Sealing Garage Floor

[Nage Waza]

So last summer I sealed my undeveloped basement floor. Two coats literally made a huge difference, way less dust, smooth shiny floor etc. Everyone that sees it goes home and does it for themselves.

This summer I plan on sealing the garage floor. Has anyone done this before? I think this is more complicated than a basement, and involves several steps and different chemicals.

Can anyone give me some pointers and recommend some products?

Thanks!

[photon]

I've heard of lots of people buying those epoxy kits from Home Depot and then ending up with flaking a few years later.

So yeah, +1

[Methanolic]

I don't see any reason why it should be that much different than your basement floor. Other than, you likely have an expansion joint (crack) running down the center of the garage floor. I would fill that with a flexible concrete caulking and then seal the floor. I've seen the epoxy kits used before and they look great, No idea why they would flake off unless the floor wasn't prepped (cleaned thouroughly) propperly beforehand.

[GoinAllTheWay]

A garage floor would get considerably more dirty than a basement floor so ya, preperation is key. Even if it's just a few years old, I think you need to almost acid wash it to get all the oil and dirt off before applying the finish.

Would love to do this myself but my floor is like 20 yrs old and had some real oil leakers parked in it.

[tvp2003]

I used one of those epoxy kits in my single car garage last year (when it was virtually new, so no major prep/degreasing needed), and would definitely recommend it. It is easy to clean with all of the snow/dirt/gravel that comes in during the winter, and looks great. Just make sure you don't use up all of those little paint chips you spread across the floor before you're done sealing

[Tower]

Clean it and paint it with a sand/paint mixture for grip. Coat over after with the seal. I have not done this but.... I would if I had a garage.

[Finny61]

Great topic because I want to seal both my basement and garage this year. So what do you use for basement? Should I look for a certain product? And with the garage I have been looking at the epoxy kits at Home Depot but my garage is a bit dirty so yeah I guess I should maybe power wash it or something.

Stupid question though, when putting either an acrylic paint or sealant on basement floors did you guys just leave the basement windows open? Do I need to go to the extent of turning off the furnace for safety reasons? I just picture stinky fumes everywhere.

[Nage Waza]

When I did my basement, I waited until summer and painted in the morning and left the windows open all day. Repeated the next day. Next weekend, I moved all my stuff to the other side of the room, then repeated. The fumes were alright, but we were out all day. We have a walkout, so we were able to have a lot of air moving through the area.

[Ironhorse]

I too wish to seal my garage, and even bought (but never used) one of those Epoxy kits when we got our house a few years ago. I'm a car guy, and want to have a good looking garage.

Our house is 19 years old with a front attached garage; should I even bother to try, or just pay to have it done professionally? How much would it cost to have it professionally done anyhow? I

[Mav]

You guys should definetly check out the Behr 2-Part Epoxy kit from The Home Depot.



It contains everything that you need for about 95 bucks, a roller, brush, non skid flakes, enough paint for 250 square feet (about a one car garage) and most importantly an Etching compound.

Preperation is the absolute key when it come to coating any kind of concrete whether it's basement, garage, patio or birdbath. The etcher takes the eflourescence out of the top couple of inches of the concrete, and this is what causes any kind of flaking of a coating. Etching basically opens the pores of the concrete so that when you apply a coating it has a better substrate to adhere to. In Calgary they add a greater amount of Limestone to help the concrete cure quicker to avoid potential freezing, however the limestone decays faster and turns into that annoying white dust that you see coming out of nowhere. This is the crap you need to get off.

The etcher that comes in the kit is really only good for clean or new concrete, if you have a really crappy, oil stained floor Behr also makes a wicked concrete cleaner/degreaser for around 20 bucks, as well as a stonger cleaner/etcher for about 25.

We did this at my Girlfriends parents place last summer. 4 car garage and I can't even begin to describe how much it improved the whole area. They have a nice house and now they have a nice garage to go with it.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by photon

I've heard of lots of people buying those epoxy kits from Home Depot and then ending up with flaking a few years later.

So yeah, +1

Our garage floor was sealed when we built our house. But after 15 years, it had seen better days.

We used an epoxy kit, but never did the work ourselves. We had a painter that we have always used do the work.

He first gave the garage floor a complete acid wash, then hosed it, and no traffic or anything else for 2 full days, to let it completely dry.

Then he put on the epoxy stuff. I believe he got it from Totem? Said he had used kits in the past and whatever he bought was what he preferred. We have had it on now for 5 or 6 years, no flaking whatsoever. Very easy for clean up compared to before.

And he recommended no traffic on the garage floor for a complete week, to let the epoxy completely set and dry.

[Ryan Coke]

I did mine with the epoxy shield, and am overall happy with it. It gives you all the info on prep and includes a cleaning solution.

Only problem is that it really is waterproof, so you end up with a lot of water on the floor in the winter. Any minor dips in the concrete become filled with water, and it stays for a long time instead of soaking in like it would with regular concrete, and of course in winter there is very little evaporation. So use lots of additive for traction (comes with paint chips, I might consider sand as well if I did it again) as the straight epoxy finish is EXTREMELY slick when wet. Almost dangerous.

I like it, easy clean up, but not sure if I would do it again.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

I did mine with the epoxy shield, and am overall happy with it. It gives you all the info on prep and includes a cleaning solution.

Only problem is that it really is waterproof, so you end up with a lot of water on the floor in the winter. Any minor dips in the concrete become filled with water, and it stays for a long time instead of soaking in like it would with regular concrete, and of course in winter there is very little evaporation. So use lots of additive for traction (comes with paint chips, I might consider sand as well if I did it again) as the straight epoxy finish is EXTREMELY slick when wet. Almost dangerous.

I like it, easy clean up, but not sure if I would do it again.

Gosh, ours is not slippery in the least. As far as water remaining and pooling in the winter, is your garage heated? Ours is and we don't have a problem with excess water.