I am facing a project in about a month from now. One car garage worth of concrete floor. Not new but not terribly ugly concrete. If I wanted to "seal" the floor once and have it last 25 years what would you recommend for a DIY application.
I know this has been discussed here before but I could not find it. If you know where that thread is, feel free to add it.
Ugh, every one here has had to grind it, seems horrible.
I'd trade that in a second over having wood floors.
This is is the only garage floors thread I remember recently...but not specific to sealing
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/shop-talk/whats-the-latest-in-concrete-garage-floor-protection/198672/page1/
I'd go to Floor & Decor or similar and buy the cheapest tile.
I'll do quick notes from my experience:
enginenerd said:This is is the only garage floors thread I remember recently...but not specific to sealing
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/shop-talk/whats-the-latest-in-concrete-garage-floor-protection/198672/page1/
Yeah, that was my thread. I went with polyurea from Legacy Industrial. I was really happy with it for about 18 months. Now it's coming up in several different places. Pretty disappointed that I put in all the work to grind the floor, clean everything, spent well over a grand on materials and followed everything to a tee, and now it's flaking off. I haven't bothered trying to follow up. Since I did all the prep and applied it myself, they can just claim I did something wrong, which is possible, but I really don't think so.
If I had it to do over again, I'd pay someone. And get a warranty.
I do epoxy floors regularly with my work- the super expensive commercial kind.
When I built my shop I did everything I could to do a really good DIY job. Careful prepping, acid etch, etc. Really tried hard to do everything right.
I wish I'd left it bare concrete. It's not a satisfactory floor finish.
I love the look of Epoxy, but have heard far too many horror stories to consider it myself.
I've heard surprisingly good things about tile (the right kind, and the right installation) and polished concrete.
Whoa, whoa, whoa...
Clearly, I don't know what I'm talking about and this is way over my head (capability) if you trusted souls can't get it right, even on fresh concrete.
Start over. Come clean.
I bought/buying a new house. In my previous house the garage floor did not age well and I always wished I had done something to save it years ago. I especially wish I had done something when I first bought it and the garage was completely empty. For this house, its a 1-car garage (yeah, I know...compromises) and while still empty, I wonder if there is something I should do to the garage floor.
Pictures lifted from th listing photos...
I hired a professional to do epoxy/urea for a new concrete floor. About 2 1/2 years ago. Living in Minnesota, salt is the enemy of concrete. Even with the traction granules the floor is very slippery with snow/ice on boots and tires. Almost worse than ice. I use 4 wheel drive to enter the garage with snow in the driveway. Other wise RWD just spins when it contacts the epoxy. The spinning tires with sand/salt mixed in with said snow/ice causes minute scratches in the epoxy.
That being said, I am happy with it. The salt and chemicals do not penetrate it. The floor still looks good with no lifting. It is very easy to clean.
My house has two garages, built at slightly different times, so it's possible the floors weren't poured by the same company, The in-house garage floor is pitted after about 33 years of parking salt encrusted vehicles on it. The other garage ( my shop) is not pitting and hasn't had much exposure to salt , but it has years of oil stains all over it. While epoxy coatings look spiffy, I'll take bare concrete every day. I occasionally hang out in a friends shop with a coated floor, and I worry about dropping wrenches or rolling a jack around. He doesn't do any heavy work and doesn't use a welder or do any grinding like I have.
A few years ago in a home I built I did the whole garage in Armstrong Vinyl Composition Tile. Pretty inexpensive per square foot, easy install. Comes in about 100 colors, so I did the floor in a black and white checker board design. Racecar looked sweet parked in there. I saw it being used in so many car showrooms. Tough as nails. Chemicals bounce off it. Looks great when clean. Downside; slick as black ice when wet. Car dealers have crews that come in at night and clean and polish their floors... i didn't.
I still use it on the floors in my enclosed trailers. But, not in my most recent shop build.
I have found polished concrete (e.g. Home Depot) is still probably best.
Four enemies to fancy DYI garage floors: welding sparks, brake clean, floor jacks, and sticky race tires.
Don't do vct tile.
Im debating on what to replace mine with. It sure ain't more vct, or epoxy. Or bare.
I have quite a bit of experience with epoxy, both the professionally installed in a commercial setting and the diy kind. Your 25 year requirement means the diy kind is not what you are looking for.
I agree with the people that said to leave it bare, or have it polished ... or tile it as I mentioned before, just make sure you back butter it.
Why is back buttering the tile necessary?
In reply to Sonic :
To make sure there are no air pockets and avoid cracks, ie. when using a floor jack.
In reply to Slippery :
Talk to us about tile. Type and size, best practices? Both in install and use?
Ceramic or porcelain tile looks great and can take some abuse, but grout joints are a pain, and the color and finish is only a thin layer on top, once the floor jack wears through that layer it starts looking rough. Great for a showroom, not so for a workroom.
I used Home Depot epoxy to coat the perimeter of the garage (mostly to make the edges look nice) and the main floor with self adhesive vinyl planks that look like wood. The epoxy I bought is a dark brown color and it came with a shiny bronze colored substance to pour in that makes it have a swirly pattern like a bowling ball.it's surprisingly durable.
All of it has held up well for the last five years. Every once in a while sticky tires and sharp turns mean one of the planks pops up but it takes about 30 seconds to spray some super 77 3m adhesive in the hole and pop it back in.
I would do it again if I bought a new home.
In reply to John Welsh :
You haven't told us your budget, so it's a little hard to answer.
Bottom line... the good stuff is not cheap, and it's not DIY friendly. 25 years most likely puts you in the category of the good stuff.
The one saving point for your place is it's pretty small, so the price would be lower (but not low).
One thing that is never mentioned that I would consider is LVP (luxury vinyl plank). It's very DIY friendly, takes serious abuse, is waterproof, and is solid color (so if you scratch it, you can't see the scratch). A floating (or "click floor") would not be OK for cars or heavy things rolling on it. You'd have to choose a glue down variety.
I used two part epoxy from a local industrial paint supply. That was 15ish years ago, I spill gas, weld, drop wrenches, engines etc. It has held up amazingly well, cleans up with a mop. I added the shark teeth anti-slip additive, it is still smooth but not slippery. Cost was $500 for 700 square feet.
Process was acid wash, rinse, let dry for two weeks, follow the instructions, I rolled mine but you can just squeegee it on. Someday I'll coat the house garage.
Rough costs...
Paint $.25 per SF (plus labor)
VCT $.75-1.50 per SF (plus labor)
LVP $1.75-3.00 per SF (plus labor)
Tile $5-8 per SF (plus $5 per SF labor)
DIY epoxy $1 per SF (plus about a week of prep work- pressure washing, acid washing, grinding)
Concrete polishing $5-15 per SF
Commercial grade Epoxy $8-25 per SF
I don't have any experience with the process, but my shop has some sort of epoxy finish done by the original builder. The one thing I would recommend is NOT doing a light color with contrasting 'flecks'... it makes finding dropped screws or other small objects nearly impossible.
I think Rust Bullet offers a clear sealer that requires minimal prep work and should be pretty DIY friendly. Not sure if it will meet the 25 year timeline though.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
Did you do a moisture test on the concrete? I did one years ago on my ex's garage floor. It failed badly. She still wanted epoxy and bought a bunch of DIY kits and went through all of the processes to prepare it. It looked great for a while, but eventually failed in spots. She doesn't care that much "with a few chips, it just looks like a well-used garage.... and it still keeps the dust down and is easier to clean."
Under-slab moisture will eventually cause epoxy to fail. Sometimes a deep-penetrating seal coating prior to the epoxy will help. Sometimes not.
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