The plans are submitted and the kit purchased, so it's time to start thinking a few weeks ahead about the new garage. Anyone have any experience with paints, stains, and/or other coatings for garage floors, either good or bad? The criteria are that it must be self-applied, not hyper-expensive, and be able to stand up to the usual automotive-related chemicals. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Can't help so much as what TO do, but I know what NOT to do. Don't have it made with a smooth surface, unless you coat it with some non-skid coating. My friends have a beautiful smooth surface. When it rains, you have to follow a trail of carpet remnants or you wind up on your rear. In the winter, it's almost unuseable.If you just plan on sealing it, at least hit it with a broom some before the concrete drys. Otherwise put something down with sand or something mixed in.

 

If you just bullfloat it and don't use the power trowel, it will be smooth enough to sweep and easily clean up, but won't be too slick. Or just do one power trowel pass. &quot;Mirror&quot; finishes look really cool but are impractical. Purchase a sealer that you can roll on to make cleanup much easier. Broom outside the door on the ramp for traction.<br><br>My garage floor now has a coating of oil and dirt that is pretty much impermeable to water

 

I did mine with an industrial grade 2-part Epoxy. It holds up to studded snow tires and any automotive fluids/chemicals wipe up easily. I've left mine smooth, but you can add &quot;grit&quot; provided by a paint store if you like for traction as it does get slick when wet. I prefer the smooth shiny look and it's pretty dry where I live. <br><br>It cost me about $400 for the 2 gallons to do a 3+ bay garage. There is a water based &quot;epoxy&quot; paint available at Home Depot for less, but I don't think it will holp up as well over the years. I got mine at a paint store and did it myself.<br><br>Hints:<br><br>1- Concrete must be cured and dry, at LEAST 1 month old. Tape a piece of 12&quot; x 12&quot; plastic over the concrete sealing it all around and leave it overnight. Pull it up the next day and verify the the concrete is not damp. If it is, wait longer.<br><br>2- Tell your concrete guy what you are doing so they don't put &quot;Moose Milk&quot; on it or you will have to etch it back off to get the required &quot;tooth&quot; on your surface.<br><br>3- Prep is everything on a project like this. I would do an acid wash with at least 3 full rinses and let it dry for 2 days before laying down the coating. Do the dry test I refered above after washing and rinsing.<br><br>4- Do it at the end of the day when the temperature is dropping. If you you do it early in the day when the temps are climbing, expanding air WILL come out of the surface and create bubbles. Do not allow sunlight on it during application or for at least 12 hours for the same reason. <br><br>5- Tools: proper roller with a long handle, shop floor squeege for cleaning/rinsing, old golf shoes are helpfull for walking on the paint while you are spreading it (my paint shop lent me some for free just for this purpose), tape to mask off where you want to end it (I taped under the center of my garage door.<br><br>Hope this helps. Good Luck!<br><br>100 Proof<br><br>

 

hello, i'm a sales rep for a paint company and 100 proof has the right idea. Prep is very important!!. My advise don't but a technical coating at home depot no offence to those who work there. buy at a paint store. stick w/ the stinky chemical resitant epoxy i like it better then waterborne epoxy it holds up better.<br>Personaly i would have the floor shot blasted no matter what finish you get. of course wait the 28 days for it to cure first<br>i can not recomend products here but you can email me @ mark@envirocoatings.com with anymore questions and i can find you a product too.<br>thanks Wooff

 

Good advice on the preparation. I've found that no matter what I'm painting, if I want the final job to be of good quality, preparation is critical. Since moisture can be a problem, my plan is to place a vapor barrier both under the fill and between the fill and the pad in an attempt to keep moisture to a minimum. I'll probably put some sort of traction enhancer on there, too.<br><br>It sounds like it should be possible to use a significantly better product for not much more money, since the water-borne epoxies for sale at Home Depot look like they'll cost around $150-$200 to do my garage, which is going to be a small two stall.

 

I poured the floor, after the fourth day I stopped putting water on it. Prior to paint it was about 90 days. I erected the garage at about the 60 day point. I swept, brushed and washed the floor to perfection. I painted with the GULP dreaded epoxy home depot two part floor paint (white) and I had the PERFECT floor. Clue- there was no oil, no vehicles, no anything on the floor till I had it painted complete. I believe that the paint brand is less of an issue in my case than the fact that the floor was perfectly clean and washed prior to painting the fresh concrete. I believe the key for mine was nothing but my shoes and those of my helpers touched the floor from the pour until paint.

 

Speaking of garages, we are having the slab for our garage poured next week. We are going to use concrete blocks around the slab. Of course where the two garage doors and service door will be there will be openings but how do you determine the proper opening? The garage will be a 26x30 and the doors will be 9x8 and the service door is a 32&quot;. So for the blocks do I just need a 9 foot opening for each door or should it be larger?<br>Thanks in advance.

 

Hey Jim-<br><br>What are you building? You mentioned a kit. Are you putting up a pre-cut log package? I've done that before with splendid results, but there are pitfalls to be aware of and avoid.<br><br>Just curious,<br><br>100 Proof

 

[quote author=100 Proof link=board=10;threadid=16732;start=0#157661 date=1057675568]<br>Hey Jim-<br><br>What are you building? You mentioned a kit. Are you putting up a pre-cut log package? I've done that before with splendid results, but there are pitfalls to be aware of and avoid.<br><br>Just curious,<br><br>100 Proof<br>[/quote]<br>Not logs--it'll be conventional stick framing with engineered trusses. A lumberyard here sells them as kits just to save the lazy like me having to figure out how much of everything I need to buy to build a garage. Only thing I need to figure out is how much siding to buy, since we had them leave that out so we can match the house, and get the electrical service parts. It's going to have its own separate 100 amp service so I can run a sizable compressor and a welder if I get ambitious.

 

[quote author=turbodiesel_ram link=board=10;threadid=16732;start=0#157658 date=1057674281]<br>Speaking of garages, we are having the slab for our garage poured next week. We are going to use concrete blocks around the slab. Of course where the two garage doors and service door will be there will be openings but how do you determine the proper opening? The garage will be a 26x30 and the doors will be 9x8 and the service door is a 32&quot;. So for the blocks do I just need a 9 foot opening for each door or should it be larger?<br>Thanks in advance.<br>[/quote]<br>I'd either try to look up the installation instructions online or go to where you're buying them and ask to look at them to determine the rough opening size, at least for the service door. The rough opening is usually 1/2&quot; or 3/4&quot; or so larger than the door size to allow leveling and plumbing the door. On garage doors, I'm not sure. I've never framed for one, but I'm sure I'll find out soon.