Have you painted your garage floor? What did you use? And are you happy with the result?

Getting ready to clean up the garage and set up some organization/storage. We are considering doing something with the dirty concrete floor. It is not perfect and it will need a good clean up. Trying to be really cheap but also trying to make it look a bit "cleaner". We are considering painting with some epoxy for garage floors. Has anyone tried it? What did you use? How did it come out? How is it holding up?

Open to other alternatives but trying to be really cheap about this so that limits our options greatly.
We do not park the car in the garage as it is mainly used for storage, btw.

TIA!

I did this at a prior home. The first rule is CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN and dry the floor. Dirt will get embedded in the epoxy. Moisture can cause bubbles. Use products to remove any grease or oil stains. They will prevent the epoxy from bonding and it will bubble or peel over time.

Mine lasted for the ten years before I moved, though there was some minor peeling on one edge.

ParticleMan said:
I did this at a prior home. The first rule is CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN and dry the floor. Dirt will get embedded in the epoxy. Moisture can cause bubbles. Use products to remove any grease or oil stains. They will prevent the epoxy from bonding and it will bubble or peel over time.
Mine lasted for the ten years before I moved, though there was some minor peeling on one edge.

What did you use to clean the floor? I keep reading about acid wash??

we go garage floors as a business (yep we advertise on MOL) so i may be biased - but DYI just doesnt work as the machinery and labor required for prep isnt easy (diamond grinding, repair of cracks and pitting etc) and proper product can not be purchased retail.

Many garages we do have some form of a prior coating that was improperly installed in the last two years

new207040 said:
we go garage floors as a business (yep we advertise on MOL) so i may be biased - but DYI just doesnt work as the machinery and labor required for prep isnt easy (diamond grinding, repair of cracks and pitting etc) and proper product can not be purchased retail.
Many garages we do have some form of a prior coating that was improperly installed in the last two years

I would love to hire someone but our budget really does not allow it. There is no previous coating but the concrete is pretty dirty.

pmartinezv said:

new207040 said:
we go garage floors as a business (yep we advertise on MOL) so i may be biased - but DYI just doesnt work as the machinery and labor required for prep isnt easy (diamond grinding, repair of cracks and pitting etc) and proper product can not be purchased retail.
Many garages we do have some form of a prior coating that was improperly installed in the last two years

I would love to hire someone but our budget really does not allow it. There is no previous coating but the concrete is pretty dirty.

You mention its dirty but what is the condition of the floor? A lot of cracks, uneven?

If its just dirty I think it is a DIY. As long as the product you buy is a solid epoxy and not something from a big box store. Although it seems that Lowes is now carrying some solid epoxy products.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_546013-21374-ECP-E-0100___?productId=50074141&pl=1&Ntt=epoxy-coat

http://www.epoxy-coat.com/shop/residential

Another good brand is Legacy Industrial,

http://www.legacyindustrial.net/products/garage-floor-coating-kits/

These kits can come with everything you need, primer, UV clear coat, mixing tool, spiked shoes, and of course intructions.

Check out this forum for pics, and some step by steps. You may need to join.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20

Honestly for a work space..... give it a really good scrub and I bet it will be "good enough." If it hasn't been cleaned in awhile, that'll probably make a huuuuge difference!

prerak77 said:

pmartinezv said:

new207040 said:
we go garage floors as a business (yep we advertise on MOL) so i may be biased - but DYI just doesnt work as the machinery and labor required for prep isnt easy (diamond grinding, repair of cracks and pitting etc) and proper product can not be purchased retail.
Many garages we do have some form of a prior coating that was improperly installed in the last two years

I would love to hire someone but our budget really does not allow it. There is no previous coating but the concrete is pretty dirty.

You mention its dirty but what is the condition of the floor? A lot of cracks, uneven?
If its just dirty I think it is a DIY. As long as the product you buy is a solid epoxy and not something from a big box store. Although it seems that Lowes is now carrying some solid epoxy products.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_546013-21374-ECP-E-0100___?productId=50074141&pl=1&Ntt=epoxy-coat
http://www.epoxy-coat.com/shop/residential
Another good brand is Legacy Industrial,
http://www.legacyindustrial.net/products/garage-floor-coating-kits/
These kits can come with everything you need, primer, UV clear coat, mixing tool, spiked shoes, and of course intructions.
Check out this forum for pics, and some step by steps. You may need to join.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20

These look interesting but at almost $500 that is totally out of the budget. That is the entire budget for the whole garage and we already used some of it for some shelving and other storage. So a cleaning may need to do.

afa said:
Honestly for a work space..... give it a really good scrub and I bet it will be "good enough." If it hasn't been cleaned in awhile, that'll probably make a huuuuge difference!

What should we clean it with? It may be the only thing we can afford since this is not an area where we really want to put a lot of money and most of the budget is going to storage.

Here's a good primer. I used trisodium phosphate to clean the grease and dirt off, aired the place out, then painted it with two coats of simple gray concrete/floor paint. You can put an epoxy over the gray paint, I believe, to give it more of a sheen as well. You'll have to invest in a deck brush and the cleaning supplies:

http://allgaragefloors.com/how-to-clean-a-garage-floor/

pmartinezv said:

afa said:
Honestly for a work space..... give it a really good scrub and I bet it will be "good enough." If it hasn't been cleaned in awhile, that'll probably make a huuuuge difference!

What should we clean it with? It may be the only thing we can afford since this is not an area where we really want to put a lot of money and most of the budget is going to storage.

TSP works fabulously for cleaning, but I was told they don't sell it in NJ. I could be wrong.

bat_chain said:
Here's a good primer. I used trisodium phosphate to clean the grease and dirt off, aired the place out, then painted it with two coats of simple gray concrete/floor paint. You can put an epoxy over the gray paint, I believe, to give it more of a sheen as well. You'll have to invest in a deck brush and the cleaning supplies:
http://allgaragefloors.com/how-to-clean-a-garage-floor/

pmartinezv said:

afa said:
Honestly for a work space..... give it a really good scrub and I bet it will be "good enough." If it hasn't been cleaned in awhile, that'll probably make a huuuuge difference!

What should we clean it with? It may be the only thing we can afford since this is not an area where we really want to put a lot of money and most of the budget is going to storage.

You can find TSP at HD, or online with Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Savogran-10622-Trisodium-Phosphate-4-5lbs/dp/B000AXE7CY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437665726&sr=8-1&keywords=TSP

My experience in cleaning and painting the garage floor at a home I owned many years ago with an attached garage is that the effort was not justified in the end. The first several months it looked great, but the wear and tear of vehicles over time left it unappealing (granted they were older cars and motorbikes that dripped etc). Unless i am transforming the garage into a wood shop or something where cars are not coming and going, i don't think i would do this again.

Yeah I bought the TSP @ Home Depot. It's true, I don't pull a car in and out of the garage so that might affect how you do it? Let us know what happens!