Kevin Fowler
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2019
- Posts
- 113
- Reaction score
- 59
- Location
- California
- Ram Year
- 2018/1987
- Engine
- 2500/360
Hi All,
I will be moving into a new place probably end of May. My plan is to epoxy the garage floor. So I was able to get one of my buddies to be the tester first. He has a small 1 car garage, I will have a 2 car garage. We used Rustoleum Rock Shield, gray with the blue/white/black paint chips.
Buddies garage had quite a few oil stains and cracks in it.
Day 1 & 2 (Mon / Tues): Pressure washing did not do the trick for stains and grime. He tried to attack the smaller spots with a hand grinder which came to an abrupt end and he decided to get a full size floor grinder. He knocked out the garage in about 30 minutes. Then came the etching. Etching is a key step and it helped a lot. Did a final rinse on the floor and let it dry out.
Day 3 (Wednesday): All the cracks were filled in. One final cleaning.
Day 4 (Friday): Here comes the epoxy. He purchased a 1 car garage kit. We got to mixing and had to wait the 30 minute activation time. We started by doing around the edges and then rolled it on. While rolling were tossed on paint chips (which help hide a lot of imperfections). Everything rolled on smoothly.
Day 5 (Sunday): We let the floor dry out out before we put on the top clear coat. This is a pain, because the base coat epoxy has a gloss to it, and due to his limited lighting it was tough to see what had been cleared. The garage door was left open about 8 inches and plastic was taped to the outside to prevent dirt and such from coming in.
Ending Opinion: We ended with a few holidays in the base coat, the clear coat did a great job sealing it all up. My buddy didn't really sand the crack fixes, so you can see the lines. It just looks like its a different texture. You can't feel any difference due to the clear coat. All in all the garage looks 10x better than the cracked and dirty concrete. If you plan on doing this yourself, prep is key! Clean clean and clean some more. Once you think you've cleaned enough, clean again. Any dirt or anything will not allow the epoxy to bond to the concrete. Rent a floor grinder, it was $165 for an hour and it took about 20 minutes. Doing it by hand would've taken hours and the floor wouldn't have been evenly grinded. If you're worried about imperfections, go heavy on the paint chips. Once the clear coat is on it, you won't really feel the chips.
I personally, will probably be purchasing two-2 car garage kits so I can lay a thick coat on, followed up with paint chips and a thick clear coat.
*There is no clear coat on the last two pictures*
I will be moving into a new place probably end of May. My plan is to epoxy the garage floor. So I was able to get one of my buddies to be the tester first. He has a small 1 car garage, I will have a 2 car garage. We used Rustoleum Rock Shield, gray with the blue/white/black paint chips.
Buddies garage had quite a few oil stains and cracks in it.
Day 1 & 2 (Mon / Tues): Pressure washing did not do the trick for stains and grime. He tried to attack the smaller spots with a hand grinder which came to an abrupt end and he decided to get a full size floor grinder. He knocked out the garage in about 30 minutes. Then came the etching. Etching is a key step and it helped a lot. Did a final rinse on the floor and let it dry out.
Day 3 (Wednesday): All the cracks were filled in. One final cleaning.
Day 4 (Friday): Here comes the epoxy. He purchased a 1 car garage kit. We got to mixing and had to wait the 30 minute activation time. We started by doing around the edges and then rolled it on. While rolling were tossed on paint chips (which help hide a lot of imperfections). Everything rolled on smoothly.
Day 5 (Sunday): We let the floor dry out out before we put on the top clear coat. This is a pain, because the base coat epoxy has a gloss to it, and due to his limited lighting it was tough to see what had been cleared. The garage door was left open about 8 inches and plastic was taped to the outside to prevent dirt and such from coming in.
Ending Opinion: We ended with a few holidays in the base coat, the clear coat did a great job sealing it all up. My buddy didn't really sand the crack fixes, so you can see the lines. It just looks like its a different texture. You can't feel any difference due to the clear coat. All in all the garage looks 10x better than the cracked and dirty concrete. If you plan on doing this yourself, prep is key! Clean clean and clean some more. Once you think you've cleaned enough, clean again. Any dirt or anything will not allow the epoxy to bond to the concrete. Rent a floor grinder, it was $165 for an hour and it took about 20 minutes. Doing it by hand would've taken hours and the floor wouldn't have been evenly grinded. If you're worried about imperfections, go heavy on the paint chips. Once the clear coat is on it, you won't really feel the chips.
I personally, will probably be purchasing two-2 car garage kits so I can lay a thick coat on, followed up with paint chips and a thick clear coat.
*There is no clear coat on the last two pictures*
