Painting the Garage floor

[Dick Sylvan]

I am planning on using epoxy paint on my garage floor. Is there any reason that I can't do it in two stages, i.e., paint first half, let dry, move tools/stuff on newly painted floor and paint second half?

[Pat Zabrocki]

I did mine a couple years ago and two things come to mind. The first is the seam you would create by doing one half and then the next. The guy at the store told me you can't really put another coat on after its dry. This means it would be difficult to define one side and the next without some overlap that might peel up later. If you've got a seam in the concrete that provides a break between one side and the other then this would not appear to be a problem.

The other thing is the surface preparation. Some of my neighbors put this down and have had it peel up. I think they gave the surface a prep a "going through the motions" type of effort. Having seen their results, I went all out on the prep and mine is solid as a rock. Knowing what it took to clean and prepare the surface, I don't know that I would want my tools exposed to that much water. I would think the water is bound to migrate to the entire garage floor if it is even close to level. Also, I think the cleaner has a mild acid in it which may have an effect on your tools.

Hope it works out for you, but my two cents would be to do it all at once if you can, it would probably be a better job and would not endanger your tools.

cheers
Pat





cleaning

[Jeremy Taylor]

I am planning on using epoxy paint on my garage floor. Is there any reason that I can't do it in two stages, i.e., paint first half, let dry, move tools/stuff on newly painted floor and paint second half?

If you've got an expansion joint, shouldn't be a problem. That will give you a good place to stop/start. The only problem is that you may have to buy 2 kits as you only have 45 minutes or so of workable time with that stuff. Not sure if you can half it or not.

J

[mark page]

It should be done all at once. I have done several garage floors and learned the hard way. Surface must be free and clear of any contaminants. I used muratic acid for a final cleaning and etching. If you have any deep oil stains etc, you might want to opt for a concrete sander for a faster cleaning. Also note you will need well ventilation for both the paint and muratic acid if you use it. I got in a hurry once and forgot to dilute the muratic acid and the neighbors thought my garage was on fire.

[Al Willits]

Be careful on what you use, if the unfortnate time comes you have to actually put a car in the garage and then work on the brakes, brake fluid will eat though many of the coatings out there, some epoxies too.

Don't ask how I know, but I gave up and just hide the floor with sawdust now....:)

Not sure on the two stage coating thing, but do the directions on the container give any recoating info?

Al

[Alfred Clem]

My garage was about 10 years old when I decided to paint its floor. I bought a two-coat product from Home Depot, followed directions to the letter, and the result has been 12 years (so far) of good service. I have learned a few things over the years, incidentally.

Hot tires are enemies of floor paint. They will cause paint to come up. So I just give those tire areas a coat each year.

If you have done your homework on your first coat, you can recover the floor with a later coat or coats. In all, I suppose I have repainted my floor every five years. Just apply the color coat. The underlying primer (gray) continues untouched.

Of course, it helps that we live in Arizona. No salt on winter roads that is then tracked into the garage. No ice on winter tires. No direct sunlight on any part of the floor. I have maintained a clean garage with a tan colored paint and plan to give it another coat in 2008 or 2009. It has never cracked or peeled since day #1.

[john tomljenovic]

I am planning on using epoxy paint on my garage floor. Is there any reason that I can't do it in two stages, i.e., paint first half, let dry, move tools/stuff on newly painted floor and paint second half?


I did mine exactly that way, painting one half at a time then a week later doing the other. this with a sherwin williams two part industrial epoxy. you can see a slight line/ridge where the overlap occurred but I don't care, sweeping up and keeping clean is heaven now.

one thing I do recommend is doing somekind of mechanical abrading, so you have a fresh surface for the epoxy to adhere to. that meant in my case to moving the machines twice, was not too big a deal though. run some big exhaust fans though, the dust is crazy.

with epoxy you usually have one shot to get it right, pull out the stops and don't shortchange the process.

[Doug Shepard]

... Is there any reason that I can't do it in two stages, i.e., paint first half, let dry, move tools/stuff on newly painted floor and paint second half?

Nope. It'll take you longer but that's how I did mine. You have to let it cure, not just dry though. Walking on it is fine but you're not supposed to park or set stuff on it until it's cured. I think the brand I used needed 3 days. So your garage will be out of commission for a while. In high heat and humidity or a larger garage 1/2 is about all you can tackle before the paint starts getting tacky anyway. I was using an 18" roller and still had to hurry a bit on each coat. What ended up working best for me was to have someone stay ahead of me and pour a bead right out of the can. Trying to apply paint to the roller was a waste of time (and money for the wider pan). Dont do a straight line, and overlap between coats and garage halves and you wont have any seam line.

[john tomljenovic]

with real epoxy, using a roller a apply is a very hard way. I used a floor squeegee to spread out the material, then follow with a roller to even things out. this stuff is like peanut butter to work with, now that its summer you have to use activators for higher temps, or it may start curing before you are done spreading.

I did mine in the winter and with the shop at 50 degrees it too about a 6 days to cure hard enough to move machines on. your results may vary.

[Doug Shepard]

Forgot to mention - a lot of folks just buy whatever HD has, which is usually limited to grey or beige. I've never regretted going with white for brightening up the garage. If your shop lighting is as lame as mine, the white really helps.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=37683

[Jeff Raymond]

I'm in the beginning stages of building the new shop and have alread decided to put daylight color balanced lighting in flourescent fixtures. You get quite a different sense of what you are working on. It also makes sand a bit easier, which is hard to explain.

Traditional flourescent lights put out a greenish blue tint that you eye fools you into thinking is real, but once you see the daylight color, you won't go back.

Good luck!

[Bill Bezilla]

I coated mine last year with the Rustoleum Garage floor 2 part epoxy kit
from Lowes. I think you could apply this product in halves with no problems. It's also water based so the fumes are minimal compared to some of th others.

It has held up really well and the beige color really lighens up the shop.

Key points.
Clean floor thouroughly first. I pressure washed, scrubbed, pressure washed, etched , pressure washed.

Make sure concrete has plenty of time to dry out from all of that washing.

follow instructions carefully. Extra help on hand is helpful because you have limited work time for 2 part epoxy

Coverage is estimated so buy some extra to make sure you have enough coating - you can return any unopened cans. you don't want to run out in the middel of the process.

Good luck - it is definitely worth all of th work.

[bruce norton]

I did exactly as you state your intentions and it works out fine. I used the Rusteloeum Gray and left out the sprinkles. I emailed Rustoleum to get recoat instructions and was told to sand the cured paint with 60 grit to get a tooth for recoating. I wanted to lap the joints when painted the second half. I have no problems with hot tires but then I run 70 psig in the truck tires and they do not heat up much.
I am using the tan color in my basement shop just to reflect more light. I like it also but notice it will scratch easily when you drag things (like tools) across the floor. You will need to be careful about this. I move heavy machines in and out of the basement frequently and must be careful how I do it. I rolled a Bridgeport mill across the basement using 1 3/8 dia. steel bars and did not even put a mark on the epoxy. Just do not drag or slide things.

Bruce Norton

[warren james]

It's also going to depend on the age of your garage floor. If it is a new floor, it will have to be acid washed to neutralize the alkalinity of the concrete before painting. I wouldn't want to take the chance of acid getting on my tools.

If it is an older floor, a good wash is all it may need. I did my garage shop floor 4 years ago and, being an older home, didn't acid wash prior to putting down the epoxy and it is still in 100% good shape.

A note on the color I chose. I used a light gray color as any small screws, etc dropped on the floor will be easily visible. It's worked so far.

Good luck.

[Dick Sylvan]

Thanks for all the advice/comments. My floor is about 8-10 years old. Do I need to do an acid wash? I would prefer not to do that as the driveway in front is stained and I am concerned what might happen to it with acid. Also, the LOML would kill me if I screwed that up.

[warren james]

Is your floor smooth, ie floated concrete? That will also affect the adhesion of the epoxy to the floor. If it is really smooth, you will have to etch it with the acid, regardless. Otherwise, you should be OK. The floor also has to be really clean (ie no oil spills, etc) and moisture free (a easy/cheap way to check for moisture is to tape a 12" square of plastic to the floor. If there is moisture between the floor and plastic, the epoxy will eventually peal off). That being said, the water table is really high in my area (around 3 feet below the surface in the wet season) and I have not had any issues (the basement would be another thing altogether).

Now, despite making it sound like more work than it's worth, it's something I would do again. Makes cleaning up finish spills really easy.

[John Vigants]

Dick: Warren brings up a point that may be very relevant for us here in Houston - the water table is very high. However, if your stained driveway is also sealed, the success of that coating will probably predict the results on the garage floor.