A good friend of mine used one of those coatings with the flakes/speckles in it. He hates it, drop a screw or small clip etc and its gone forever, can't see a darn thing.
Forget the paint and give your knees a present. Get an old carpet and enjoy laying down on the job. I have build five car on a fully carpeted floor. So what if it gets a few burn marks on it, get a vacume cleaner and you will have a clean floor again without any dust. If it gets too dirty, get another one from a carpet store, they have plenty that they have taken out of a little old ladies front room that will work just fine. Ps, dont let your car drip oil on it, it makes for very messy hair.
Any paint can get you hurt, spills make it slick. I hope they did not make your floor to smooth, it it should have some texture to it. Buy some some sealer at the big box store and coat the floor to prevent grease from soaking in, do no paint it.
The floor in my shop shows the stains of blood, sweat, tears and fluid spills but it cleans up OK for me. I tried the Epoxy coatings before and they are expensive and didn't last long in the areas that I weld and fabricate on. I made a long copper tube that fits my air hose and I open the doors on both ends then blow out the dust and dirt starting with the rafters, lights then the floor. In about ten minutes it is ready to go back to work.
Should you end up using some type of epoxy coating on your floor, it will not be necessary to scuff it up at all. Epoxy is incredibly compatible with concrete...but it should be properly cured first, as you already know. And as far as epoxy smelling bad when it is in use will depend purely on what the manufacturer is using as the curing agent. Epoxies can be mixed in ratios from 1 to 1 all the way up to about 5 to 1 mix. Each will have a specific ratio and you need to follow that accurately. Only the extreme epoxies in the 4 and 5 to 1 ratios have much of a smell, but you should wear a decent mask anyway. A paper mask will be totally useless.
I'm getting a pre-fab 28' X 36' garage with a built in wood floor. 3/4" treated plywood. Any thoughts on floor protection or coating?
Maybe Im cheap but its a garage for shits sake ,not a dance hall. Every couple months I go dumpster diving at the local carpet store ,drag home some decent carpet,replace the blood,oil,sweat stained stuff with fresh dumpster carpet,and good for another few months. I spend my money on parts and tools ,etc, dont have enough money to build cars and "Decorate" my shop. Course what do I know I drive an English Ford ......
I liked that U-Coat-It stuff...until I found about how expensive it is for one. And two, I hear it dries quick, so you better have the floor covered and off your shoes in 10 minutes or less..At least that what I heard. -Cody
I am also interested to know more about what epoxy can be laid over. Where am I going with this? I am looking to lay epoxy or a sealer over linoleum in my food truck to seal all of the seems. Its almost on topic since its a 66 airstream. Thoughts?
Looks like the floor is done - I wouldn't do a thing. You can hammer on it, weld on it, use a torch on it, spill MEK on it. Put the money you save on the floor candy into lighting.
If its gonna be a working shop leave it alone,Bondo paint and everything else will stick to it .High output lighting is the way to go..............
This may sound a little strange, but I have always thought the floors in Lowe's and Home Depot look really good. I don't know how they get that concrete so shiny or if it is even something that would hold up in a garage situation with the kind of stuff that can get spilled on it, but I like the way it looks.
i used Groits Garage floor paint in 94, alomst 17 years ago. here is a pic from a couple of years ago, it still looks the same. i mop it once a year or so and sweep every month or so. i have helped paint 7 other garages and they all look good to this day. i won't have another shop without it. it will help with resell also, imagine looking at two houses one with a nice floor and the other a oil stained, dirty floor, which one would you prefer. later jim
If only you could find the green epoxy we used on aircraft carrier flight decks, was a 2 part, killer fumes but handled everything, skip the non-skid coat <grin>
I think it depends on what you're gonna do in the garage. If it's a place to park your showcar, epoxy it and show it off too. If it's a work place, put on a sealer and go to work. After going through the same debate myself, my father-in-law said "once you paint it (epoxy coat) then it's one more thing you have to maintain". Mine's a bare concrete workshop. Even though I really wanted that speckled epoxy finish, I don't miss not having it and I'd have been sick the first few times a jack stand or hoist cracked the epoxy.
When I bought my old 50's rancher, the 2 car garage had been there since the mid 60's and already had un-removable oil, paint, and... (???) stains, so I scrapped the idea of putting a nice epoxy or paint on the floor. I just do what "grey" above does... When you see a neighbor throwing out a roll of carpet from their house, make sure that it isn't dog-pee stained (or worse cat-pee stained) and roll that out in the area by the workbench and in front of the cabinets & shelves. When it gets too oil stained & dirty, keep your eyes out for another roll. Repeat as often as necessary. Cut a few "throw rug" sized pieces to lay on when you're under the car, or for when you're sitting or kneeling alongside it doing the brakes or whatever. I will add that I USED TO carpet under the cars too, until we set the carpeting on fire once when we were running my brother's car half in & half out of the garage with open headers before we hit the strip. Luckily, it doesn't burn like a wildfire and was more of a smoky / smoldering kind of fire. Scared the pee out of us though!
BOY!! All that Sounds REALLY NICE! I'm presently, going from "Dirt Floor" To Rough sawed (Sawmill!) two inch thick Oak!!.....and thought that (!), Was pretty Spacial........But, after readin' all the Posts......I think, I may go with three inch. I Quess, My Question is......What type nails should I use?? I don't want grinder metal rusting the nail heads.....or, welder splatter burning places on the OAK! All shit aside!! That's Darn Nice Gay-rauge'.........BE PROUD! an, Let's see sum pics, when it's done. Smoke, in tha garage........Ut-OH!!
stay away from the sprinkles, small parts dropped tend to get lost... just my experience... the Rust-Oleum 2 part epoxy will hold up well (Lowe's or Home Depot). I would recommend buying the acid etch and cleaner products as well as the anti slip package for sure. They recommend 1/2 of the anti slip but I use the whole bag and it doesn't seem to make it to rough. O yeah... I bought the Rust-Oleum clear coat on the first floor I did and did not put anti slip in it and it was slick as glass. The Rust-Oleum clear also stained from the vehicle tires. strange...
I did my shop with U coat it a few years ago. It stands up well to the abuse of welding grinding rolling an A frame and engine stands around. I like it due to the easy cleanup of oils or any thing else you spill it just wipes up.
Note to Blue one on your last comment 'I threw up a little looking at that yellow abortion " At first I felt so bad that I thought I would get rid of it, but then I looked at many of your previous posts and found out you don't like anything that others post. So I will get over it.
Go to your local concrete supply dealer and look at their stains and professional sealers(which will cost up to 50-60$ a gallon)that's what is used on the box stores floors. It won't be cheap but will hold up the best for a working garage. Like was said before--read the instructions and follow to a tee.
No, it's not a matter of not liking what others post, it's just that ugly yellow "car". Your post on the carpet was fine, carpet can be good to lie on etc., not too great if you are welding though. I just didn't like what is parked on it.
"Blood,Sweat and Tears" is what's on my garage floor. Hell I can't even see my garage floor. I do pick up scrap carpet and put it under my project. It helps when your bones are old and creaky Like mine are also in the winter when you have to work on your back it's not as cold. Nice digs.
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