Epoxy coating in yer garage

[ratvespa]

has anyone done it? what kind of product did you use? how did it turn out?

I finally pulled up all the green carpet in the garage, only to find half the garage still has the dookie brown tiles from the 70's stuck on it. so Im guessing I need to rent a tile scrapper and get those up. Other problem might be the tile glue thats stuck to the floor. It's old and dried up, but might not make the epoxy stick. I think most epoxy flooring recommends acid etching the floor, so I might have to also rent a sander and sand the floor down. It's going to be tricky getting all my garage stuff relocated elsewhere while I do this, wonder how many motorcycles I can fit in the dining room? haha

[RichLockyer]

It looks great, but be careful. The shop floor in the warehouse at my old office was epoxy coated, and brake cleaner attacked it.

[greg58]

has anyone done it? what kind of product did you use? how did it turn out?

I finally pulled up all the green carpet in the garage, only to find half the garage still has the dookie brown tiles from the 70's stuck on it. so Im guessing I need to rent a tile scrapper and get those up. Other problem might be the tile glue thats stuck to the floor. It's old and dried up, but might not make the epoxy stick. I think most epoxy flooring recommends acid etching the floor, so I might have to also rent a sander and sand the floor down. It's going to be tricky getting all my garage stuff relocated elsewhere while I do this, wonder how many motorcycles I can fit in the dining room? haha

Be careful and wear a mask while sanding/scraping up old linolium tiles. Much of that stuff was made with asbestos.
Greg58

[Daddyo Vulcan]

My Father Epoxy coated his garage floor it looked great but the Acid he used to etch the floor about did him in! you will need a good mask with the right cartridges or really good ventilation.

[BigJohn]

Couple of points:

1. Us at least a 1/2 face respirater with HEPA filters while doing the removal. Also, get a tyvek disposable suit to wear. Wet down the tiles and keep them wet, you don't want the asbestos getting airborne. It will get into the house. Keep the garage door open for ventilation. Double bag the tile, put your tyvek suit AND the filters in the bag. Take it to a haz mat drop off point. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT toss it into the garbage.

2. For the epoxy - get a couple of organic filters for your respirator. Wear the respirator! Keep the door open while you are preping and painting the door.

Use caution with all the chemicals.

[RichLockyer]

Be careful and wear a mask while sanding/scraping up old linolium tiles. Much of that stuff was made with asbestos.
Greg58

Yup, and they were made until 1980

Asbestos Tile - Asbestos Resource Center

$20 and a sample the size of a nickel mailed to Asbestos Fiber Analysis (TEM Test Method) will tell you.

[Baitis]

My neighbor epoxied his garage and it's patchy - but he's known to take short cuts. I thought about doing mine until I looked at all the stuff I'd have to relocate, I can live with dirty concrete.

[Lazarus]

I have been successful at epoxing concrete, here's what I learned.

Use 100% epoxies, you'll find them on line at cheapest prices. What you buy at the local home improvement store is likely 70% or so, diluted with a solvent to get better penetration into concrete but proper surface prep make that point moot.

The 2 most important things are prep and mixing. Wimp out on either and your not happy with the result.

Prep

Don't count on acid etching to do the trick. Acid etching is just more convenient but not near as good. Rent a diamond grinder. I rented a stand behind machine for $140 bucks. It is made to get all the way to the edges but won't get that tiny bit at the corners. I used plenty of water with it to keep the dust down and spent several hours running that noisy beast. I'd mask up and probably use that to get the tile up, with water.

Mixing

Use the two pot method. Actually measure the components as you use them. Pour parts A and B into one pot and mix well, really well. Now, pour the contents of that pot into a second pot and mix well again. The first pot will have a bunch of unmixed polymer on the edges and that stuff will never harden. Leave it in pot one and accept some loss of material. Buy lots of those dispo buckets.

Holes and cracks in floor

If there are pock marks in your concrete deal with them as follows. Soap and water to as clean as possible. Then acid etch the hollows of the pock mark followed by good rinse. Take your epoxy and paint the holes for good adhesion then add fine sand to more epoxy to make a paste and fill the pock marks. Do multiple small batches if you have a lot to do. I used clean butter tubs for this. You can even over fill them and let harden for 24 hr. Now, diamond grind your floor and the epoxy you just added gets shaved to exact height of floor and will be invisible in the end.

Make some spikes

I just used liquid nails, a 1 x 4, and drywall screws. To some board roughly the size of my shoe and screwed short drywall screws through the board and then glued them to some discardable tennis shoes. This allows you to walk around on the wet epoxy and do things like throw those colorful sprinkles around and get thin spots etc.

2 coats

I used a color base, then sprinkles, and then a clear epoxy over that. I then used a UV resistant polyeurathane over the top as epoxy will yellow under UV. Some prefer to use a colored 2nd coat and mix a bit of sand into to make it non slip as straight up epoxy is slippery when wet.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Rick

[mkelley]

Epoxy finishes look good. For a more industrial finish, consider commercial urethane concrete floor sealers, either clear or colored or clear over stained concrete.

We use colored urethane sealer on our town's outdoor hockey rink. Let me tell you, that stuff is tough!

[rbentnail]

I pulled some carpeting up in my basement and found mid-70s, multi-colored sheet linoleum. The design looked like you chopped up 7 different colors into 1/8" chips then pressed them all together. I would have killed to have dookie brown tiles!! Man, you are so lucky...

[ratvespa]

I pulled some carpeting up in my basement and found mid-70s, multi-colored sheet linoleum. The design looked like you chopped up 7 different colors into 1/8" chips then pressed them all together. I would have killed to have dookie brown tiles!! Man, you are so lucky...

haha, I hear ya man, when I did my bathroom I pulled up 5 generations of vinyl tile and linoleum. when scrapping it you could scrape right through the 90's 80' 70's and 60's. everything I do with this old house is a surprise, I wish I could do my house sportbike style, rhinocoat it or cover it in fur.

[rbentnail]

haha, I hear ya man, when I did my bathroom I pulled up 5 generations of vinyl tile and linoleum. when scrapping it you could scrape right through the 90's 80' 70's and 60's. everything I do with this old house is a surprise, I wish I could do my house sportbike style, rhinocoat it or cover it in fur.

LMAO!! That's too funny. Our house was built in '72 so the surprises abound for us too. When we took out a divider wall we found the installers had written on the studs. Those time capsules were about Hank Aaron hitting #715, a kid's school, etc.

edit: I've long since deleted the pics but here's the post http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...ouse-pics.html

[RichLockyer]

Had a new furnace installed a few weeks ago. There was an old Dr. Pepper can in the plenum under the furnace between the 1st and 2nd floors. I knew it was there, just never felt like reaching in for it.

The guy installing the furnace got really excited when I asked him if he wanted it.

Old style "pop top", but the can was steel... not aluminum... so it was from those transitional years between the old cans that needed an opener and aluminum cans. He said it polished up really nice.

[Tod]

Epoxy finishes look good. For a more industrial finish, consider commercial urethane concrete floor sealers, either clear or colored or clear over stained concrete.

We use colored urethane sealer on our town's outdoor hockey rink. Let me tell you, that stuff is tough!

+1 that's the stuff we had in the Print Shop I worked at as my last Job, that stuff resisted all the inks and solvents we could throw at it, and looks great.

[2WheelFun]

I was a painter for over 28 years and I remember a saying from another co-worker. He said one thing you don't see too many of are...old painters.

Using all the protective gear you can is important while doing an inside job...even a garage. Ventilation is paramount while you spread those volatile vapors. What you put into the prep work will determine how good the job will be and how long the finish product will last. Don't skimp on the prep work and use a quality finish product and it should turn out well for you.

[ratvespa]

LMAO!! That's too funny. Our house was built in '72 so the surprises abound for us too. When we took out a divider wall we found the installers had written on the studs. Those time capsules were about Hank Aaron hitting #715, a kid's school, etc.

edit: I've long since deleted the pics but here's the post http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...ouse-pics.html

haha, thats cool, I had something similar happened when I was redoing my bathroom. I toor out the vanity and went to smash the mirror to remove it. when I broke it, these pics and a weird love buisness card fell out the back.


whats even stranger is, a few months later some guy was hanging out in front of my house, so I went to see whats up. he exsplained he used to live here, and was just bored driving around. I looked at him and he looked kinda familiar. so I ran it and showed him the pic, turns out it was his parents. he kinda gave me the run down on the house "that patched section above the door is when my dad was cleaning his gun and it went off". he also explained a bunch of other stuff about my old house that made no sense.

[MauiAl]

I spent 34 years painting things. Honestly I never recommend painting a floor but if you do the preparation is the most important part, if you want the stuff to stick.