Epoxy floor - “pro” style

[KrisZ]

I’ve done the garage floor with the Rustoleum epoxy kit from HD on my previous house, but it scratched quite easily and you had to be careful with heavy things like floor jacks etc.

On the recommendation of my general contractor friend I decided to give “pro” epoxy a try.

I used Rockhard epoxy as base and their polyaspartic top coat.
Did the concrete grinding and over flaked the snoot out of it.
I must say that the results are much better than the big box kits and so far I dragged several heavy things across it and it didn’t scratch or lose the flakes.

It was a lot of work though. The kits are simpler.

 

[Kira]

Looks stupendous! Congrats
Care to share total cost...or cost / square foot?

 

[KrisZ]

Looks stupendous! Congrats
Care to share total cost...or cost / square foot?

It was almost $1k in materials. Plus around $250 for the concrete grinder rental.

 

[JTK]

That looks awesome!

Many years ago in my previous home, I skim coated the entire basement floor with concrete re-surfacer, then once that cured, I epoxy painted the whole floor with a two part product from Muralo. It was recommended to me by the local Ben Moore store at the time. It held up wonderfully the 6 more years we lived there.

 

[parshisa]

Looks terrific. I've used HD kit about 5yrs ago, and it generally held up well minus peeling under the tires where my wife's pilot is parked. Maybe i'll do try this in my next house...if it ever happens

 

[KrisZ]

Looks terrific. I've used HD kit about 5yrs ago, and it generally held up well minus peeling under the tires where my wife's pilot is parked. Maybe i'll do try this in my next house...if it ever happens

Hot tire peel is apparently an inherit trait of the water based epoxy kits from the big box stores.
The normal two part epoxy doesn’t have that issue supposedly.

I just checked my receipt and the base two part epoxy in a 3 gal kit was only $165 and if you don’t want to over flake, you can have it for roughly $200.
The biggest cost is the top coat and the flakes, which I needed 3 boxes worth, at 40lbs and $110 each.

 

[OVERKILL]

Looks incredible! Nice work!

 

[tbm5690]

Has anyone with a coated floor done squeegeeing during the winter months? It appears slightly less smooth than bare concrete assuming the concrete is in decent shape. I just got a quote for prep and coating in my garage but it is heated and without floor drains so in the winter I want to make sure I can still effectively remove water.

 

[paulswagelock]

Has anyone with a coated floor done squeegeeing during the winter months? It appears slightly less smooth than bare concrete assuming the concrete is in decent shape. I just got a quote for prep and coating in my garage but it is heated and without floor drains so in the winter I want to make sure I can still effectively remove water.

Yes, I squeegee mine all the time (I might have a neatness issue). It removes almost all the water effectively.

 

[paulswagelock]

That looks great. Did you squeegee then back roll? How many top coats, just one? Did you need to fix cracks first?

 

[KrisZ]

That looks great. Did you squeegee then back roll? How many top coats, just one? Did you need to fix cracks first?

Thanks.
It’s a new build, so no cracks to fix.
I squegeed and my wife was back rolling and it’s just one top coat. There is really no need for more, unless you want a smooth finish. But it will be like ice when wet.

 

[tbm5690]

Yes, I squeegee mine all the time (I might have a neatness issue). It removes almost all the water effectively.

Thanks, that was my only concern. I got what I feel is a fair price on the job so I'm going to go for it and have it done prior to winter!

 

[IndyFan]

I’ve done the garage floor with the Rustoleum epoxy kit from HD on my previous house, but it scratched quite easily and you had to be careful with heavy things like floor jacks etc.

On the recommendation of my general contractor friend I decided to give “pro” epoxy a try.

I used Rockhard epoxy as base and their polyaspartic top coat.
Did the concrete grinding and over flaked the snoot out of it.
I must say that the results are much better than the big box kits and so far I dragged several heavy things across it and it didn’t scratch or lose the flakes.

It was a lot of work though. The kits are simpler.

View attachment 282812

View attachment 282813

Did you grind the vertical concrete sides, or just put the stuff right on it?

This looks GREAT!

Does that all come in a kit? I'd love to do it, but have only enough skill to follow good instructions.

 

[KrisZ]

Did you grind the vertical concrete sides, or just put the stuff right on it?

This looks GREAT!

Does that all come in a kit? I'd love to do it, but have only enough skill to follow good instructions.

No need to grind the vertical surfaces because there is no traffic on those, you just need to clean and de-grease.

It's sort of a kit, as in you get the two parts already per-measured and ready for mixing. But no instructions. These assume you know what you're doing.
You will need to find a local supplier and they will give you everything you need. For my finish, you will need the base coat kit, that's the one with color choices, the flakes, again with color choices and final top, transparent coat kit.

This is the top poly coat "kit", the base coat is pretty much the same deal, you get two containers that you mix together in the bigger bucket.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Probably a $4-5K job if done professionally IMHO. Great savings and same quality!

 

[tbm5690]

Probably a $4-5K job if done professionally IMHO. Great savings and same quality!

Yeah I was quoted just a hair under $4k for my garage (~640 sq ft). That includes repairing all the cracks, grinding, and then coat, flake, and 2x clear on top. Seems reasonable to me considering all the prep.