and for the $$ I like it. I think it was like $800-$900 for a kit to do 500 sqft , you can get it cheaper without the kit ( roller,acid,mixer ,base,top coat and misc.)
Forgot to say it's a two part Epoxy and the prep. is the hardest part .

[SSLance]

Got my first quote for just polishing the concrete floors, two different options.


Scope of Work – Polish

-perform 30 grit diamond grind in order to expose salt and pepper aggregate

-patch minor cracks, joints and spalls using a cementitious repair mortar

-perform 80 grit finish grind

-run 150 grit transitional tooling

-hone concrete with 200 grit diamond impregnated resins

-apply clear penetrating sealer system

-polish concrete with 400 grit diamond impregnated resins

-polish concrete with 800 grit diamond impregnated resins bringing concrete high shine

-NOTES: Entire area is to be done in one mobilization taking 3-4 days during normal, daytime, weekday hours. Entire area is to be free and clear of all equipment, material, debris and other trades. Proper lighting, 110v/20 amp power, 208v/50amp/3-phase power, water and access is to be provided by others.



Price: $3.75 per sq. ft.



Option – Grind and Seal

-perform 30 grit diamond grind in order to expose salt and pepper aggregate

-patch minor cracks, joints and spalls using a cementitious repair mortar

-perform 80 grit finish grind

-apply clear solvent-based acrylic sealer

-NOTES: Entire area is to be done in one mobilization taking 3-4 days during normal, daytime, weekday hours. Entire area is to be free and clear of all equipment, material, debris and other trades. Proper lighting, 110v/20 amp power, 208v/50amp/3-phase power, water and access is to be provided by others.



Price: $2.30 per sq. ft.


Same guy quoted me $3.69 per sq. ft. for a full chip epoxy coat with 3 coats of Polyurea on top for comparison.

[clill]

Just got back to this thread. I did not have my floor polished. When I had it poured they simply did a smooth finish. That is when you see the guy riding on what looks like a spinning hovercraft giving it a smooth finish. It has gotten shiner over time as I scrub it.

[SSLance]

Ah, I see... I had the guy that finished my last shop floor do that and it was awesome. For a while anyway...until the guy that did my spray in foam insulation got foam all over it. It was smooth enough you could clean it up mostly with a dust mop.

I don't think this floor is smooth enough to do the same. It's not bad but still has a bit of grit to it. Won't be able to tell for sure until all of the construction dust and debris is pressure washed off it.

I'm seriously considering doing Option #2 above though. I bet the finish ends up close to what Charlie has if not a little smoother, I"m just not sure about the sealer put on after. My experience with just concrete sealer has not been good. Once it starts to fail and come up, it can be worse than just plain dirty stained concrete floors.

[SSLance]

I have now learned more about shop floor coatings than I ever wanted to know.

Thing is, I think I've figured out the best solution for me. If you want one of the hard epoxy like coatings to "adhere" to your concrete properly...you need to open up the pores of the concrete which means grinding...which means money. Once you have it open your choices depend on how smooth you want it to be once done. To get super slick and glossy, you need to grind it smoother (like wetsanding paint).

If not that worried about smooth looking, you can just clear it and be done. The acrylic clear quoted to me in the $2.50 per foot option above is not really recommended for auto shop uses though, it doesn't play nice with liquids that stain. We have decided to go with a Polyaspartic clear on top of the 80 grit ground concrete which will give the floor an epoxy like protection but in clear so it can be touched up if needed. Should be smooth enough to sweep up with a dust mop as well.

[slimjim]

I've been there, last year I Epoxied my 2 car garage, I think I probably researched it in far greater depth than I wanted to for more than 2 months before committing. I went with acid etching the floor, but in retrospect grinding would have saved a lot of time and been a little more uniform.