My 30 year old garage floor could use a new finish- washing it does not remove the decades of spills. I’ve done online research and in store looking. Learned about various methods from not so good to very expensive. Willing to pay a pro to do the work. What has worked, not worked for others?
The current floor is the original concrete. Would hire someone to sand the concrete to prep for “painting”, not necessarily a true “pro” in the field. Advice on prep needed et al, good/bad products (brands) et al wanted. Also nonslippery finish but not too rough on bare feet.
An epoxy finish seems to be the most common for garage floors; you sprinkle bits of rubber while the paint’s wet in order to provide traction.
Another alternative is garage tiles, which is what I used in the main area. I got mine from Costco online, and they’re basically colored plastic tiles that you snap together. I got a couple of different colors and made a pattern - it only took an afternoon. They’ve held up fine for the past 10 years. There’s higher-end tiles made of metal you could also get, but I’m happy with the plastic. The tiles have ridges, but probably would be a bit slippery when wet.
My garage also has a slightly raised walkway that runs along the wall shared with the house. I used epoxy there, again DIY (bought from Home Depot). The epoxy held up well and looks good (foot traffic only in this area), but there are a couple areas where it stained. I could probably apply elbow grease to get the stains out, but a casual mopping didn’t. The underlying concrete developed a crack in one spot that I filled with caulk, but the crack does show whereas with the tiles it would be hidden.
Read this forum: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20 There are lots of videos on YouTube as well. If your old floor is in bad shape you will have to have it ground with a diamond blade. After Hurricane Irene five years ago swamped my beach house garage I took the opportunity to epoxy the floors while it was empty. I bought the Rustoleum Epoxy kit and followed the directions. It involved cleaning the floor with an acid and power washing it. It is the gray with little flecks of blue in it. Five years later it still looks great. It really cuts down on the “dusty” feel the garage had. The kit only cost about $99. I think the hardest part is cleaning out the garage and you’ll have to do that for a contractor.
The worst part is hauling all of the stuff out. We don’t have a shed, and have an extra long garage so we can store lots of seasonal stuff. When we remodeled our kitchen, we hung several of the old kitchen cabinets in our garage along the back wall, removed the doors, and now have custom shelves. For the floors, we did the DIY approach with Home Depot’s 5 gal epoxy - we had enough leftover for the furnace room in the basement.
I will never forget this project, since DD was about 11 or 12 at the time, and in a “mouthy” pre-teen phase. Her punishment was assigned her extra “slave labor” chores and she had to help move all the stuff out. Under a bag of sand she found a pile of acorns and shells, and behind the next one she found a dead mouse and a snake skin. She was completely fine with the mouse, but terrified of the snake skin.
When we had cleared everything out, and used the leaf blower to blow all the sand/dust out, it was time to paint. DH got her started, and then left her to work on it. She did a great job, but despite her being a top student, she didn’t listen to his warnings and literally painted herself in the corner. But her gymnastics lessons paid off, as she climbed up onto the shelves, then along the walls, and climbed out the side window.
So our garage has one small corner that is not painted. To further commemorate this event, DH tacked up the snake skin on the wall by that spot.
Stuff in the garage is no problem, not much on floor. We downsized in the Tampa move and actually keep both cars in the garage, unlike so many. Removing my black duct tape lane marker will also be easy- put it there after H kept creeping leftwards of his side (I use my left mirror just clearing the door as my guide).
How does the epoxy work in wet areas, I notice our garage floor is every so slightly damp in the winter, would that moisture cause the epoxy to bubble up?
Late to the discussion here. We had a major problem this summer when a product used to clean
took the seal/finish off. Wrong product used–old,the label was missing. We were in the middle of
putting in a new door, fixing drywall and painting. We were also having a wedding in a few weeks.
We found a company who epoxied the floor in one day. It took an hour to dry. $3200.
Not cheap. I LOVE it. It is so clean. It is like we put an addition onto the house. We have a small fridge there, keep all drinks there. Also a small tool area, our earthquake emergency supplies. It is very organized and now it is clean and attractive.
Doubt we will ever get our money out of it but it will definitely be one of those “extras” should we sell.
Also, guessing we paid a premium as we had no good choices and did this at the peak of the summer. Our garage contents had lived in our driveway going on three weeks due the drywaller
messing up. We were desperate to end the work.
Do people have good luck- long lasting results- with the products available at Home Depot and Lowes?
Decades ago I used something on our old WI garage floors that eventually showed tire tracks and was slippery when wet (think snow melt). The next owner will need to remove it to apply products available today (had kept old container and would not have used it knowing what I now know). My Google search gives mixed reviews.